Monday’s nationwide student-led protests and strike in Egypt turned out to be rather muted, as we mentioned earlier this week. Writing in Al-Ahram, Hossam Tammam accuses the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, which did not take part, of being “too old school” to coordinate protests with other opposition groups. Tammam points to the group’s “strict hierarchy” and “far-reaching agenda” as reasons it sits out on ad hoc protests with narrow demands, such as the April 6th movement. “To add to the confusion the MB is divided between the conservatives who want to keep doing things the old way and the new breed of Islamic activists who are interested in taking part in public protests, whether rigidly organised or not.”
While the low turnout for the April 6th demonstrations disappointed activists, the scale of arrests makes clear that there were at least some protests in several cities. Amnesty International reports (as noted by Impunity Watch) that “protesters were arrested in Alexandria, Kafr al-Sheikh, Manufiyya, Port Said, Qalyubiyya, Sharqiyya and Fayoum and at Ain Shams University.” Meanwhile, Global Voices Advocacy reports that Abdel Rahman Fares, the blogger who was arrested Sunday for handing out fliers about the protest, was released from jail Tuesday night, but is now missing.