Essam El Arian, the vice chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party and the leader in the Muslim Brotherhood, has stated that strikes and protests are legitimate rights as long as there cause no obstruction to work and life and involve no attacks on public property.

Speaking to the Nile News channel this morning, El Arian said that, while the Freedom and Justice Party did not participate in the Friday demonstration with which the on-going Tahrir Square sit-in started, it did not call the public to boycott the protest. He added that the ceiling of demands was rising by the hour thanks to the revolutionary spirit of the young, and that some demands – for the martyrs’ families to receive their rights for example – cannot be delayed indeed.

The Muslim Brotherhood participated in the 8 July demonstration or Retribution Friday.