CAIRO: A group of online Egyptian supporters of Gamal Mubarak have launched an online “conference” in an effort to counter the Egyptian Campaign Against the Bequeathal of Power. The activists have issued a statement rejecting the conference spearheaded by leading opposition figure and Bikya Masr blogumnist Ayman Nour and his fellow leaders, saying that the group “supports Gamal Mubarak” on their Facebook group.

The online movement to buttress support for Gamal Mubarak – the son of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and likely next president – comes only days after Nour and opposition parties and groups came together to voice their opposition to the alleged succession of Gamal. The National Electronic Conference said they reject “all statements made by the opposition leaders” on Wednesday.

In a statement from the group, the activists warned against criticizing Gamal Mubarak, Secretary of the Policies Committee of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), saying that younger Mubarak is a “red line” and the pro-government supporters would “not accept any attempts to tarnish his image in front of the Egyptian people.

The statement included a number of recommendations, including the establishment of similar conferences during the coming period to respond to the opposition’s actions.

The “conference” recommended the prosecution and disclosing of all “radical opposition” in Egypt, “which distorts the image of the National Party and its leaders, symbols and makes its political sword on the necks of leaders of the party, hardworking honest people who seek for the good of this nation.”

Opposition activists and average citizens have laughed at the Facebook activities taken by pro-Gamal supporters in recent days, saying it “is their last chance to have some popularity with the dying government.”

Ahmed Ramadan, a waiter at a Cairo cafe who happened upon Wednesday’s meeting in downtown Cairo, told Bikya Masr that he believes the government is “dead” and that “no matter what they try to do, getting young people to speak publicly in support of them, we, as a people, do not support Gamal Mubarak at this time because we are not Syria and we do not have Pharaoh’s anymore.

The Facebook campaign also announced the launching of yet another new campaign in response to what they called “the front of Ayman Nour.” The activists said “we want you to support and endorse Gamal Mubarak.” There are plans to take the campaign wider and into the streets, their activists said, as well as the creation of an “electronic Committee for the Defense of the National Party and its leaders and symbols.”

The organizers of the conference explained that they have succeeded in achieving their objectives and were able to produce a new set of educated and informed “cadres defending principles of the homeland in response to the opposition.”

**reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam

BM

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