About 50,000 mainly Islamist protesters flocked to Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Nov 18 to press Egypt’s military rulers to transfer power to elected civilians after the cabinet launched a move to exempt the army from parliamentary oversight. The protesters chanted Islamic songs before Friday prayers while others handed out flyers demanding the withdrawal of the constitutional proposal and that presidential elections be held no later than April 2012, instead of at year end or in 2013.
“Does the government want to humiliate the people? The people revolted against Mubarak and they will revolt against the constitution they want to impose on us!” a member of an Islamic Salafi group cried out over loudspeakers. “Down to military rule” and “No to making the army a state above the state” were some of the chants echoing across Tahrir.
A military source was reported as saying on Nov 18 that the army would hand power to a civilian government in 2012, without giving an exact date. A parliamentary election set for Nov. 28 could be disrupted if political parties and the government fail to resolve a row over the proposal that would deny parliamentary oversight of the army, potentially allowing it to defy an elected government. Over 39 political parties and groups said in a joint statement they would rally “to protect democracy and the transfer of power” after negotiations broke down between Islamist groups and the cabinet.