Pro-Islamists protest Egypt elections

CAIRO, April 20 (UPI) -- Marchers in Cairo Friday warned the Egyptian military not to exclude Islamic organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood from a role in the upcoming elections.

Several thousand protesters paraded into Tahrir Square to denounce the recent ruling by the national elections commission to block 10 candidates from the presidential ballot and call for the Supreme Council of Armed Forces to back off from trying to thwart the will of the people.

"Every party has its own side interests but in the end we are all united with a common enemy and under one slogan: down with the SCAF," said a spokesperson of the 6 April Youth Movement.

Bikyamasr.com said the Muslim Brotherhood and other Muslim organizations denounced the ruling as a maneuver to keep them out of the government.

"There is a brutal war being waged against the Muslim Brotherhood and all Islamists in Egypt, seeking to exclude them from executive positions … and writing the constitution," said a joints statement from the Muslim Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party.

Similar protests took place Friday in Alexandria, Suez and other Egyptian cities demanding the SCAF relinquish power and also bar associates of former President Hosni Mubarak from entering politics, the Middle East News Agency said.