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Yasmina Muslemany / NBC News
Protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Tuesday.
CAIRO, Egypt --The crowds of Egyptian protesters streaming into Cairo's Tahrir Square under flowing party flags on Tuesday night may have fallen short of expectations in terms of numbers but they did not lack anger and defiance.
Initially billed as a "Million Man (March) of Justice," the demonstrations were directed at presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq. Former President Hosni Mubarak had appointed Shafiq to the prime minister position in the dying days of his regime, forever tainting Shafiq with the brutal crackdown that killed more than 800 protesters in 18 days.
“Shafiq will never return (legally) through the ballot boxes,” declared protester Amr Sayed. Sayed does not belong to a political party but says he will vote for the Muslim Brotherhood candidate to prevent a Shafiq victory.
“There will be change,” Sayed said. “Forty percent of Egypt is young men. If Shafiq wins, we will overturn everything into fire and destruction. He can only win through fraud with the help of the military.”
Egypt protesters torch candidate's headquarters
Yasmina Muslemany / NBC News
Housewife Nasreen Ahmed demonstrates at Cairo's Tahrir Square against presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq.
Mostafa al Shimi, a retired military officer at Tahrir Square, said he had to follow orders throughout his career, whether right or wrong. Now a civilian, al Shimi wants a civilian president -- Shafiq, however, is a former air force general.
Shafiq “can’t go anywhere without guards surrounding him,” al-Shimi said. “We feel that we are in danger with Shafiq, the military council and the deeply rooted regime. They are fomenting a counter-revolution.”
A protester at the square screamed in rage, “If Ahmed Shafiq wins even without fraud, we don’t want him. We are staying here. Kill us like you killed our brothers; we are staying here.”
A teacher, her face and body enveloped in a black veil despite the heat, said she lost a cousin to the revolution. She said she deeply mistrusts Shafiq.
Yasmina Muslemany / NBC News
Rawda Al-Araby, an Egyptian medical student, demonstrates in Cairo's Tahrir Square for a retrial of former President Hosni Mubarak.
During the revolution "Shafiq said, 'Let the protesters stay in Tahrir and we will bring them candy,'" said the teacher, who would not identify herself. "The candies came in the form of bullets that killed our children, brothers and martyrs."
Video: Judge hands Mubarak stiff sentence
Shafiq’s supporters believe he will restore law and order, but the veiled school teacher worries that security will come at a price.
“Shafiq says he will restore order within 24 hours,” she said. “That means he has the power to set the regime’s thugs on us.”
New revolution?
Protesters at Tahrir Square see a Shafiq victory as a return to the Mubarak days.
Nasreen Ahmed said it isn’t fair that Shafiq, the former prime minister, is running.
“People died in the streets to remove the old regime,” Ahmed said. “It wasn’t so the old prime minister could become the new president.” She hopes the spontaneous demonstrations that have filled Tahrir Square since Saturday will herald a new revolution.
Can Egypt's voters force candidates to compromise?
Yasmina Muslemany/ NBC News
A demonstrator in Tahrir Square who identified herself as an Egyptian citizen said she came to protest against candidacy of Ahmed Shafiq, former president Hosni Mubarak's former prime minister.
Egyptians across the country were incensed by the Saturday verdict that sentenced Mubarak and his Interior Minister to life imprisonment but exonerated his two sons and six Ministry of Interior officials. Although anger at the verdicts prompted large numbers of demonstrators to take to the streets, it is deep-seated hatred of Shafiq that is keeping them there.
“We will stay here until the election results come in,” promised al Shimi, the retired military officer. “When Morsi (the Muslim Brotherhood candidate) wins, we can tell him we are the ones who put him there. We will tell him, ‘Tahrir put you in office, now what are you going to do for the people who will hold you accountable?’”
Tahrir Square occupied as anger grows over Mubarak verdict
Many are voting for Mohamed Morsi because they believe he will be more susceptible to protesters’ demands than Shafiq. Others say Morsi is as untrustworthy as Shafiq.
“I don’t like either of them; they are both the same,” said medical student Rawda al Araby. “I won’t give my vote to either of them in the elections.
Mechanical engineer Ahmed el Beguirmy, 27, said he would also advocate a second revolution but he does not believe this is it.
What would trigger another revolution?
Beguirmy said that would happen if the military government refuses to hand over power.
Yasmina Muslemany/ NBC News
Mostafa al-Shimi, a retired military officer, protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square against the candidacy of Ahmed Shafiq, former President Hosni Mubarak's one-time prime minister, who finished second in the first round of the presidential race.
Taha Belal contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
This is known as caught between the devil and the deep sea!
“There will be change,” Sayed said.
Voting and bringing MB will be very bad for Egyptians in the long run. Slowly the mad Islamic religious bigots will take the country fast back towards seventh century desert days.
It will be another Iranian Ayotollah like rules.
For their own good, Egyptians should fight despotic and highly corrupt army rulers and religious bigoted rulers.
We should all come to 21st century: keep the religions in their place.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again...there was and is a reason why the whole world has installed and supported brutal dictators in this part of the world for the last 1000 years...
And I would've hoped a "Harvard" graduate and Nobel Prize winner would have understood that
Reminds me of THIS country where we get to vote for the imperialist of our choice - Republican imperialist or Democrat imperialist.
It won't change while the People are fat and happy grazing cows in the pasture. However, if the economy continues to down spiral...WATCH OUT Military/Industrial/Congressional Complex!
J.P- America doesn't seem to get it-"the lesser of 2 evils"- doesn't make it right! I agree with your last sentence. Basically,DC is out of control.
And yet they foolishly want to elect the muslim brotherhood and expect different results?
You are a fool to believe you will tell him what to do…just look at Obama he does what HE wants because HE KNOWS WHAT IS BEST FOR EVERYONE
Radicals extremist will never accept any other view besides their own.
Jonathan-1982062
For their own good, Egyptians should fight despotic and highly corrupt army rulers and religious bigoted rulers.
We should all come to 21st century: keep the religions in their place.
-------------------------------------
For OUR own good we should keep our noses out of their business and let THEM elect who they want. We should come into the 21st century and learn WE aren't the world's policeman. Let's butt out of the cesspool that is the Middle East and start fixing OUR own country.
@eric---you describe the republican party perfectly.
And who will protest if a group of Bros or their types arrive in power? NO ONE..Brutal police state doctrinaire sharia bullies don´t permit protests. If the people in Egypt were smart they would put the Bro back where they belong..in prison
The Egyptians are of their own beliefs but I feel that they should definitely elect the military man over the MB crony.
And for the record this is about as far a situation as there is in America where people over there are getting killed for their beliefs. Here you have a right to vote which is defended.
To my knowledge BO is doing exactly what the voters who elected him want him to do. Maybe not as fast as we wanted but this isn't a monarchy.
iamwhitewolf: I agree with you 200 percent.
But Jewish lobby will keep us active in those places.
Put Simply the question for Women will be: "Shall we vote ourselves out of Freedom and into Religious Serfdom or bring back what may be the old regime". Secondarily the question is will the Military allow itself to be second in command.
With Mubarak in jail, I will probably never get the rent he owes me for the Chateau he rented from me in Montana.
Will someone please tell his cousin Akhmed to send my check, have him write it out to Sunrise Estates Ltd. A.S,A.P.
I need the money for my down payment on the casino I am buying in Detroit. Tell Akhmed and Bashir that I will be in Hong Kong this thursday if they need any more information, until then, I will be in Omaha.
Their choices are a Mubarak twin dictator and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Happy voting!!
And ours is any better?
There's always still Ron Paul. Despite what the corporate owned mainstream media would have you believe, he hasn't dropped out of the race.
I don't mind wanting for change, but Ron Paul has some ideas which would be devastating to the US. He wants a private corporation to handle the controlling of flight safety. This is coming from the same branch that believes we should limit the ability for civilians to file lawsuits against corporations. So in eccessence the only way people would be able to keep corporations from doing the cost cutting that would lead to planes falling out of the air would then be limited by federal law (caps on liability suits that republicans fight for every year).
If you are comfortable with the idea of a corporation controlling your safety while not being able to sue them when they don't then go ahead and vote for someone like RP. I'll stick to the non-kooks.
basedrum; Remember Haliburton, need more be said?
Allah so decreed it?
Sam,
That made my head hurt......but seriously GREAT POST and excellent point made.
jonjojon,
That was very funny (to me anyway) thanks though it made my head hurt worse laughing :)
Democracy in an Islamic state: you have the opportunity to vote for any party you wish that will take away all your human rights. To think that Nobel Peace prize, Ivy League educated Obama never figured out that a fascist dictator friendly to us was better than an Islamo-fascist regime unfriendly to us.
Sometimes American women marry Muslim men. Pretty faces with overweight, blobby, cellulite-riddled bodies. The only freedom they get is relief from trying to look good with little effort. Joint custody of their children after separation or divorce? Fat chance.
Should the brotherhood win there will likely be an increased chance of war between Egypt and Israel. This is a good time for Israel to fine tune their military tactics, and gain more territory prior to dealing with Iran. Just leave the Egyptians some land the size of the Gaza strip so as to not wipe them off the face of the map, and give some of the land to the Palistinians as the've been confined long enough.
Israel is good at bombing everyone, using American hardware. That's pretty much it. Beyond that, they don't have any 'military tactics' to fine tune.
The Palestinians should just go back to wherever their ancestors came from. They are transplants too. The Jews were there before the Palestinians came there from all over the middle east.
Eventually the muslim dictator aka brotherhood will take over and rule with an iron fist.
Egypt, Syria, Iran and of course our stepchild Iraq all have internal problems. What better way to draw attention away from those problems but focus attention on an outside problem i.e. Israel. Standby for more insanity.
Mostafa al Shimi, a retired military officer at Tahrir Square, said he had to follow orders throughout his career, whether right or wrong.
ya #1 problem do what your told right or wrong
#1 reason not to vote for a puppet
So what about the ones who voted for Shafiq? I guess their votes doesn't matter to you uh? Yeah why don't you just stay in Tahriq's square forever. Obviously you are not ready for democracy as you can't respect your fellow citizens' votes.
The man stepped down voluntarily, but prison for life is not good enough, let's kill him ... and considering this, why would Syria's Assad step down? So he can get either killed or put in prison for life? He's not stupid.
Anyway Rawda, get ready to give up your medical diploma and career if the Muslim brotherhood guy, Mursi, is elected.
Yeah that's why the protesters destroyed Shafiq's headquarters and not Mursi's. Hypocrits, quit telling us you think they are the same, and then attack only one of the guys. Obviously it doesn't matter which one people will vote for in the next elections either as you will refuse to acknowledge the votes anyway just like you do right now.
Soooo anyways, what are the numbers? How many were at this protest? Are we seeing a small minority of muslims or more then half the country?
And you're right sam-375180.
We really should quit getting involved in those countries' revolutions, its useless.
Muslims want too to destroy the world ! plain an simple !
Sam,
I liked your first post much better.
Not all Muslims want to destroy the world....just a minority portion of JihadNUTZIES. Its just like not all Republicans are ultra conservative and narrow minded, or not all Democrats are Socialist borderline Commies that want everything for free.
good point howard, it's just a shame Muslims cant take care of there own problems for so many years ! there hatred they taught there young people over the years are the radicals they breed ! and they still feed them ! thanks for the comment ! I'll try to keep a open mind.
The UN busybodies (including US) need to let Egypt self-determine to the extent that they are willing and able to. Afterword outsiders can deal with the results and decide how to interact, or not, with the new regime. While I would rather there not be another radical, anti-West regime in the region the Egyptians will get what they want and deserve in a government based on their own actions and inactions and meddling will most suredly skew the sentiments agains the West.
They will keep protesting until they get the radical Islamic extremists and then they will be up @!$%# creek without the paddle....kinda like we are right now in this country.