Mina Daniel Movement to hold first march on Thursday

Ahram Online, Thursday 3 Nov 2011

Activists to protest against the ruling military council, its trying of civilians by military courts and crackdown on the media

The newly formed Mina Daniel Movement, named after a young activist killed during last month’s Maspero massacre, will hold its first march today against the military council.

The march will begin at 6pm in front of the High Court and proceed to Talaat Harb Square.

The movement will also call for an end to military trials of civilians and condemn the council’s recent media crackdown.

A statement released by the movement accuses the council of protecting the old regime, incitement, spreading lies and encouraging divisions through its control of the media; whilst treating martyrs as thugs and inciters, sending civilians for military trials, and detaining activists such as Alaa Abdel Fattah and Bahaa Saber.

The movement will focus much of its effort on achieving justice for the revolution’s martyrs, including Daniel, 25, who died when the army attacked Coptic protesters outside the Maspero building on 9 October.

“We will not forget the blood of our martyrs,” the movement said. “The blood of our martyrs made us breathe freedom, and we will remain free revolutionaries until we fulfil our goals, and we will bow to nobody except God. We will fight for a nation that is free of poverty, repression and discrimination.”

Another protest group that emerged in the wake of the Maspero massacre is the October 9 Movement led by lawyer and human rights activist Said Fayez.

Fayez is trying to get one million Egyptians to sign a document with the statement, “We don’t want our enemy to govern us, or military trials of civilians.”

Fayez says people who highlight discrimination against Egyptian Christians are immediately accused of being traitors by the regime. Therefore he chose a statement he believed both Muslims and Christians could agree with.

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