The House briefly met yesterday July 10 to review the Supreme Court order dissolving it.

Egypt's Parliament on Tuesday July 10 met briefly in open challenge to a court order last month dissolving it for irregularities in the election of its members. The move came after newly elected Head of State, Mohamed Mursi at the weekend signed a decree convening the Assembly.

Aljazeera Television reported that House Speaker, Saad al-Katatni opened the session with a speech aired live on State television. He told members that the meeting was to review the ruling of the Supreme Constitutional Court, pointing out that they were not going against the ruling, but looking at a mechanism of implementing it. The session was however said to have been boycotted by some liberal Members of Parliament.

The lawmakers approved by a show of hand, Katatni's proposal that the House seek legal advice from the High Appeals Court on how to implement the Supreme Court’s ruling. He then adjourned the session that lasted about five minutes. Katatni said he would inform lawmakers in due course of the date of the next session. The Legal Affairs Committee was expected to get a second opinion from the Appeals Court that is said to have a history of challenging the Supreme Court’s decisions. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court said on Monday that its rulings were final and binding.

Dozens of protesters gathered around Parliament building in central Cairo yesterday, holding anti-military banners and shouting pro-Mursi slogans, Bloomberg news agency said. A demonstration that was due to be held in Tahrir Square in the capital, Cairo, in defiance of the military's decision to enforce the court ruling did not seem to have gone ahead. The Moslem Brotherhood – President Mursi's power base that has the biggest bloc of seats in the dissolved Parliament - had said it would participate in a million-man march in support of the Head of State’s decision reinstating the Assembly, the BBC said.