Egypt’s Salafists Deploy Virulent Rhetoric, Accuse Liberals of Being Foreign Agents

BIKYA MASR: CAIRO: On Friday, Mohamed Amr watched as ultra-conservative Salafists converged on Egypt’s iconic Tahrir Square. Their deafening chants of “Islamic state” resounding throughout downtown Cairo. For him, a liberal activist wounded in the January 2011 uprising that ousted the country’s long-time dictator Hosni Mubarak, it was frustrating.

“I am very worried about the future of the country and how the Salafists are trying to accuse liberals and those of us who fought and bled for change as foreigners in our own country,” he told Bikyamasr.com.

“It is a sad time for the Egyptian revolution. It might be dead and what we are seeing is something very scary,” the former member of the April 6 Youth Movement added.

Making matters worse for the left is the growing anti-liberal sentiment growing on the streets and in mosques.

On Friday, as thousands of puritan Salafists gathered in Tahrir Square to demand that the new constitution for Egypt be an Islamic one, member of al-Gama’a Islamiya Sheikh Mohamed el-Soghir accused secular and liberal activists of pushing a Western agenda.

“Our Prophet [Mohamed] fought the infidels of Mecca, who are now represented by the Liberals,” said El-Soghir in comments published by local media. » | Yussif Ibrahim | Sunday, November 11, 2012