Egypt's youth movement loses luster The April 6 youth movement itself has shrunken in stature against a backdrop of economic woes and instability, including months of clashes between security forces and demonstrators that have disrupted daily lives. Although the group once had near-heroic status, its troubles have been compounded by the ruling military's success in portraying the group as agents of a foreign-backed insurrection. Together with other youth groups and activists, the group is now trying to organize mass protests Jan. 25 to demand the immediate transfer of power from the military to the newly elected parliament, which is expected to be seated soon. But although leaders of the group say its ranks have swelled over the past year, to 20,000 members from a base of 3,000, they also acknowledge that the organization's reputation has been diminished in the eyes of many Egyptians, a fate they blame on the military and its supporters. They destroyed our reputations. This is more dangerous than detention or arrest," Ahmed Maher, the leader of the movement, said of the military leaders. They have the most powerful weapon of all: the media. In July, the military issued a statement accusing the April 6 group of "driving a wedge between the army and the people." A member of the military council accused the group of getting illicit training in Serbia, and last week four members of a splinter group of the organization were arrested and released on bail after distributing fliers critical of the military council. "Now anyone who creates any problem, people accuse them of being April 6," said Engy Hamdy, a leading member of the movement. The April 6 group soared to prominence after helping to orchestrate the protests that led to Mubarak's ouster. A poll taken last April by the Pew Foundation found that 38 percent of Egyptians regarded the organization as a favorable agent of change, a better showing than the Muslim Brotherhood and one that trailed only Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, the head of the military council, and Amr Moussa, the former foreign minister who became a popular opposition figure. But the group has chosen since to focus on street activism. There have been no recent opinion polls to gauge its popularity, but the recent parliamentary elections suggested that its support has faded badly, with only 2 percent of seats now projected to go to the Revolution Continues Party, the faction most similar to the April 6 organization. Altogether, liberal parties are now projected to take about 20 percent of parliamentary seats, compared with 62 percent projected to go to Islamist officeholders, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood and more conservative Salafists. Political activists, including liberals and Islamists, continue to accuse the military rulers of botching the transitional rule, working against democracy and fatally cracking down on unarmed protesters. As many as 100 people have been killed in clashes with security forces since October, and in the most recent unrest, unarmed women, as well as men, were beaten. To counter the narrative, April 6 is resorting to the tactics it successfully employed a year ago: social media campaigns, demonstrations, graffiti art, online statements and fliers recounting military abuses. The group is also staging daily marches ahead of the Jan. 25 anniversary - despite warnings in government-controlled newspapers that the date will be used by conspirators to destroy Egypt. "Their power in the immediate aftermath of the January uprising was to reach out to people who were not previously politicized," said Heba Morayef, an Egypt researcher for Human Rights Watch. But from July onwards the military successfully constructed a narrative to delegitimize April 6 and to make associating with them dangerous. The polarized feelings were evident at a recent rally in the affluent Cairo suburb of Maadi, where supporters of the April 6 group chanted slogans against military rule but others looked on warily. "These are our enemies," Mohammed Samaha, a 34-year-old, said as he scowled and gestured at the protesters. "April 6 are agents, trained in Serbia by Freedom House and the United States."Among others scurrying past was Fatma Abdelaal, a mother of two college-aged children, who said she wanted nothing to do with the demonstration. Enough with the protests. We want calm," Abdelaal muttered. We're grateful that the revolution deposed Mubarak. I'm sad for the martyrs but the Egyptian army is the best in the world.