Monday, 21 November 2011
An Egyptian walks past graffiti which reads “Down with the military rule” during clashes between protesters and riot police at Tahrir Square in Cairo Nov.19, 2011. (Reuters)
inShare.0By Mustapha Ajbaili
Al Arabiya
A proposed legislation that sought to shield the Egyptian army from public scrutiny has rekindled the violence in the country and increased calls for a speedy exit of the ruling military council from power.
Groups across the Egyptian political spectrum, from the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists to secularist el-Ghad Party, rallied in a million-man march in Tahrir Square last Friday demanding that the legislation proposed by Egypt’s Deputy Prime Minister Ali al-Selmy be withdrawn.
Many suspect that Selmy indirectly proposed the draft law on behalf of the ruling military council.
At the end of the rally, a few thousand activists decided to camp at Tahrir Square until their demands were met, prompting a violent move by military police and security forces to evict the area. The move resulted in deadly clashes and escalated the situation to popular calls for the ouster of Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
The excessive approach by security forces to the peaceful protests evoked the brutality of ousted president Hosni Mubarak and led to prominent political figures and observers adopting a tougher stance on the ruling generals and their suspected dubious behind-the-scene plans.
Tarek al-Bishry, the chairman of Egypt’s constitutional panel, on Monday described the proposed supra-constitutional principles law as “invalid”.
Bishry told Al Arabiya that last Friday’s mass protest at Tahrir Square “has nullified” the legislation, known as the Selmy document.
“Selmy is trying to impose a document that has been rejected by the people and by the political elite. It is, therefore, invalid, and there is no need for him to talk about making amendments to it,” Bishry said.
“The important question to ask Selmy is why the persistence on this document after the Egyptian general public told you we don’t want it; why the persistence on amending something that has wholly been rejected?”
Egyptian presidential candidate and head of el-Ghad party Ayman Nour denounced the military-proposed draft law as unacceptable.
“We will not allow another dictator to rule the country,” Nour said in comments reported by Egyptian media.
“We will fight against only one power claiming authority in Egypt. We will not accept any attempt to divert the attention from the next parliamentary elections,” he added.
Veteran Egyptian journalist and political commentator Farrag Ismail said, “The catastrophe from the ongoing violence in Tahrir Square lies not in the death toll that continues to rise but in the possibility of the army containing the revolution by force.
“Eight months of military rule has given an impression that their appetite to remain in power has grown despite pledges to transfer power to civilians.”
Major General Mohsen al-Fangary has said the Supreme Council of Armed Forces would relinquish power by the end of 2012 provided there is calm in the country during the elections.
Ismail said the condition placed by the army on the transfer of power was a sign the ruling generals were looking to remain in power.
The powerful Muslim Brotherhood on Monday called on the Egyptians to be “alert” against “attempts to re-produce the previous regime in a different form.”
Addressing SCAF, the Brotherhood said, “The people entrusted you to lead the country during the transition period ... and we are not ready to extend it beyond the second half of 2012.”
The movement also urged the ruling military council break its silence and tell the people about their intentions to transfer power to a civilian authority
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