Protests continue in Cairo

Protests raged on into the night Friday in Cairo's Tahrir Square as both Islamist and liberal demonstrators came together to voice their distrust of the military.

The army had promised to stick to its timetable to hand over power to a new president after the May elections... but recent comments from military officials suggest they might also want to have a new constitution in place before the handover which has added to popular worries about the military's true ambitions.

A council of military generals stepped in 14 months ago after mass demonstrations in Tahrir ousted Hosni Mubarak.

Although broadly united in criticism of the army, the demands of Islamists and liberals are not fully aligned.

Liberals fret about the strength of political Islam after Islamists - notably the Brotherhood and smaller, harder line Salafi movement - swept a parliamentary vote in December.

Two leading Islamist candidates, one representing the Muslim Brotherhood who was seen as the frontrunner, were among those disqualified this week from a vote that starts on May 23-24.