Tahrir Square it was for thousands of Egyptians since yesterday to mark the first anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak with some seeking a new revolt against army rule and others celebrating the changes already achieved.
Egyptians congregated in Tahrir Square late on Tuesday into this morning pitching tents in winter rain and hanging the national flag from buildings.
A year ago today,protesters inspired by an uprising in Tunisia took to the streets in Egypt and the Jan. 25 anniversary has exposed divisions in the Arab world’s most populous country over the pace of democratic change.
Concerned the generals are obstructing reform to protect their interests, the pro-democracy activists behind the “Jan. 25 revolution” plan marches to Tahrir Square to demand the military council that replaced Mubarak hand power to civilians immediately.
But well-organised Islamist parties which dominated Egypt’s most democratic election since army officers overthrew the king in 1952 are among those who oppose a new uprising.
Headed by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the military council has said it will cede power to an elected president by the end of June, thus completing a democratic transition.
Yet pro-democracy activists doubt their intentions, pointing to a surge in military trials and the use of violence against protesters as signs of autocratic ways familiar from the Mubarak era.
