Hundreds of lawyers staged protests on Tuesday outside a Cairo court to defend the independence of the judiciary.

The lawyers gathered in objection to a judicial authority draft law that is currently being discussed by Egypt’s Shura Council (upper house of the parliament).

The protesters carried banners saying, “United against destroying the judiciary”, reported ONTV channel.

Head of the Judges’ Club Ahmed Zend said on Monday at a press conference that the judicial authority draft law “is intended to drain the judiciary out of its symbols and to wipe out the state of law.”

The Judges' Club had sent a legal warning to the Shura Council to prevent it from passing the draft law, saying, “The legislative authority that is temporarily granted to the Shura Council, until the election of a House of Representatives (lower house of the parliament), should be limited to pressing legislation only.”

Egypt's prominent opposition figure Mohahmed ElBaradei commented on the judicial authority law, saying that the Shura Council is “trying to undermine Egypt's judiciary.”

“We will support the independence of the judiciary against encroachment by executive power,” former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi wrote on his Twitter account.

Zend added that the club would file a report to the International Criminal Court against the political forces that called for purging the judiciary.

On Friday, Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist political forces staged mass protests outside Cairo's High Judicial Council, calling for purging the judiciary, sacking the justice minister and trying the head of the Judges' Club and the former prosecutor-general.

Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki resigned on Sunday in response to these protests.