Egyptian pound of a dashing

Why the Tahrir Square will not calm down in any way

Egypt met the two -year anniversary of the revolution with new unrest - they cost the lives of more than 60 Egyptians and led to the introduction of martial law in the northern cities of the country

The police spray tear gas against demonstrators in Cairo

Tahrir is protesting again. "The people want to overthrow the regime!" - Sing the protesters of a new old screaming. "Down with Mursi!" - Others chant. From love to power to power on the crest of the revolutionary wave “Muslim brothers”, quite a bit of time passed. The Egyptians made it clear to the new government that the government does not come down to the distribution of free dinners in poor areas.

Since the time of Mubarak, 10% of Egypt GDP has been subsidizing consumer goods. Mass loyalty was bought by relatively stable prices for gasoline, electricity and bread. After the revolution, when the income from tourism fell significantly, these costs only grew. In 2012, only the energy cost cost Cairo $ 16 billion, which was 40% exceeded the costs of 2011. As a result, public debt amounted to a record $ 240 billion, that is, 55% of GDP. Compared to the distress in Europe, the amount is not so large, but with a 10 percent budget deficit in the country there is simply no money left to serve this debt. The IMF, promising a loan of $ 4.8 billion, set a condition for raising prices, so in December Cairo flooded that the authorities would begin to tighten economic nuts exactly after the anniversary of the revolution on January 25. So it happened.

The struggle of the top

“Port Said will kneel only before Allah”-it is written on the banner of the demonstrators

Over the past week, the Egyptian pound has fallen to a record level over the past eight years, the prices of the main products crawled up. The unrest in Port Said, caused by conviction to the death penalty of 21 fans of a local football club for a massacre they arranged a year ago, spread to other cities, including the capital. “The old fox Mursi does nothing,” says the indignant Mahmoud, a former owner of the store. - Everyone constantly gives money to Egypt - then Qatar, then Türkiye, and the government constantly explains to us that there is no money. And where are they? Rewritten again? I do not want to know anything about subsidies and the economy, I need work and stability. For two years they only talk, but there are no changes. ” President Mursi with all his might is trying to calm the people, but it seems that he is fighting not only and not so much with the crowd as with another strong player - the army.

“Generals of Mubarak have not gone anywhere. They still have huge financial and administrative potential and do not allow to forget about themselves, ”says Pierre Pichinin, a Belgian analyst, specialist in the Arab world. -No wonder the Minister of Defense Abdel Fata al-Sissy did not fail to say that the country is on the verge of collapse and the government needs to negotiate with the opposition, as if he was not part of this government itself! "

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Everyone constantly gives money to Egypt - either Qatar, then Türkiye, and the government constantly explains to us that there is no money. And where are they? Rewritten again?

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Planned massacre?

Eyewitnesses say that last year’s massacre in Port Said, and today's riots were not so spontaneous. “I saw the bodies of the victims of that football match. On TV, it was handed over that they died from a crush, but this is a lie, ”Tastay Nasr El-Din shakes his head, who had lost a year ago in the port of his son. - rolled necks, deep stab wounds, cut throats. It was like execution. " And last year, and today the townspeople celebrate a strange shortage of the police during the match and during the demonstrations: as if someone was interested in introducing troops into the rebellious cities.

“Whether the military has put a hand to this or not, it is not known for certain, but it is obvious that they are trying to use popular anger to weaken their enemies - the Islamists,” says Pierre Pichinin. The only question is, how long the generals will hide behind the crowds or still a certain junta will try to shift Mursi. There is no need to be a seer to understand: such a scenario will not like the “Muslim brothers” accustomed to the armed struggle, and Egypt, which has already been split according to the ideological principle, will begin to build barricades.

Photos: Tara Todras-Whitehill/The New York Times, Reuters