 CAIRO — About 300 university students staged a rowdy protest in downtown Cairo yesterday calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down and further democratic reforms. The protest, held on the grounds of the American University in Cairo, was the latest in a series of demonstrations aimed at increasing political freedoms in Egypt.
| The AUC, eh? Mayhaps some good ideas are getting spread around .... |
Truckloads of police cordoned off the university during the protest, which comes ahead of planned September presidential elections in which more than one candidate — other than the president — will be able to stand. "Change for Change ... Not for Bush," said one student banner in reference to contentious Middle East reform calls by US President George W. Bush.
Another said: "No more extensions. No to Succession," displaying opposition to Mubarak continuing as president or handing power to his youngest son, Gamal. "One of our main demands would be the immediate ... (end) of emergency laws, limitation of how many terms a president can be in office, and free elections observed by UN personnel," said Ahmed El Droubi, one of the protest organisers. Egyptian authorities yesterday barred two leaders of the banned but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood from leaving the country for a meeting in Algeria, one of the two sanctioned men said. Essam el-Erian said he and former MP Mohamed Gamal Heshmat were stopped by passport police at Cairo airport and told them they were "forbidden to leave the country". The passport official gave no reason.
| "And we don't have to, neither! Now git!" |
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