Independent and opposition MPs are planning to stage a protest march on Monday, 3 May, from Cairo's Tahrir Square to the nearby parliament building in order to submit a list of political demands to Parliamentary Speaker and ruling party stalwart Fathi Sorour. In light of the Interior Ministry's refusal to grant permission for the march, a security source said the police could use force to stop the event "if deemed necessary." MPs are, nevertheless, insisting on staging the march as planned. "The Constitution gives us the right to demonstrate," said opposition MP Hamdin Sabbahy. "We don't plan on clashing with the police." Marchers will demand the abolition of Egypt's 30-year-old state of emergency, revamped legislation safeguarding citizens' political rights, and the amendment of Articles 76, 77 and 88 of the Egyptian Constitution. In a related development, parliament verbally admonished ruling party MP Nashat el-Qassas, who said last month that "police should shoot protesters rather than dispersing them with water hoses." At a brief parliamentary meeting on Sunday, Sorour read aloud a letter of apology submitted by Qassas, in which the latter claimed his statements had merely been "a slip of tongue." Translated from the Arabic Edition.
