Egyptian troops warned against protest

Egyptian authorities on Friday blocked access to the Sinai peninsula to prevent a march from Cairo to Gaza, as thousands protested at the Israeli embassy in Cairo, AFP correspondents said.The march was due to leave from Cairo's Tahrir Square on Saturday to protest the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, and call for the right of return of Palestinian refugees and the release of all Palestinian prisoners."Peace Bridge", one of the main access routes to Sinai from mainland Egypt, has been closed to all but residents of the peninsula.

Dozens of Egyptian Muslims gathered outside a Cairo mosque on Friday to protest against a senior Coptic Christian bishop who cast doubt on the authenticity of some verses of the Koran.Around 150 men gathered outside the Al-Fath mosque in central Cairo after Friday prayers calling for an Islamic state and condemning statements by Bishop Bishoy, a security official told AFP."They were very angry about some of Bishop Bishoy's statements," the official said, adding that the demonstration ended quickly without incident.

The judge in ousted president Hosni Mubarak's retrial stepped aside on Saturday, in a chaotic opening hearing that lasted just seconds and saw a proud and combative Mubarak smile and wave in the dock.

An Egyptian military court sentenced a blogger who criticised the army to two years in prison on Wednesday after he went on a hunger strike to protest an initial three-year sentence."In the name of the people, Michael Nabil has been sentenced and punished with two years in prison and fined 200 pounds ($33)," the court said after a retrial.Nabil, who had criticised the ruling military on his blog and called on people to avoid the draft, had been sentenced to three years in April in a widely criticised trial.

Egyptian authorities detained three activists on Thursday for putting up posters calling for nationwide protests on Friday, which the country's Islamists have vowed to stay away from.The three, including film director Aida al-Kashef, were held by military police in central Cairo as they put up posters calling for the Friday demonstration dubbed "the second revolution", their lawyer told AFP.

Thousands of Egyptians activists marched onto Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square on Friday to demand former regime officials be purged and put on trial, including ousted president Hosni Mubarak.Draped in Egyptian flags, Muslims were joined by Christians as they gathered for weekly prayers in a protest dubbed the "Day of Trial and Cleansing" to press the ruling military council on promised reforms and justice.