Founded 2008 - 2011 | Area served Egypt | |
Founders Tarek Alkholy
Amr Ezz
Abd Alrahman Ezz
Yasser Shams aldden
Mohamed Tarek
Basma Fawzi Type Pressure group
Political group Focus Democracy
Social justice
Free and fair elections
Civil resistance
Secularism Key people Tarek Alkholy
Amr Ezz
Yasser Shams Aldden
Selim Alhwary | ||
The April 6 Youth Movement Democratic Front (Arabic: حركة شباب 6 أبريل الجبهة الديمقراطية) is an Egyptian activist group established in spring 2011 after the differences in the April 6 Youth Movement, led by Ahmed Maher. Differences in the Movement started to appear in April when leaders of the movement announced they would transform it into a NGO or foundation on its anniversary. TV host and founder, Abd Alrahman Ezz, of 6 April ”Democratic Front”, told Ahram Online that the decision was taken without consultation. “It was taken with no respect for democracy, for the majority,” Ezz says. The lack of internal democracy is the main reason why some left the mainstream movement, led by Ahmed Maher, forming the Democratic Front, Ezz says most of the old members joined the Democratic Front. On August 5th, a group of 6 April Youth Movement members in Alexandria announced that they had joined the Democratic Front, leaving the Ahmed Maher front due to what they considered discrimination in decision making processes.
Contents
- Banned movement
- Founders
- Military coup
- Anti Protest law campaign
- Petition to repeal the protest law
- References
The split is not limited to Cairo and Alexandria but also seems to have been reproduced itself across the country. On August 6th, a group of April 6 Movement members in Kafr El-Sheikh governor announced that they joined the Democratic Front, leaving the Ahmed Maher Front. The same happened in Behaira and Port Said.
The April 6 Movement Democratic Front is using the same raised fist symbol as the Otpor! movement from Serbia, that helped bring down the regime of Slobodan Milošević, and whose nonviolent tactics were later used in Ukraine and Georgia, an organization founded by former Otpor! members.
Banned movement
Both movements (maher front and democratic front ) banned by an Egyptian court on 28 April 2014. The Constitution Party condemned the verdict, arguing that the charges against the movement were "false" and that the court ruling was an example of state institutions undermining and destroying the rule of law. Hamdeen Sabahi's presidential campaign warned of the "return to a state of suppression and banning." Abdul Ghaffar Shukr, vice president of the National Council for Human Rights, has stated that the council is prepared to stand in solidarity with the April 6 Youth Movement democratic front, and will aid the movement if it requests assistance. Human Rights Watch condemned the ruling as "a clear violation of citizens’ rights to free association, peaceful assembly, and free expression." The April 6 movement democratic front has vowed to defy the ban, as well as attempt to repeal it.
Founders
Military coup
In July 2013, following the military coup against President Morsi, members of 6 April participated in The Third Square, a movement created by liberal, leftist and moderate Islamist activists who reject both Muslim Brotherhood and military rule. Many April 6 members also played founding roles in the Road of the Revolution Front, an organization dedicated to achieving the revolutionary goals of bread, freedom, and social justice.
Anti-Protest law campaign
The April 6 Movement, Ahmer Maher and the Democratic Front held a press conference on Monday in the Sheikh Zayed city desert to celebrate the seventh anniversary of the movement.Page text.
Sherif al-Rouby, spokesperson for the Democratic Front, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the two fronts had to hold the press conference in the desert after security services canceled reservations made at a hall to hold the event.
Rouby added that they invited a limited number of journalists, fearing security interference, and that the two fronts agreed on uniting the political events they hold without being united themselves.
During the conference, the movement declared a new strategy to deal with the government.
Last month, a court upheld a previous verdict banning the April 6 group which used to be the main opponent against the rule of toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
The movement was formed upon calls for a general strike on April 6, 2008 in solidarity with protests from spinning and weaving workers in Mahalla city against price hikes and low wages.
The Egyptian interim president Adly Mansour, and regardless of the widespread critics,[34] approved a new law restricting protests on 24 November 2013.[35][36]
The law was nationally and internationally heavily criticized with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urging the Egyptian government to amend it or repeal it.[37] UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon added his voice to those criticizing the law for leaving the door open to a very restrictive and repressive interpretation and urged the Egyptian authorities to consider amendments to the law “to make sure that any laws passed are in full conformity with international human rights standards”.[38] Guy Verhofstadt, President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (ALDE), the third largest group in the European Parliament, criticized the new law:"This anti-protest law is against everything the revolution was about. The Egyptian government should withdraw it."[39]
On 26 November, the No Military Trials for Civilians campaign organised a protest at the Shura Council in defiance of the protest law. The protest was violently dispersed by the police, and dozens of well-known activists were arrested.[40] The female activists were beaten and released on a desert road in the middle of the night,[41] while the 24 male detainees remained in custody; most of whom were released on bail a week later.[42]
Petition to repeal the protest law
The April 6 movement democratic front and maher front launched a campaign to annul the Egyptian protest law by a circulating a petition which citizens may sign to indicate approval for law's abolition or redrafting. Leading functionaries from various political factions who have signed the petition include the president of the Constitution Party, Hala Shukrallah, and Mohamed Ghonim, a key member of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party.