Tens of thousands of Egyptians gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square to demand the military hand over power to civilians.<br/> <br />The protesters - who come from across the political spectrum - are also angry at the perceived involvement of the armed forces in the upcoming presidential elections.<br/> <br />One protester said Egypt's military rulers had stopped the Islamist-dominated parliament from being able to carry out reforms and now wanted to fix the coming presidential ballot.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PROTESTER, MOHAMED ABDUL WAHAB, SAYING:<br/> <br />"The parliament, which we appointed so that they will realise our demands, and which is supposed to put in place legislation - the military council is confining them. The presidential elections commission is insisting on carrying out a conspiracy to exclude the Islamists from the political arena. The conspiracy is designed so that specific people win in the end. And that will lead in the end to a new revolution and to greater losses that the Egyptian people do not need."<br/> <br />On Tuesday, Egypt's election commission turned down appeals by Mubarak's former spy chief Omar Sulieman, Salafi front-runner Hazem Abou Ismail , Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat el-Shater and seven other presidential hopefuls against their exclusion from the race.<br/> <br />Friday's protest was the first time in months that liberals and Islamists have held a demonstration under a common banner.<br/> <br />According to the April 6 movement, a popular group that helped organize last year's protests, the Islamist parties are attempting to repair their public image.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MEMBER OF 6TH APRIL ACTIVIST MOVEMENT, AHMED SAMI, SAYING:<br/> <br />"Okay, the religious trend has had losses. It's lost a lot in terms of popularity on the street; it has lost confidence on the street and has been attacked on the street, so perhaps today they have come and joined on the Friday of Re-Uniting the People in order to come back to join the revolutionaries in the square."<br/> <br />The army says it will stick to its timetable to hand power to a new president by July 1 and has promised to oversee a fair vote. But, remarks from the army suggesting it might seek to have a new constitution in place before the handover have added to worries about the military's aim.<br/> <br />Sarah Wali, Reuters
