Hundreds of Egyptian judges staged a protest outside the High Judges House in downtown Cairo on Monday to express their rejection of the Shura Council (upper house)'s persistence to discuss a judicial authority bill.

Dozens of citizens also joined the peaceful protests to express solidarity with the judges, chanting slogans against the Islamist- dominated Shura Council.

Heads of the Judges Club, Ahmed al-Zend and Refaat Al Saed, were among the protesters, according to a Xinhua reporter at scene.

"Egypt's judges will stay like a bulwark against any attempts to penetrate the judicial authority," Zend said.

Last week, the Shura Council decided to discuss a bill on the judicial authority.

Many judges are upset about this draft law, as they believe that it aims at decreasing judges' retiring age to 60 rather than 70, a move to get rid of about 3,500 judges. Endi

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