While the US hedges its bets and makes appropriate tut tuts, the SCAF in Egypt refuses to relinquish power. The Egyptian police have killed 38 protesters, for which deaths the ruling junta have apologised, with 3,256 people injured. Protesters have been targeted viciously by the military with tear gas courtesy from US suppliers, although the US denies it was purchased with aid money, well, not recently, at any rate, so its spokespeople say.
Medics have been overwhelmed with casualties from the tear gas, with canisters landing in the clinic in this Reuters story at least once a day.
“We get two to three to casualties per minute,” said Salem. “Sixty to 70 percent are suffocation, the rest are pellets or bullets,”
…
“We are seeing serious convulsions,” said Salem. Behind him, a casualty displayed just the symptoms he was describing. From his pocket, Salem pulled a handwritten note detailing the ingredients of “CS gas”, one of the types being used.Many of the gas canisters collected by the activists are unmarked, fuelling speculation that more sinister weapons have been used. The military council on Wednesday denied the security forces had used anything poisonous.
Will the SCAF and most specifically Tantawi, step down and permit presidential elections not just parliamentary elections?
Raafat Fouda, constitutional law professor at Cairo University, agreed saying that it was against the constitutional decree announced by SCAF in March.
“SCAF didn’t rule Egypt through a referendum, then they shouldn’t leave through a referendum either,” Fouda said.
“The people who accepted SCAF as their ruler during the transitional period can make it step down without a referendum,” he added.
However, Fouda favored the scenario where SCAF hands over power to the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC).
Fouda said that according to all the constitutions around the world, when the president fails to perform his duties and the parliament fails as well, the head of the SCC takes over.
“The head of the SCC doesn’t have the right to run for president and he is a respected member of the judiciary,” Fouda said.
The head of the SCC would then be responsible for appointing an interim government to draft the new constitution and hold the parliamentary elections.
Fouda also recommended handing over power to a presidential council.
“As long as the members of the presidential council include people with no specific political affiliation like presidential hopeful Mohamed ElBaradei for example,” he said.
Some protesters in Tahrir suggested that all prominent presidential hopefuls including ElBaradei, Adel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, Hazem Salah Abou Ismail and Amr Moussa be part of the council.
“The political scenarios are many, but the problem lies with whether SCAF is willing to heed to the people’s demands and leave power as soon as possible,” Fouda said.
UPDATE
Parliamentary elections to proceed? “Scaf also said elections would start as scheduled on Monday. There had been speculation that they might be delayed.”
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Egyptians Have Lost Their Fear. There’s No Going Back Now.
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US widely distrusted (with very good reason) in arab world, while ‘Turkey is viewed as having played the “most constructive” role in the past year’s events and its prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, emerged as the most admired leader by far in the region’
I don’t know that SCaF was hailed as saviour of the Egyptian uprising, but still.
RT @asma_akram: Egyptians protesters shouting “if you want to turn this into Syria, we will turn it into Libya” #Egypt #Tahrir #Jan25
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