Sufi group holding a banner in Tahrir Square
April 6 member Mohamed Adel has announced that the movement will hold a large Iftar (Ramadan breakfast) on Friday in Tahrir Square. Adel said that the Iftar planned for Friday will be the biggest ever known.
The April 6 Youth Movement had previously announced that it will join other political forces in a rally on 12 August in Tahrir Square to call for the establishment in Egypt of a civil state.
Groups on Monday announced their participation at a press conference in Cairo. These include April 6, the Social Democratic Party, the National Association for Change (NAC), Tahrir Party and several Sufi orders. The demands of the mass rally, as stated on Monday, include the cleansing of the police; the independence of the judiciary, the prosecution and the media; the independence of Al-Azhar; the cleansing of all state institutions and setting a minimum and maximum wage.
The groups announced that they will be holding an Iftar followed by prayers and cultural activities on a day that has come to be known as 'For the Love of Egypt.'
NAC member Ahmed Bahaa Shabaan stated that there will be a meeting with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and Prime Minister Essam Sharaf to discuss the possibility of staging the event in Tahrir Square.
April 6, on the other hand, had previously warned the government not to trample on the right of citizens to protest peacefully, in a clear reference to repeated attacks by the ruling military council against peaceful protesters in the last 10 days.
Tahrir Square is currently occupied by military and Central Security Forces to prevent any form of protests or sit-ins taking place in the iconic and central site.
The participating groups have stressed their stand against all forms of foreign funding for this event or any planned political action that it spawns.
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