Hundreds of Egyptians on July 23 braved scorching heat to demonstrate against the ruling military council, refusing to dismantle a protest camp they had set up two weeks ago in central Cairo. “Down, down with the rule of the military,” they chanted after performing Friday prayers in Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February. “We, the people are the red line,” they added. They kept up their protests despite a Cabinet reshuffle this week and official promises of faster reforms.
Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, in a speech after his new Cabinet was sworn in on July 21, promised to set up an anti-corruption body and work to scrap a 30-year-old emergency law. He also said the interior minister would appoint a human rights adviser, and that human rights and civil society groups would have access to prisons to monitor prisoners’ rights. But activists said the moves were not sufficient. “We are continuing the sit-in because the families of the martyrs have demands that have not been met yet,” said Shadi Ghazali Harb from the Youth Coalition. Harb said the Youth Coalition was forming a committee to meet the interior and justice ministries to press the demands of families of the 840 Egyptians killed in the anti-Mubarak revolt. Their demands include putting officers charged with shooting demonstrators into “protective custody so they would not intimidate the families of martyrs” and appointing a new prosecution team to swiftly look into outstanding cases of killings of protesters.