Egyptian Groups Call for Second Round of ‘Rage’ Protests

Egyptian pro-democracy groups are calling for a second round of so-called “rage” protests on May 27 because of a lack of political progress and perceived failure to prosecute members of former President Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
The protests are proposed by several groups including Six of April Youth, which helped organize the first of a series of protests on Jan. 25 that led to Mubarak’s departure in February. Demonstrators will demand speedy trials for members of the former regime, the dissolution of municipal councils and establishment of a 50-member committee to advise Egypt’s ruling military council, Mohamed Adel, spokesman for the group, said.
“We see the need to continue the revolution because the real symbols of the former regime have not been held accountable yet,” Adel said. “We also want the military to approve forming a committee that represents groups like us for consultation on governance in order to add a civil element that keeps the revolution’s goals in sight.”
Protesters in the North African country first called for a “day of rage” on Jan. 28, when hundreds of thousands took to the streets to demand an end to the thirty-year-old regime of Mubarak. Three months after the president’s ouster, two sentences have been handed down to the former ministers of interior and tourism on corruption convictions.
Egypt is disintegrating socially and its economy “is bust,” said Mohamed ElBaradei, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency and possible candidate for the Egyptian presidency.

‘Disintegrating’ Society

“Right now, socially, we are disintegrating,” ElBaradei said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” scheduled to air today. “Economically we are not in the best state. Politically it’s -- it’s like a black hole. We do not know where we are heading.”
ElBaradei said many Egyptians don’t feel secure as the country struggles to create a new government after former president Hosni Mubarak was forced from power by protests earlier this year.
“The momentum the call has gained shows growing concern among Egyptians that the aims of the revolution have not been achieved,” Hassan Nafaa, political science professor at Cairo University and former coordinator of ElBaradei’s National Association for Change, said by telephone from Cairo. “There’s a feeling the government and military are not doing enough to change the status quo.”
By Ahmed Namatalla taken from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-22/egypt-groups-call-for-second-round-of-rage-on-lack-of-change.html