CAIRO: Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists organized a mass rally for Sunday to protest presidential candidates ban. Islamists will fill Tahrir Square Sunday to protest the High Elections Council's announcement barring Muslim Brother Shater and Salafist Abu Ismail from Egypt's presidential race, according to a source within the Muslim Brotherhood. “We will not protest immediately. We need to organize and plan first. Within the coming four to six hours, we will be ready to protest peacefully. If our demands are not met, we will not be afraid to resort to other measures,” the source added. Dozens of Egyptians assembled in the Tahrir Square Saturday night after the announcement. An Abu Ismail member confirms the planned protests for Sunday, adding, “The SCAF is dividing the people. They don't want elections. First they accuse April 6 of foreign funds and now they do this. It's all strategic.” Abu Ismail's lawyer projects a “major crisis” in the upcoming hours as the candidate's Facebook page expresses that “If the official decision is to violate the constitution, they should be able to deal with the consequences.” High Elections Commission announced Saturday 10 candidates have been barred from the presidential race. The ultra-conservative Salafist candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, former vice president and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, and Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat Shater are amongst the excluded candidates, reported Al-Shorouk newspaper. Candidates Mortada Mansour and Ahmed Awad Al-Saidi are reportedly also stripped from eligibility. Thirteen candidates now remain for the presidential elections expected to be held May 23 and 24. In recent weeks the presidential race has become increasingly heated in a series of unexpected events. The Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists staged a mass rally last Friday to express anger against the remnants of the old regime. Revolutionary youth movements are planning a major protest for upcoming Friday to “revive the spirit of the revolution.”
