Some 40 MPs and politicians organized a sit-in outside the Supreme Court on Monday to demand the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) put an end to violence against protesters. They are also demanding an independent investigation into the clashes and the handover of power to a civilian president by 25 January.
The decision came after political parties and movements held a meeting at El Sawy Culture Wheel in Zamalek on the same day to discuss the current situation in Egypt. The participants included Freedom and Justice Party representatives Mohamed Beltagy and Osama Yassin, MPs Amr Hamzawy and Mustafa al-Naggar, Wafdist Wahid Abdel Meguid, the Coordinator of the Democratic Alliance, Kefaya Movement co-founder George Isaac, Mohamed El Sawy, Shadi al-Ghazali Harb, and Hazem Abdel Azim.
The participants demanded the SCAF bring an immediate end to acts of violence against the Tahrir Square protesters and transfer power to a civilian president on 25 January. They also demanded that, in his capacity as acting president, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi appoint an independent committee headed by Chancellor Zakaria Abdel Aziz to investigate the events that took place in front of the cabinet and on Qasr al-Aini Street.
Meanwhile, Isaac told Al-Masry Al-Youm, “Major General Adel Amara’s statements on behalf of the SCAF during the press conference held this afternoon were completely unconvincing for anyone who thinks about them.”
“They showed a video made by the armed forces showing injured soldiers, but they did not show any images of the attacks by soldiers on the protestors during the events,” he said. “He didn’t even give a suitable comment concerning the picture of the girl who was beaten and dragged naked in the street. Is this acceptable?”
Ahmed Khairy, a member of the Egyptian Liberal Party’s Technical Bureau, and who resigned from the cabinet's Advisory Council in protest at the SCAF’s behavior, said he had received a phone call from Mansour Hassan, chairman of the Advisory Council, inviting him to attend a meeting held between the council and the SCAF. However, Khairy explained that the entire Advisory Council had already resigned and therefore ceased to function, and so refused to attend the meeting.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
