Egypt: Judges Demand Independent Judiciary

forbes: About 300 pro-reform judges staged a sit-in outside a downtown Cairo courthouse Thursday to demand the independence of Egypt's judiciary as thousands of riot police watched.

Scores of opposition activists organized separate protests in support of the judges and to mark the first anniversary of a referendum on a constitutional amendment that allowed multicandidate presidential elections for the first time.

In one of the protests, an estimated 70 activists - from various groups including the pro-reform Kifaya movement, al-Ghad party and the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood - clapped and chanted anti-government slogans outside the headquarters of the Journalists' Union.

"Release our detained brothers!" they chanted, referring to activists arrested in earlier demonstrations. Some clutched yellow stickers reading "Kifaya" or "Enough," while others plastered their clothes with green stickers reading "Long Live Justice."

"Oh, our great people. The hour of salvation is near," one banner read. Read more