" title="youth coalition" class="imagecache imagecache-highslide_zoom">The "Coalition of Young Revolutionaries" said that Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces had promised them at a meeting Sunday night that the government of Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq would be dismissed before upcoming parliamentary elections, belying recent reports that the military planned to dismiss Shafiq within days.
“This is the coalition’s only position on the meeting. Anyone who gives out different information is only speaking for himself,” said coalition member Bassem Kamel, reacting to contradictory reports about the meeting given to the media by other coalition members.
The coalition announced during the same Monday night press conference that it had rejected an invitation to meet with members of the Shafiq government.
The young people said that the meeting with the military had been "very beneficial," noting that there was an understanding between the two parties on most issues. They stressed that the coalition would stand firmly by its original demands.
The coalition says that it gave the military council a list of those demands, which the council welcomed. The coalition said that the military had asked for a list of all political detainees to be released and had responded to demands to dismantle the state security apparatus by saying that the apparatus would be "restructured."
When asked by the youth coalition to dismiss the heads of national newspapers, viewed by many as members of the fallen regime, the military told them that Deputy Prime Minister Yehia al-Gamal was responsible for this file.
The military renewed its promise to the coalition to end the longstanding state of emergency before elections and invited the coalition to take part in the monitoring of elections.
The coalition also asked the military to change laws regulating political participation and the creation of political parties in order to allow for more political freedom.
The coalition also recommended the extension of the transitional phase to one year, as they believe that the six months promised by the military is not sufficient for newly-formed political parties to be able to compete in parliamentary polls.
The coalition wants the formation of a transitional government to work in parallel with the military during the six-month transitional period. They suggest the formation of a presidential council consisting of one military figure and two civilians to run the country along with the transitional government for an additional six months, at the end of which parliamentary elections would be held.
The new parliament would then be responsible for drafting a new constitution.
The coalition says that they military's reaction to their vision for the next phase was “vague,” noting that the council had not articulated whether it approved of it or not.
Coalition member Khaled Taleima says that the coalition had responded to the military's request to stop protests by inviting it to revisit international treaties, which it vowed to respect when it came to power. Taleima says these treaties protect the people’s right to protest.
Taleima says that the coalition had informed the military council that the curfew, which the military imposed from midnight to 6 AM, could be applied on the protesters in the place of their strike. It also stressed that dispersing them with force was against the law.
The youth coalition also said that the military's high council had apologized for using violence against protesters in Tahrir Square on Friday and promised that such an incident would not be repeated. It went on to promise to investigate the incident and punish the responsible parties.
The coalition has called for another protest on Friday to demand the removal of the Shafiq government.
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