Cairo: Having just squeezed his taxi into a long queue of cars near a petrol station in eastern Cairo, Mohammad Mustafa fumes as he outlines his decision to join Sunday’s protest campaign against Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi.
“I spent three hours this morning driving across Cairo looking for a petrol station to refuel my car on which I depend to feed my family of six,” he says.
“All those petrol stations put up one and the same sign saying there is no petrol. I’ll spend at least one more hour waiting for my turn to buy the petrol from this station. Who will compensate me for my lost time? We have not seen such a problem before. Mursi and his inefficient government bear the blame for this.”
Mustafa, a 59-year-old diabetic, is one of thousands of Egyptians who say they will take part in the opposition campaign to oust Musri, a year after he took office.
“I did not take part in the revolution against Mubarak, but I was extremely happy when he was toppled because he was the head of a corrupt, unjust regime,” says Mustafa, referring to a 2011 uprising against the former president.
“Almost three years after Mubarak’s removal, Mursi and his (Muslim Brotherhood) group are making our life worse. They have become like Mubarak but with beards!”
In a recent speech marking the first anniversary of his inauguration, Mursi admitted mistakes, but blamed Mubarak’s loyalists for many of the country’s problems, including security breakdown and frequent electricity outages.
“June 30 represents the start of a second revolution for Egypt against the Brotherhood who hijacked the first revolution,” said Salah Abdul Ghafour, an opposition activist, who had participated in the 18-day protests against Mubarak.
“I realise that the new revolution will be tougher because we are facing a group, which manipulates religion to keep power and brand opponents as infidels. But I believe that Egyptians will not allow this fascist regime to stay in power.”
