CAIRO, January 31, 2012 (AFP)
Hundreds of Egyptian protesters demanding the end of military rule were prevented on Tuesday from reaching parliament by backers of the Muslim Brotherhood, which holds the majority in the assembly.
Activists had called for a march from Cairo’s Tahrir Square — the epicenterof the uprising that toppled veteran president Hosni Mubarak last year– to parliament.
They want to press the newly-elected People’s Assembly to implement the goals of the revolution, including an end to military trials of civilians, the restructuring of the interior ministry and a guarantee of freedoms and social justice.
But as the protesters moved from Tahrir towards the nearby parliament, they were confronted by a human shield of Muslim Brotherhood members who were blocking the street.
“Badie, you are selling the revolution!” the anti-military protesters chanted, in reference to Mohammed Badie, the Islamist movement’s supreme guide.
The powerful Muslim Brotherhood won a crushing victory in recent parliamentary elections, clinching 47 percent of seats, and are looking to build on their success in the current upper house of parliament elections.
Riot police was also deployed near the parliament building were MPs were holding a session.
Since January 25, pro-democracy groups have organised a series of rallies and protests to mark one year since the uprising that toppled Mubarak and left the military in power.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, led by Mubarak’s ex-defense minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, has pledged to hand power to civilian rule by June when a new president is to be elected.
The military enjoyed hero status at the start of the uprising last year for refusing to shoot on demonstrators, but became the target of protester wrath over human rights abuses and the stifling of dissent.
