Brotherhood to join anti-violence Friday; Salafist Nour Party refrains

Ahram Online , Wednesday 13 Feb 2013

The Muslim Brotherhood will lend a 'symbolic' presence at a demonstration planned for Friday at Cairo University

The Muslim Brotherhood announced Wednesday it will participate in the "Together against Violence" demonstration planned to take place Friday in front of Cairo University.

The action was initially called for by Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya's Construction and Development Party. The ultraconservative Islamist party had wanted to hold demonstrations earlier last week but postponed the event due to the reluctance of other Islamist parties to join.

The Brotherhood released a statement confirming they will be answering the party's call this week, "to protest all methods of thuggery, the killing of civilians, attacks against the police and assaults on state institutions."

The Brotherhood said its members would bring a "symbolic" presence at the demonstrations, as the group will not mobilise in large numbers, in order to focus on "developing and constructing the country."

Meanwhile, El-Nour Party member Ashraf Thabet told Ahram Online his party made a decision not to participate in any demonstrations believing, "they only fostered the current crisis which harms the country and its economy."

"We will instead exert all our efforts to solve the crisis," Thabet added.

The call to protest comes after opposition currents held several mass demonstrations in recent weeks, most of which ended violently with clashes erupting between police and protesters.  

In response, El-Nour Party had announced an initiative in coordination with the National Salvation Front to end the current state of national political polarisation. The initiative was referred by the president to the national dialogue meetings called for by the presidency and ongoing for several weeks.

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