Egypt bans a demonstration for democracy

The Egyptian authorities yesterday banned a demonstration intended by activists for democracy to be held tomorrow in Cairo demanding the introduction of political reforms in the country.

The police said that the banning decision came in the context of the instructions of the ministry of the interior which ban public aggregations and demonstrations in the streets.

The organizers of the demonstration said they will set a new date for it and will take the authorities to court if it continues its decision to ban the demonstration. The coordinator of the committee for defending democracy Hussein Abdul Raqqaz said that the security authorities informed him its disapproval to license a march towards the office of President Hosni Mubarak where the demonstrators intend to hand over a petition calling for political reforms, describing the ban as "non constitutional and illegal."

The committee which had already started a national campaign demanding in a statement President Mubarak to make reforms such as making presidential elections and canceling the emergency law in the country and permitting the formation of political parties and publishing newspapers and that the ban decision constitutes a new violation for human rights in Egypt.