Protests against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces continued in and around Tahrir Square today as Egypt still awaited word of who had won the recent presidential runoff. In response to the protests, the military administration claimed that it was acting in the nation’s interests when it recently seized various powers for itself, including legislative authority.
Freedom and Justice Party presidential candidate Muhammad Morsi held a press conference today and appeared alongside a range of figures, among them Ahmed Maher and Wael Ghonim. Morsi called upon the military to cede power to an elected government and stated that protesters in Tahrir Square would continue to demonstrate until the military did so. Moreover, he rejected the recent dissolution of the parliament.
Reportedly numbering in the tens of thousands, the flag-waving, mostly Muslim Brotherhood-supporting, crowd was committed to remaining in place until a new president was announced. Not all demonstrators support the Brotherhood itself, however, as Wael Ghonim noted: “Our support is not to the Brotherhood, but to legitimacy and democracy against any attempts [to subvert them] by anyone—either those with guns or those waging misleading media campaigns.”