CAIRO, July 12 (UPI) -- A pledge by interim Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf to reorganize the country's Cabinet drew criticism from protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
Hundreds of people gathered in the square -- considered ground zero for the protests that led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak -- to listen to Sharaf's speech Monday.
While they clapped when Sharaf said he asked Egypt's highest judiciary panel, the Supreme Judiciary Council, for public trials of scores of police officers suspected of killing about 900 protesters during the 18-day uprising, protest leaders said the speech failed to sway pro-democracy followers, al-Masry al-Youm reported Tuesday.
"Sharaf's speeches don't differ from Mubarak's speeches," said Ramy Kamel, a member of the Justice and Freedom movement.
The Egyptian judiciary should first purge itself, he said, particularly of Mubarak loyalists, who "should be sacked before overseeing the trials" of the former regimes figures.
Hesham el-Bastawisi, vice president of the Court of Cassation and a presidential candidate, also expressed dissatisfaction with Sharaf's speech.
"He didn't say anything," Bastawisi told al-Masry al-Youm. "People need action -- I mean immediate actions."
