Politicians, activists mark 60 years since Egypt's 1952 Revolution in Tahrir Monday
Hamdeen Sabbahi, Nasser's family to join activists and poets to celebrate 60th anniversary of Egypt's 23 July Revolution on Monday evening in Tahrir Square
Ahram Online, Monday 23 Jul 2012
Tahrir square (Photo: Reuters)
Several Egyptian political forces on Monday will celebrate the 60th anniversary of Egypt's 1952 Revolution – which led to the overthrow of Egypt's 150 year-old monarchy – in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
The event will be attended by several prominent political figures, including former Nasserist presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi.
Celebrations commemorating Egypt's 23 July Free Officers' revolution will begin after Taraweeh prayers (traditionally performed following evening prayers during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan) in the Omar Makram Mosque, located adjacent to Tahrir Square.
Festivities will kick off with a film documentary prepared by Hoda Gamal Abdel-Nasser, daughter of the late Egyptian president Gamal Abdel-Nasser entitled, "What do you know about the 1960s?"
Along with Sabbahi, the event will be attended by Abdel-Hakim Abdel-Nasser, son of the late president; prominent poets Sayed Hegab, Gamal Bekheit and Ahmed Ismail; and famous 1990s-era singer Iman El-Bahr Darwish.
A parallel celebration in Tahrir on Monday evening will also mark the 21st birthday of slain Coptic-Christian activist Mina Daniel, who was killed alongside 26 other protesters during the Maspero clashes last October.
Not all of Egypt's political forces, however, will be attending the 23 July celebrations.
Ahmed Maher, founder of Egypt's April 6 Youth Movement (which played a prominent role in last year's Tahrir Square uprising), called on Egyptians to use the occasion to stage protests against military rule and Egypt's quasi-ruling military council.
On Friday, Maher declared on Twitter that, if mass gatherings are to take place on 23 July, they should be held to demand the end of military rule and not to celebrate "the military's revolution." Maher added that "the only true Egyptian revolution was last year's January 25 Revolution."
In reaction, Mostafa Abdullah, member of the Nasserist current in the Upper Egyptian city of Qena, told Al-Ahram's Arabic-language news website that Maher's statement was "provocative." He added that the "glorious July [1952] Revolution can't be erased from the history of Egypt and the Arab world."
On Sunday evening, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi – who hails from the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood which was persecuted by the Nasser regime in the 1950s and 1960s – congratulated Egyptians on the occasion of the 1952 Revolution's 60th anniversary.
Morsi went on to give Abdel-Nasser's revolution credit for "creating Egypt's First Republic."
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