Egypt's military ruler said Tuesday that presidential polls will be held by the end of June, and offered a referendum on the immediate transfer of power in a bid to contain mass anti-military rallies. Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who took power when Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February, said in a televised address that he had accepted the Cabinet's resignation, a week before crucial legislative polls which he said would be held on schedule. The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) “does not aspire to hold power and is fully willing to transfer responsibility immediately should the people wish it, through a popular referendum if necessary,” Tantawi said. He said the council had accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's Cabinet and had “tasked it to carry on working until a new government is formed... to handle the transition in cooperation with the Supreme Council.” Tantawi said his council was also committed to holding parliamentary elections on schedule on Nov. 28 and to “electing a president of the republic by the end of June 2012.” As news of the statement filtered into Cairo's Tahrir Square, where tens of thousands attended an anti-military rally, protesters began to chant against Tantawi. “The people want the downfall of the field marshal,” they chanted, just blocks away from clashes near the Interior Ministry on the outskirts of the square. The Tahrir Square rally came after days of deadly clashes pitting police against protesters demanding democratic change. Sporadic clashes continued Tuesday, with police using batons, tear gas and birdshot against demonstrators. “Leave!” the huge crowd urged Tantawi from the iconic central plaza, where 10 months ago the same call toppled his long-time boss Hosni Mubarak. Clashes also erupted in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the canal city of Suez and the central city of Qena, the northern city Port Said and Assiut and Aswan in the south, as while as the Nile Delta province of Daqahliya.
