CAIRO, May 25 (UPI) -- More than 350 judges gathered at the high court in central Cairo to press for the independence of the judiciary from the executive authorities.
Hundreds of security forces besieged the building where the judges called for enacting a law they drafted in 1991 calling for full independence of the judicial authorities and direct election of judges, instead of their appointment by the president of the republic or the justice minister.
Although the judges called on political activists to stay away and refrain from chanting anti-government slogans, some 100 activists from the Movement for Change, Kifaya, (Enough) and the Popular Campaign for Change gathered at the nearby syndicate of journalists to express support for the demands of the judges.
The protesters raised signs calling for the release of colleagues who were rounded up in recent weeks for demonstrating against the trial of two reformist judges who cited violations in Egypt's general elections last year.
They also chanted slogans such as "release the prisoners", "down with the emergency government" and "no for imprisoning journalists."
Despite the large security presence no clashes occurred unlike previous weeks when security forces rounded up more than 500 demonstrators from Kifaya and the Muslim Brotherhood Organization.
But a statement by Kifaya said security forces arrested its general coordinator in the city of Qana in Said province Ashraf Abdel Aziz "for insisting on exercising his constitutional right for expression and demonstration without a prior permission from the authorities."
