Egyptian authorities are on "high alert" after activists on social media urged citizens to take to the streets on Friday, 12 July, to protest against deteriorating socioeconomic conditions in the country.
The hashtag, "Friday of Dignity" has been trending over the past few days after a video went viral depicting an unidentified man showing the controversial, mostly uninhabited, New Administrative Capital fully lit, during scheduled hours elsewhere of electricity blackouts during an unforgiving heatwave.
The New Administrative Capital has been under construction since 2015 in a desert area, about 45 east of the capital Cairo, and has much sparked criticism since then. The project, costing taxpayers around $US 60 billion, is intended to become the country's financial and administrative centre in a bid to relieve overcrowding in Cairo.
Commenting on the situation in several other video segments that also involved landmarks in Cairo as well as dangerous highways in total darkness, the man said he was deliberately shooting there to prove the call emerged locally, urging Egyptians all over Egypt to hold protests following the Friday Muslim prayers which almost end at 12 GMT.
Since the early hours of Thursday, security force in both uniform and plain clothes have been deployed across main sites in the capital, Cairo, and elsewhere in the country. One key site with heavy security presence is Tahrir square, which played a major role during the 25 January Revolution in 2011.
A security source told The New Arab that "senior police and intelligence officers have been following the situation as the interior ministry's cybercrime sector has been monitoring social media activities and the accounts of anti-regime figures inside and outside the country."
"The authorities have instructed local media outlets [mostly loyal to the regime] to refrain from mentioning any anticipated protests, while online trolls have been countering the calls for gatherings on social media platforms," added the security source, speaking on condition of anonymity for not being authorised to brief the media.
Certain Egyptian celebrities have also encouraged the call for protest too.
Egyptian actor Amr Waked, currently in self-exile outside the country, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, "Time for the restoration of rights… Don’t let your rights be wasted by cowards… Get angry, for anger agonises tyranny…. Don't let go of your children's fate to be at the hands of the insolent."
The impact of the worst economic crisis in Egypt's modern history has been taking a toll, especially on low and limited-income households, who make up almost one-third of Egypt's total population and are under the poverty line in Egypt.
Last month, for the first time since 1988, the government raised the price of subsidised bread, the most strategic commodity, by 400 per cent to reduce what Prime Minister Mostafa Madouly described as "the increasing financial burden inflicted on the state."
Economists believe that severe economic mismanagement has further played a significant role in Egypt's current predicament, particularly with the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi investing billions of dollars in "white elephant" projects, including the new capital.
In addition to freedom and social justice, bread was a major demand that prompted millions of Egyptians to protest against the regime of late long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak back in 2011.
"Egyptian revolutionaries may tend to feel that they have lost to a violent regime that has even ripped them off the simplest right to wish for a better tomorrow," a high-profile political activist argued.
In 2013, the anti-protest law was ratified by interim President Adly Mansour, which banned gatherings and any protests without the prior written consent of the authorities. Since then, thousands of activists have been either detained or sentenced to prison in violation of the notorious law.
"We have sustained major losses during earlier endeavours amid laws that curb public assemblies. But sooner or late, Egyptians will have to rise again," concluded the activist, asking to remain anonymous for safety reasons.