Egypt Warns Against Street Protests

The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 16, 2006

CAIRO, Egypt -- Egypt warned Tuesday it would deal with unauthorized street protests as violations of the law, suggesting police would likely arrest activists if they demonstrate again this week in support of two pro-reform judges facing disciplinary procedures.

The warning from the Interior Ministry followed clashes last week in downtown Cairo when thousands of riot police beat and chased demonstrators supporting the judges who blew the whistle on electoral fraud in last year's parliamentary vote. Authorities arrested 255 people.

The assault on demonstrators drew worldwide criticism.

The European Union called the police operation "disproportionate" and questioned arrests made under emergency laws that allow detentions without warrants and imprisoning people for months without charge.

"The European Union calls on the Egyptian government to allow civil society activists and other political forces to express themselves freely, to permit peaceful demonstrations and freedom of assembly and to maintain public order by transparent and proportionate legal procedure," said a statement from officials in Austria, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.

The 25-nation EU said it hoped Egypt would not extend the emergency laws beyond 2008, noting that President Hosni Mubarak had promised to repeal the measures and ensure they were used only to combat terrorism, not target political opponents. Egypt renewed the emergency laws last month.

The State Department has also urged the Egyptian government to permit peaceful demonstrations "on behalf of reform and civil liberties."

Gamal Mubarak, who is the president's youngest son and his presumed political heir, talked briefly last week with President Bush while at the White House for meetings with top officials.

Gamal Mubarak is spearheading democratic reform within his father's ruling party. But many in Egypt question whether the changes aim to ensure his father's hold on power.

President Mubarak allowed the country's first multicandidate presidential elections last year. He easily won re-election, and promised further changes in a country he has ruled unchallenged for more than a quarter century.

But parliamentary elections in November and December were marred by violence that killed 14 people, and security forces in many cases barricaded polling sites to prevent opposition supporters from voting.

Egypt's oldest human rights organization _ the Egyptian organization for Human Rights, or EOHR _ described the latest police assaults as a "setback to reform." The EOHR called in a report for the immediate release of detained protesters and an investigation into the conduct of police in last week's protests.

Last week's violence appeared to signal that the Egyptian government, a close U.S. ally, is taking a new zero-tolerance stance regarding protests demanding reform. Critics say Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt since 1981, has backed away from promises for greater democracy.

Hearings in the case of the two judges set for last week were postponed in the face of the demonstrations and were scheduled to resume Thursday.