Egypt’s Military Plans to Deploy Tanks and Troops ahead of National Strike
Egypt’s military has issued a warning to activists who plan to participate in a national strike on February 11. That date is the one year anniversary of the ousting of former President Hosni Mubarak. Activists have been campaigning for people to walk off their jobs and to engage in “civil disobedience” on the anniversary date.
The country is very tense at this time. Last week, 74 people were killed after a soccer match and several others have died in the streets of Cairo and Suez in the last few days. The fighting has been sporadic, but deadly.
Egypt’s ruling military council said on Wednesday that they would be deploying tanks and troops across the country in an effort to maintain peace and security. Sami Enan, the chief of staff of the armed forces, said that Egyptians need to protect the stability and security of the country and that is done through work and production. Enan’s remarks were reported by MENA, the state news agency.
Kamal al-Ganzouri, the country’s prime minister, said today that any plans for civil disobedience were tantamount to a plan to overthrow the government. He urged citizens to unite in order to get through the dangers that are facing the country. There were others that criticized the activists’ calls for civil disobedience. Pope Shenouda, who is the head of the Orthodox Coptic church, said that acts of civil disobedience are completely against religion.
Earlier this week, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who is the head of Egypt’s military council, scheduled the first presidential election for June. There have already been elections held for the lower parliament house. The elections for the upper house are occurring right now. The military says that they will turn over control of the country to the new president once one is elected. Many of the activists want democratic elections to happen much more quickly than June of this year.
