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Egyptians call for end to military rule

Hundreds of Egyptian people have taken once again to the streets of the capital, Cairo, to renew their call for an end to the tenure of the country’s new military rulers, Press TV reports.

The Wednesday protests saw the outraged public calling on the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to swiftly hand over power to a civilian government, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Organizers called on people to stage mass rallies against the body on Friday amid a heightened feeling among the populace that the nation had to ‘reclaim’ their revolution.

However, the head of the military-led interim government, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, vowed not to step down until the Army had “fulfilled its commitments.”

“We will not abandon Egypt before we finish what we pledged to do and committed ourselves to before the people,” he said.

Encouraged by a January revolution in Tunisia, which toppled the country’s Western-backed regime, the Egyptians staged mass protests in February, ousting the regime of the former dictator Hosni Mubarak.

The Wednesday protest followed the ruling council’s refusal to hold presidential election within six months of the revolution as it had promised.

Tantawi, Mubarak’s defense minister for 20 years, has denied reports that the military was after nominating one of its members as presidential runner.

The ruling generals are nevertheless reportedly seeking a political role as the ‘guardian’ of the nation, which will provide the military with the chance to have a say in all the country’s future policies.

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