CAIRO: Protests
erupted overnight in Cairo and other Egyptian cities calling for the removal of
President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, in a rare show of dissent quickly quashed by
authorities. Hundreds of Egyptians took to the streets late Friday, chanting
slogans including "Leave, Sisi!" and demanding the "fall of the
regime". At least 74 people were arrested, a security source told AFP,
with plain clothed police patrolling side streets of downtown Cairo.

After overnight
clashes with the protesters, security forces yesterday maintained tight control
of Tahrir Square - the epicenter of the 2011 revolution that unseated long-time
autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The country effectively banned protests under a 2013
law and a state of emergency is still in full effect. "I think it's safe
to say that the events of the past few weeks, including the development last
night, pose the most serious legitimacy crisis facing Sisi," Nael Shama, a
Cairo-based political analyst, told AFP.

The protests came
on the back of an online call put out by Mohamed Aly, a disgruntled exiled
Egyptian businessman, demanding Sisi be toppled. The construction contractor
has been posting videos from Spain that have gone viral since early September,
accusing Sisi and the military of rampant corruption. The president flatly
denied the allegations last week at a youth conference and sought to assure
Egyptians that he "was honest and faithful" to his people and the
military.

In Aly's latest
video posted early Friday morning on his growing social media accounts, he
urged Egyptians to head to the streets after a highly anticipated Super Cup
football match between Cairo powerhouses Al Ahly and Zamalek. "No one
shouted bread, freedom, social justice like in 2011, they escalated straight to
'Leave' from the first minute," Shama noted.

Thousands shared
footage on social media documenting the demonstrations, which sprang up in
several cities including sizeable crowds blocking traffic in Alexandria,
Al-Mahalla, Damietta, Mansoura and Suez. Shama, who wrote a book on Egypt's
foreign policy, said the "totally organic" nature of the small-scale
protests was "unprecedented". "This is the first time people
take to the streets in many years but I am not sure it will be the last,"
he added.

Under the rule of
general-turned-president Sisi, authorities have launched a broad crackdown on
dissidents, jailing thousands of Islamists as well as secular activists and
popular bloggers. Sisi led the military ouster of former Islamist president
Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and won back-to-back landslide elections after running
virtually unopposed. He has regularly invoked security and stability as
hallmarks of his reign in contrast to the situations in regional hot spots such
as Iraq, Libya and Syria.

During last
week's youth conference, Sisi again took the opportunity to warn of the dangers
of protesting. On television Friday night, boisterous and pro-Sisi host Amr
Adib lambasted Aly, the businessman, showing footage of him allegedly in a
drunken stupor. Adib urged his fellow countrymen to "take care of the
country... because the Muslim Brotherhood want to raze it to the ground".

The Islamist
group, once considered one of Egypt's most organized political forces, was
outlawed as a terror group in 2013 after Morsi's overthrow. Egyptians quickly
took to social media to criticize Adib, a vocal backer of Mubarak during the
2011 revolution, for dismissing the protesters as "people against the
country". Discontent over rising prices has been swelling in Egypt, where
Sisi's government has imposed strict austerity measures since 2016 as part of a
$12-billion loan package from the International Monetary Fund. Nearly one in
three Egyptians live below the poverty line on less than $1.40 a day, according
to official figures released in July.

Human Rights
Watch urged Egyptian authorities on Saturday to "protect the right"
to protest peacefully and demanded that those arrested be released. Sisi flew
Friday night to New York, where he is scheduled to address the UN General
Assembly next week. The president's office did not comment on the protests,
when asked by AFP yesterday. "Now the ball is in the government's
court," said Shama, the analyst. "They have to respond somehow."
- AFP