CAIRO, Egypt (AP):
ABOUT 300 pro-reform judges staged a sit-in outside a downtown Cairo courthouse yesterday to demand the independence of Egypt's judiciary, under the watchful eyes of thousands of anti-riot police.
Scores of opposition activists organised separate protests in support of the judges, and to mark the first anniversary of a referendum on a constitutional amendment that allowed multi-candidate presidential elections for the first time.
ANTI-GOVERNMENT SLOGANS
In one of the protests, an estimated 70 activists - from various groups including the pro-reform Kifaya movement, al-Ghad party and the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood - clapped and chanted anti-government slogans outside the headquarters of the Journalists' Union in downtown Cairo.
"Release our detained brothers," they chanted, referring to activists arrested in earlier demonstrations. Some participants clutched yellow stickers reading "Kifaya" or "Enough," while others plastered their clothes with green stickers reading "Long Live Justice."
"Oh, our great people. The hour of salvation is near," one banner read.
Riot police in helmets and shields packed several downtown streets around the courthouse and the union, but violence was on a much smaller scale than during protests the previous two weeks.
