Thousands of Egyptian activists marched on Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday, staging fresh protests against Egypt's military rulers a year after the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak.
Egyptians streamed out of Cairo's mosques shouting “down with military rule.” The massive crowds joined a small group of protesters that have camped out in Tahrir square since the one-year anniversary of the uprising on Wednesday. They chanted, “'This time we'll not leave until our demands are met.''
Friday's new wave of pro-democracy demonstrations marks the first anniversary of the “Day of Rage,” the climax of last year's 18-day revolt.
Many protesters are demanding the immediate end to military rule and the transfer of power to a civilian government. Protester Bassem Al-Ougazy says military rule has not changed much from that of Mr. Mubarak's government.
''Ousted president Mubarak left power and Mubarak the second replaced him . We need to free Egypt from corruption, we need a clean Egypt without corruption.''
The election of a newly-seated lower house of parliament has failed to satisfy many liberal politicians and activists, who say the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has resorted to the same brutal tactics used by former President Mubarak to quell dissent.
The military council, led by Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, has promised to hand over power to an elected president by the end of June.
The council has made several apparent concessions to reformists in recent days, pardoning about 2,000 prisoners and promising to partially lift the country's 30-year-long state of emergency. But, the ruling military said authorities will continue to apply the widely-disliked law in fighting acts of “thuggery.”
The New York-based Human Rights Watch says the exception is an “invitation to continued abuse” and an “insult” to Egyptians. It says Egypt's military rulers frequently have described “peaceful” demonstrators as “thugs” and put them on trial in military courts for the offense.
— EGYPTIAN PROTESTER 1
“Our demand is to continue to the uprising, it is to move forward the transfer of power to civilians. We want to maintain the stability of the country.”))
