STREET
DEMONSTRATIONS SHAKE NASSER GOVERNMENT
Street demonstrations of students and workers in Egypt February 21-26 shook the Nasser government more severely than at any time since it came to power in 1954, according to accounts beginning to filter through the tightest censorship "ever seen in Egypt."
The demonstrations began in the industrial town of Helwan, just south of Cairo, the day after a military court meted out light sentences to air force commanders accused of negligence in the conflict with Israel last June.
In a dispatch from Cairo published in the March 2 issue of The Christian Science Monitor, John K. Cooley reports:
"The local ASU [Arab Socialist Union] and Socialist Youth League chapters decided to call out workers in Helwan's iron and steel, munitions, and aircraft factories."
The police used shotguns, injuring 23 according to the government. Eyewitnesses claim there were fatal casualties. The demonstrators returned to work but news of their action spread.
In Cairo, Alexandria, Assiut, Tantah, and many other towns, students and workers staged demonstrations, calling for a new trial and adding their own political demands. These included political freedom and an end to military and one-party rule. In formal demands presented to parliament and Nasser's palace, they asked for free elections, dissolution of the ruling Arab Socialist Union, and the resignation of Sharawy Gumaa, the interior minister who ordered brutal repression of the demonstrations.
On February 25, the government announced that new trials had been ordered. At the same time the Interior Ministry warned the students that under Egypt's permanent martial law unauthorized demon-
strations are banned.
"But the students poured into the
streets by the thousands," Cooley con-
tinues. "Stunned police retreated across
the Nile bridges under a hail of stones,
sticks, and firecrackers.
"They regrouped and charged with
sticks, fire hoses, and tear gas. Two
girl students from Al Azhar managed to
rustle two police horses and led a coun-
tercharge of students.
"'The mood in Cairo Sunday was
revolutionary,’ said one shocked middle-
glass Egyptian. ‘No one knew then and no
one knows now where it will lead.
"One of the student ringleaders
said ‘when the people in Demar district,
near Ain Shems, saw the police action,
many joined us.'"
One student told Cooley that he
was not against Nasser personally. "But
he must wake up. His entourage has led
the country to the brink of ruin."
The student continued: "The Is-
raelis are practically at the gates of
our main cities, and yet one group of
overfed military men tries another group
when they should all be on trial. What
a mockery."
Another student said: "The low
standard of living, the hopeless feeling
that there is nothing for a graduate ex-
cept to emigrate -- these are our reasons.
We are moving now and we won't stop. We
are fed up with military government and
all its graft and corruption."
By February 28, troops had taken
over many police duties in Cairo. Al-
though the demonstrations had receded,
tension remained high and "more trouble"
was expected.
NICE