Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) head Mohamed Hussein Tantawi gave a televised speech late Nov. 22 to address the renewed protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square and in several other Egyptian cities. He delivered what was meant to appear as a series of concessions designed to reassure people that the ruling military council wants to hand over power to a civilian government as soon as possible, while reaffirming that the first phase of parliamentary elections will go on as scheduled on Nov. 28. However, Tantawi's pledges are actually aimed at manipulating an already fractured opposition. The SCAF wants to portray protesters as the real impediment to stability, while giving the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) leadership a continued incentive to shun the protests and see the elections through. Tantawi promised in the speech to fulfill several of the protesters' demands.