CAIRO
Pro-democracy protesters staged marches in several parts of the country on Tuesday to mark the third anniversary of the ouster of longtime autocract Hosni Mubarak following Egypt's January 25, 2011 uprising.
Amid tight security on main streets and around government offices countrywide, protesters marched to commemorate Mubarak's relinquishing of presidential authority on February 11, 2011.
In Alexandria, the "7Elsobh" ("7am") protest movement, which organizes early morning rallies against Egypt's military-backed interim government, staged demonstrations in four neighborhoods of the coastal province.
"The people want the fall of the regime," protesters shouted in unison – a chant first heard during the 2011 uprising. They also called for national unity and "retribution" for protesters killed by security forces since 2011.
Some of them flashed the four-finger "Rabaa salute" commemorating hundreds of supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi killed last August during the violent dispersal of two pro-Morsi sits-in camps in Cairo and Giza.
In 6 October City west of Cairo, another group of protesters formed a human chain to condemn the "military coup" that unseated Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, last July.
In the northwestern Suez province, the "Hasm" ("Determination") protest group also organized a Tuesday morning rally, holding up photos of several young men who were arrested – along with what is thought to be thousands of others – in an ongoing government crackdown on dissent launched in the wake of Morsi's ouster.
Mubarak, who had ruled the country since 1981, relinquished the presidency after 18 days of mass demonstrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square and other parts of the country by protesters demanding "Bread, freedom and social justice."
By Sayed Noon
englishnews@aa.com.tr
