UPDATE | Egypt's president signs protest law

Sunday 24-11-2013 03:23 PM
UPDATE | Egypt's president signs protest law

Egyptian security forces clash with supporters of ousted president Mohamed Mursi at Nasr City district in Cairo November 22, 2013.REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

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CAIRO, Nov 24 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt’s interim president approved on Sunday a law that regulates demonstrations and the right to peaceful assembly, a presidential spokesman has told the state-owned news agency.

The disputed protest law was largely criticized by political parties and human rights organizations before it passed.

“The protest law forbids Egyptians from the rights to assembly, strike, demonstrate and stage sit-ins and it legalizes their murder," said a joint statement by 17 Egyptian non-governmental organizations.

The law stipulates that those who plan protests must notify the interior ministry of protests three days prior to the protest and that they must be granted permission from the police before gathering.

The law grants the police a green-light to use force to disperse protests and bans sit-ins altogether.

"Protesters are not allowed to wear masks or cover their faces," according to Article 6 of the recently-approved law, which makes an exception for women who wear a full-face veil "maintaining the right of women to wear their veil as long as they do not commit crimes during the protest."

This law was originally drafted during the rule of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, who was ousted by the military on July 3 following mass protests against him.

Egyptians took to the street regularly since the January uprising that toppled autocratic President Hosni Mubarak three years ago.

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