Africa

Home page

Africa

Egyptians back to Tahrir Square against ruling military

20 April 2012 20:26 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Thousands of Egyptians flocked to the capital Cairo’s central Tahrir Square on Friday to hold a mass rally of "self determination" against the ruling military as well as presidential candidates of the former regime, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Members of more than 15 political forces joined the rally, with Islamist forces such as the Muslim Brotherhood group, Salafists and supporters of the excluded presidential candidate Hazem Abou Ismail being the main participants.

Protesters raised slogans that urged the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to hand over power no later than June 30. Some political forces vowed an open sit-in.

"We are here to show the supreme military council that all the political forces are united," Osama Abdallah, member of the Coalition of Revolution Youth, told Xinhua.

"We are here to say: no more military rule," another protester Hady Fatouh said.

Demonstrators rejected Article 28 of the constitutional declaration announced by the SCAF, which grants the electoral commission immunity against challenges of its decisions.

Another demand by those demonstrators was to apply the disfranchisement law passed recently by the parliament to forbid former regime remnants from competing for senior posts in the next 10 years. The SCAF has reportedly referred the law to the Supreme Constitutional Court for discussion.

Egyptians are bracing for a historic presidential vote scheduled for May 23 and 24. However, tensions and conflicts arise because of the constitutional assembly and presidential candidates of the former regime.