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Third Square Youth Movement Seeks New Direction for Egypt

As clashes between Egyptian protesters continue, a small group of youth activists support neither the Muslim Brotherhood nor the army and are afraid that the growing tension will lead to more bloodshed.

A girl walks past graffiti on a wall near Tahrir square in Cairo July 21, 2013. Egyptian rappers and graffiti artists who captured the spirit of the youthful rebellion that toppled president Hosni Mubarak are toning down their outrage as the path to democracy has become more complicated. Three weeks since the military ousted Mubarak's elected successor, the Islamist Mohamed Mursi, street artists who want neither religious nor military rule see little place in today's exhausted Egypt for their once defiant w
A girl walks past graffiti on a wall near Tahrir Square in Cairo, July 21, 2013. — REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

While Egyptians against deposed president Mohammed Morsi stand in Tahrir Square, and Morsi supporters gather in Rabia al-Adawiya, another group of activists comes together in Sphinx Square. They refer to themselves as the Third Square, people who reject both the army and the Muslim Brotherhood. This group only contains a few hundred people, but youth activists expect that it will grow as more people get fed up with the current situation.

Although Amr Nazeer, 23, was not participating, he sympathizes with the Third Square. He is critical of Egyptians being forced to choose between two camps. As a young revolutionary who participated in the 2011 revolution and was a "helper" of the April 6 Youth Movement, he still remembers how Muslim Brotherhood youth supporters and young liberals were once unified. Nazeer says this has all changed.

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