Egypt: Hundreds march for President Mohammad Mursi protest

Cairo: Hundreds of people marched on Cairo’s Tahrir Square Friday calling for Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammad Mursi to resign and demanding early elections, AFP correspondents and local media reported.

The demonstration was called by a number of opposition groups, including the Al Dustur party of former United Nations atomic watchdog chief Mohammad Al Baradei and the April 6 movement which spearheaded the 2011 uprising to oust then president Husni Mubarak.

Marches originated in various parts of the capital and were to converge on Tahrir Square, which was the focal point of the anti-Mubarak uprising.

At the head of one march people were carrying two large banners, one reading “an early presidential election” and the other “a unifying constitution for Egypt.”

Marchers from the Tamarod (rebellion) campaign, which claims to have garnered more than two million signatures demanding that Mursi resign, collected more names from people along the route.

State media said security had been beefed up around the interior ministry, close to Tahrir Square, as it has been the scene of violent confrontations in the past.

The opposition accuses Mursi of governing only in the interests of his Muslim Brotherhood, while he insists he is the “president of all Egyptians.”

Since Mursi was elected last June, Egypt has continued to suffer from a serious political and economic crisis, and there have often been frequent clashes, sometimes deadly, between his opponents and supporters.