Mass Protests To Mark Egypt's Revolution

One Year On, How has Egypt Changed?

Emma Hurd, Middle East correspondent
The first anniversary of Egypt's revolution is set to be marked by mass protests calling for the country's temporary military leaders to hand over power.
Activists, frustrated by the slow pace of change, are calling for tens of thousands to gather in Tahrir Square where the 18-day uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak began on January 25, 2011.
"Under Mubarak we were living in a small prison, now (with the interim military leadership) we have a big prison, with more than 12,000 civilians in prison after military trials," Sali Moore, one of the leading figures from the revolution said.
"What we have now is a fake democracy."
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has been accused of widespread abuses of human rights since it took charge of the country in the wake of Mubarak's forced resignation.
Protesters have been killed, beaten and tortured in incidents mirroring the brutality of the old regime.
The council is meant to hand over power to a civilian government within months, but there are fears that it intends to try to cling on.
"SCAF is the regime now," another Tahrir Square revolutionary said. "The military rule is just the same as Mubarak, so we need a new revolution."
Egypt has moved a step closer to a civilian government with the first session of the country's new Parliament, now dominated by Islamist parties rather than Mubarak's political allies.
The Muslim Brotherhood's victory in the first stage of the elections was widely predicted, but it is another source of frustration for the revolutionaries who had demanded secular rule.
"I have no problem with Islam, but when politics and religion come together you are in a danger zone," Sali Moore said.
But the "Tahrirists", whose tweets, blogs and Facebook posts inflamed popular discontent to trigger the revolution, are struggling to re-ignite the fervour of January 2011.
The majority of Egyptians rejected their liberal, socialist ideals at the ballot box, in favour of the more familiar pledges of the Islamists who had long opposed Hosni Mubarak's rule.
:: A year on from the start of the Arab Spring, Sky hosts a debate examining the brave new world created by the uprisings - the dawn of new democracies, the bloodiness of war, and the battle lines redrawn that challenge Western understanding. "After The Arab Spring" will appear from 8-9pm tonight.