Egypt's military wants dialogue after million-person protest call

Opponents of Egypt’s ruling military council have called for a massive demonstration on Cairo’s Tahrir Square Tuesday. The cabinet offered to resign Monday after another two people were killed, bringing the death toll from clashes since Saturday to 26.

Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) rejected the offer from Egypt's military-appointed cabinet of civilian officials, according to state television.

As clashes on Tahrir Square continue, secular groups that spearheaded the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak have called for a million-man protest Tuesday.

In a Facebook page call to mobilise for the rally, the Coalition of Revolution Youth and the 6 April movement called for the immediate resignation of Essam Sharaf's cabinet and the formation of a "national salvation" government.

They also demanded a presidential election by April 2012 and a complete overhaul of the interior ministry.

But the Muslim Brotherhood said Tuesday it would take part in the talks with the army and the Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party said it would not participate in Tuesday's protest so as to avoid “fresh bloody confrontations with the parties that are seeking more tension".

The United States said it was "deeply concerned" by the violence and called for parliamentary elections, which start next week, to be democratic.

Rights campaign Amnesty International has accused the Scaf of having a worse record on human rights than the Mubarak regime.

"The protests come in response to an escalation of human rights violations by the Scaf over the last half year, and attempts by the Scaf to preserve their power over that of a civilian government, including an attempt to pass a supra-constitutional document that would accord the Scaf veto power over any future parliament and/or future government," the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies said in a statement.

 The Scaf called for an “emergency dialogue to look into the reasons behind the aggravation of the current crisis and ways to resolve it as quickly as possible", a statement said.

It said it had asked the justice ministry to set up a committee to probe the violence, and called on "all forces and citizens to commit to (restoring) calm, and creating an atmosphere of stability with the goal of pursuing the political process".

Two people were killed early on Tuesday in the Red Sea town of Ismailiya, doctors said, as state media reported that clashes also erupted in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

Tens of thousands were present on Tahrir Square on Monday night, after clashes continued for a third straight day between protesters and police in and around the square.

Culture minister Emad Abu Ghazi earlier quit in protest at the government response to the demonstrations, he told state news agency Mena.