Fides Service REPORT- Thousands of people demonstrated yesterday, 1st July, in Tahrir Square in Cairo to ask the trials against those who ordered the violent suppression of the revolution of January and February to be carried out, and to sustain the families of about eight hundred people who were killed during the violent clashes that preceded the downfall of President Mubarak. The demonstration was not disturbed by incidents compared to what happened on June 28, when a thousand people were injured in clashes between demonstrators and security forces.
"There are different interpretations of these accidents" says Fr. Luciano Verdoscia, a Comboni missionary who lives and works in Cairo to Fides. "On behalf of the protesters who accuse the current military government of being a remnant of the old regime and to use the same methods of intimidation to suppress and to give the opposition a bad name. Others say that fundamentalist elements have filtrated among the protestors in Tahrir Square, perhaps from abroad".
According to Father Luciano "young people in Tahrir Square are impatient, because they believe that the government is inventing excuses to delay the trials against former President Mubarak and his entourage, including former Interior Minister, held responsible for the massacres committed at the time of the revolution this winter. At the same time, however, the protesters who were responsible for riots or crime, however minor, if not insignificant, during this transition period are being put on trial in a direct way. So it seems that the military government uses martial law to judge these cases, whereas with regards to the charges against representatives of the old regime, trials seem to go very slowly".
The recent demonstrations, according to the missionary, must be placed in the context in which Egypt lives. "We are living a moment of stasis and waiting", says Father Luciano. "We have second thoughts about the last moments: some say that in Egypt a revolution is taking place and others, who are more skeptical and believe that the country is not ready for voting. We live in the ' enthusiasm for change, with the prospect of giving birth to a mature democracy and a fairer society, and the fears of uncertainty of danger that fundamentalist groups, which are the most organized, can have a strong voice in the reorganization of society " concludes the missionary.
"There are different interpretations of these accidents" says Fr. Luciano Verdoscia, a Comboni missionary who lives and works in Cairo to Fides. "On behalf of the protesters who accuse the current military government of being a remnant of the old regime and to use the same methods of intimidation to suppress and to give the opposition a bad name. Others say that fundamentalist elements have filtrated among the protestors in Tahrir Square, perhaps from abroad".
According to Father Luciano "young people in Tahrir Square are impatient, because they believe that the government is inventing excuses to delay the trials against former President Mubarak and his entourage, including former Interior Minister, held responsible for the massacres committed at the time of the revolution this winter. At the same time, however, the protesters who were responsible for riots or crime, however minor, if not insignificant, during this transition period are being put on trial in a direct way. So it seems that the military government uses martial law to judge these cases, whereas with regards to the charges against representatives of the old regime, trials seem to go very slowly".
The recent demonstrations, according to the missionary, must be placed in the context in which Egypt lives. "We are living a moment of stasis and waiting", says Father Luciano. "We have second thoughts about the last moments: some say that in Egypt a revolution is taking place and others, who are more skeptical and believe that the country is not ready for voting. We live in the ' enthusiasm for change, with the prospect of giving birth to a mature democracy and a fairer society, and the fears of uncertainty of danger that fundamentalist groups, which are the most organized, can have a strong voice in the reorganization of society " concludes the missionary.
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