Egypt reopens its wounds

A year ago, Islamist Mohamed Morsi was elected president of Egypt. This sunday, his opponents are in to the streets to demand his resignation. At the risk of bloodshed

Panicked at the prospect of facing a new wave of violence, the Egyptians did not have so far forgotten their sense of humor. At sidewalk cafes in downtown Cairo tells this joke: "An Egyptian met Mohamed Morsi and he lists the current problems of the country: the economic crisis, the collapse of the tourism sector, the flee of investment, lack of gas and electricity..."And what can I do?", replied the president. "Resign" said the man". The story sums up the moral of the Egyptians, which oscillates between determination and resignation.

Young seculars behind the slingshot

Sunday is a day of mobilization against the President, on the occasion of the first anniversary of his accession to power. Tens of thousands of protesters are expected in the streets of Cairo. The capital lives in an anxiety before a hurricane. Most shops have lowered their thick metal blinds, only grocery stores remain open to supply families who do their supplies as if they will under siege for several weeks. Children are throwing worried glances to the sky while police helicopters monitor and photograph sensitive areas wher could riots.

Sign of a climate of extreme tension that exists across the country, clashes between supporters and opponents of the head of state began on Friday evening in Alexandria, where three people were killed including an American of 21 years old, teacher at the American Cultural Center. He was stapped in the chest when he was photographing the premises of the Party "Freedom and Justice" (Muslim Brotherhood). Because of the tragedy, the U.S. State Department announced the repatriation of some of its diplomats in Egypt, and Barack Obama expressed, saturday, from Johannesburg, his "concern" about the situation.

The origin of this revolt against Morsi is the compain "Tamarod" - literally "rebellion" - launched by  young seculars. They traveled around the country for two months to collect signatures on a petition calling for resignation of the President. They have got 15 million signatures (they claim 22 million).

"All that interests Morsi and his terrorist allies, is to lock the country into a dictatorship that will ensure only the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood clan", said Ahmed El-Masry, one of the instigators of the campaign in the popular district of Shoubra, in northern Cairo. "They threaten us to death, want to remove our freedom of expression, but they will not succeed". In the street, the young man was distributing red cards on which is written the slogan of the 2011 revolution: "Get out". "Mohamed Morsi wants to teach us our religion, it is not what we expected of him", said Adel Saeed, a retired teacher, adding that "His speeches are seedy and full of grammatical mistakes, he is not worthy for Egypt. "

The army blows hot and cold

Faced with this attack, supporters of the president launched a conter-attack against the petition called Tagarod ("impartiality"), which have collected 11 million signatures. Ahmed Hosni, an Islamist engineer held for ten years in jail under Mubarak's rule, confirms that "The Egyptians have democratically elected Morsi and the Constitution says that he has a mandate of four years. Requesting his resignation goes against democracy". Hosni and his peers will demonstrate at the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in the district of Medinet Nasr, very close to the presidential palace, where opponents of Morsi planned to meet.

While the clash looks inevitable, the fate of the country rests in the hands of the army, blowing in its hot and cold statements. General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Minister of Defence, announced last week that the army would act to "protect the people's will." A message of support to the protesters, as a part of the opposition, who dreams of returning to power to end political instability, understood. And the Egyptians invent this new joke: "Soldiers, if you come again, this time please do it with airplanes, we have already been taken in photo with your tanks."

An article written for the french newspaper "Journal de Dimanche"