Egyptian protesters block parliament

Hundreds are staging a sit-in outside parliament to reinforce their demands that the whole ruling regime step down and not just the president

AFP, Wednesday 9 Feb 2011

Several hundred Egyptian protesters attempted to block parliamentary buildings in Cairo on Wednesday as part of their campaign to oust President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year-old regime.

The building was protected by troops backed by armored vehicles, but there was no violence, with protesters instead staging a sit-in to blockade the lower house, just as others have occupied Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Parliament is dominated by Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), thanks to tight rules on who can stand for election, and the protesters said they saw it as part of his autocratic regime.

"We came to prevent the NDP members from entering. We will stay until our demands are met or we will die here," said 25-year-old Mohammed Abdullah, as the crowd chanted anti-Mubarak slogans and waved Egyptian flags.

"The people did not elect this parliament," said 19-year-old Mohammed Sobhi, a student at Cairo's Al-Azhar university. "We want the entire regime to fall, not just the president, because everything under him is corrupt."

Thousands of pro-democracy campaigners have been camped out in Cairo's Tahrir Square since 28 January to demand Mubarak step down.

The government has offered constitutional reform, and Mubarak will not stand for re-election in September nor engineer his son's succession, but protesters continue to demand that he step down immediately.

Source: Ahram.
Link: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/5276.aspx.