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reuters

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians demonstrated on Friday demanding that ousted President Hosni Mubarak and other former officials be put on trial and calling for the ruling army council to end 30 years of emergency law.

Mubarak was toppled on February 11, but reformers who drove the protests that brought him down are concerned by what they see as the lingering influence of elements from his administration.

Activists called for Friday's rally to "protect the revolution." One banner in Cairo's Tahrir Square read: "The people want corruption put on trial to save the revolution."

The reformers want tougher steps to recover assets they say Mubarak and others took from the state and seek deeper change in Egypt which is now ruled by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, led by the defence minister who served under Mubarak.

The protesters want to reduce the power of the military ahead of a presidential election, the immediate release of all political detainees and an end to military trials of civilians.

Banners renewed demands for a lifting of the emergency law, which was used to detain politicians and members of opposition groups and widely seen as a way of stifling political life.

"I came because the military has been very slow in putting the people in the old regime on trial. Mubarak has not been charged with murder for the people who were killed," said Alaa Hashim, 28, an engineer, among protesters in Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the uprising.

A legal representative for Mubarak has denied media reports the former president amassed enormous wealth in office, saying Mubarak submitted his final financial statement to the concerned judicial bodies as required by law.