Ahrar Islamist Movement claims disruption of metro, fires on January 28

Ahrar Movement claimed responsibility for disrupting the metro at Ezbet al-Nakhl station, blocking Mehwar highway, and setting fire to two police cars in Lebanon Square, in what they called “a celebration of the memory of Jan 28, 2011”, a day commonly known as the “Friday of Anger.”

Burning tires were used to block the metro, crippling traffic on the Marg-Helwan line. Police extinguished the fire and service resumed. 

The Interior Ministry said late Tuesday that three members of the Muslim Brotherhood were arrested after they fired live ammunition, pellets, and fireworks at a traffic station on Mehwar road.

The Ahrar movement consists of young members of different Islamist groups, including the Hazemoun campaign that supported currently-imprisoned Salafi preacher Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, and Revolutionaries without a Current. It was founded in 2012 during the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’ rule following the toppling of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

On January 26, the movement said in a post on its official Facebook page, “Everyone has to realize that the real battle is deeper than facing a fleeting incident that took place on June 3, 2013, which is called ‘the military coup,’ and much deeper than a fleeting incident that took place on February 11, 2011, which is called ‘the toppling of Mubarak.’”

“We are facing a corrupt and perverted reality that has not left us for one moment since its establishment at the hands of an occupation that has lasted for over two centuries, and has resulted in regimes that can only be seen as an extension of this occupation,” the post said.

Ahrar blamed “military rule” for “destroying the culture, values, awareness, and beliefs of the people,” leaving “those carrying the flag of change” facing “one of the fiercest battles in the history of humanity.”