Egypt's revolution: fanatical Islamists vs bigoted, hateful secularists

Thousands of fresh faces poured into Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday, July 29, packing the hot concrete plaza all the way to its metal barriers, as speeches and chants echoed into nearby neighborhoods. The demonstration was more than three times the size of the crowds in recent weeks, when youth activists had maintained a sit-in. But the event — ostensibly a rally for national unity — may have thrown a wrench into the plans and dampened the pride of the young liberals who have steadfastly clung to the square demanding fulfillment of their "revolutionary demands." That's because most of Friday's protesters weren't liberals.

"We came because we want Islamic law to be implemented," said Amgad Ali, a Cairo lawyer.

... More than a dozen non-Islamist parties were represented in the demonstration, but many nonetheless expressed a feeling of being outnumbered. "Welcome to the infidel section," shouted Rania Rifaat sarcastically to visitors. "I'm upset," she added, looking past the tents into the crowd. "We, the youth, did the revolution. We didn't say that it should be Islamic or whatever. And people felt good. They felt relaxed here. And then suddenly these Islamic liars came, and they want us to go back 300 years....they are like the Jews — they always break their promises," she said of the Islamists. 

Interestingly, this is what Time Magazine characterizes as an Egyptian "liberal." Should be fun times ahead in Egypt. No matter who ends up running it, it'll be a backwards outhouse of a nation.

Barry Rubin at Pajamas Media has some interesting observations about this development.