Egypt military offers handover of power
Egypt's military ruler said on Tuesday that presidential polls will be held by the end of June, and offered a referendum on the immediate transfer of power in a bid to defuse tensions after days of deadly anti-military rallies.
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who took power when Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February, said in a televised address he had accepted the cabinet's resignation, a week before crucial legislative polls which he said would be held on schedule.
The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) ‘does not aspire to hold power and is fully willing to transfer responsibility immediately should the people wish it, through a popular referendum if necessary," Tantawi said.
He said the council had accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's cabinet and had ‘tasked it to carry on working until a new government is formed... to handle the transition in cooperation with the Supreme Council’.
Tantawi said his council was also committed to holding parliamentary elections on schedule on November 28 and to ‘electing a president of the republic by the end of June 2012’.
‘He is another Mubarak’
As news of the statement filtered into Cairo's Tahrir Square, where tens of thousands attended an anti-military rally, protesters railed against Tantawi.
"The people want the downfall of the field marshal," they chanted, just blocks away from clashes near the interior ministry on the outskirts of the square.
"We can't trust what he says. The ball has been in SCAF's court for months, and they didn't do anything," said Ibtisam al-Hamalawy, 50.
"Tantawi is Mubarak, copy pasted. He's Mubarak in a military uniform," said Ahmed Mamduh, an accountant.
Protests continue
Tuesday's rally came after days of deadly clashes pitting police against protesters demanding democratic change.
The confrontations continued into the night, with police using batons, tear gas and birdshot against demonstrators in streets leading to the nearby ministry of interior.
Dozens of protesters linked arms to form a corrider as ambulances and men on motorbikes frantically sped back and forth carrying the wounded, as the stinging tear gas wafted into the main square.
"Leave!" the huge crowd urged Tantawi from the iconic central plaza, where 10 months ago the same call toppled his long-time boss Mubarak.
"Say it, don't be scared: The military must go!" they chanted. The SCAF had invited the country's political forces for crisis talks amid spiralling unrest that threatened to derail the election.
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