March for Egypt In the wake of the continued bloodshed in Egypt, the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) will lead a second solidarity march to Parliament on Wednesday to call for urgent government intervention. Countless lives have been lost in the country since last week, when the Egyptian military imposed a brutal crackdown on loyalists of Muhammad Morsi, the country’s ousted president. The Egyptian government said at least 421 people had died in Wednesday’s violence, while the Muslim Brotherhood claimed 4500 people had been killed. The South African government has strongly condemned the violence and called on the “interim authority to end the bloody actions against its own people. MJC public relations officer, Nabeweya Malick, said the South African community have been left “shocked and saddened” by the level of violence meted out against Egyptians by the government’s armed forces. The MJC has put all current programmes on hold to focus on its solidarity campaign in Cape Town. Two public awareness programmes led by the ulema have already been held at Masjid-u-Rawbie in Portlands, Mitchells Plain and Darul-Islam high school in Surrey Estate in the past few days. “Reports coming through are that 2,000 people have lost their lives since the 14 August. This is not something that any person concerned about the rights of others can witness and not do anything about it. We therefore call on the community to joins us in expressing their condemnation. As South Africans, we have been through the process of achieving democracy where people have a right to express themselves. South Africans would like to the same for the people of Egypt,” said Malick. She said most commentators agree that the response of the Egyptian military has been “heavy-handed and brutal” and negates the principles of democracy. “We as a democratic nation call on to all countries to stand together in South Africa. We have therefore invited the Turkish, Somali and Pakistani and other communities locally to support the protest. The MJC will be handing over a memorandum to the South African government to engage with the Egyptian embassy on this issue as soon as possible.” Asked whether the MJC was taking a clear stance in support of Morsi who remains in detention, Malick said the MJC backed “the democratically elected president 100%”. “If the person has been elected as the president through a voting system, that person is the legitimate leader of Egypt. If a military force uses violent means to oppress those who want to see their president re-elected then naturally there will be a certain amount of resistance and conflict between the two parties. But a military coup, a violent process, came into being and the president was arrested. This is at the core of what has happened in Egypt.” Responding to reports of pro-Morsi supporters also sparking violence in some parts of Cairo by attacking police stations and churches, Malick said: “For people to say that the protestors are violent, it’s like saying that if you are oppressed, you have no right to respond. There is no justice and recognition of the rights of the people. An illegitimate government is in place using violence against the citizens of Egypt. So in any situation, where people are being disenfranchised, then there will be violence from both sides.” On Sunday, 36 detainees were killed in custody, the forth mass killing of civilians since July 3rd. The fresh unrest caps a week of widespread and unpredictable violence that killed more than 800 people nationwide. The ulema body have invited community organisations, Islamic schools and activist groups to join in the demonstration. Protestors are asked to bring their placards along. The march starts from the Muir Street masjid from 11am on Wednesday and will follow the usual route to Parliament.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 19:13:49 +0000
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