Islamists march to Egypt Defence Ministry
Hundreds of Islamist protesters marched on to Egypt’s
Defence Ministry, denouncing the ruling military council and demanding
that officials of the Hosni Mubarak regime be disallowed from the
presidential race. The protesters included supporters of the
disqualified Salafist candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, whose
candidature was ruled out on grounds that his mother had been given an
American citizenship. Abu Ismail warned last night of “unknown
reactions” of his backers to what they see as “injustice” over his
exclusion from the presidential race.>His comments came shortly after
thousands of protesters, mostly his supporters, marched at midnight to
Egypt’s Defence Ministry, chanting slogans against Field Marshal Hussein
Tantawi. <”Down with the military council,” shouted demonstrators,
calling on the generals who took over from Mubarak step down.>There
has been an increasing perception among the people in Egypt that the
ruling military may try to get a loyalist elected as the next president.
The election commission announced the final list of 13 candidates for
the presidential election on Thursday after disqualifying 10 candidates.
>While two top Islamist candidates were disqualified, the
candidature of Ahmed Shafiq, who served as prime minister in the deposed
Mubarak regime during last year’s uprising, was upheld.Abu Ismail’s
supporters have staged a sit-in in Tahrir Square for more than a week
now, protesting the Elections Commission’s decision to disqualify him
from the race after proving that his late mother had obtained an
American nationality.The protesters have demanded the dissolution of the
elections commission. The military police blocked the roads to the
Defence Ministry but the protesters, estimated to be around 2,000,
stayed overnight near the ministry, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm.In a
poetic post on Facebook, Abu Ismail wrote, “People feel that injustice
blocks the road against them. This makes them leave their homes and beds
and respond to the calls to break the chains”. Before his
disqualification, Abu Ismail had emerged as one of the most popular
presidential candidates. His simplistic rhetoric over following the
Sharia and defending citizens’ dignity attracted much support. This
month an opinion poll by Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic
Studies showed that before his exclusion Abu Ismail had topped the
presidential race with 26 per cent of votes, while Hosni Mubarak’s spy
chief Omar Suleiman, also since excluded, garnered 21 per cent of the
votes
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