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Tens Of Thousands Of Anti-Mubarak Protesters Stage 'Departure' Rally

04.02.2011 15:32

By RFE/RL

Tens of thousands of protesters joined in "Day of Departure" rallies in Egypt today demanding that President Hosni Mubarak step down immediately.

Huge crowds of protesters packed Cairo's Tahrir Square. Tens of thousands reportedly gathered in Alexandria.

Tarek el-Shamy, a correspondent for U.S.-sponsored Alhurra television, says the mood at the protest site is peaceful, with little sign of the pro-Mubarak supporters who clashed with protesters on previous days.

He says the protesters are in clear control of the central square and have erected checkpoints to screen people arriving to make sure no one brings weapons into the area.

The military has also set up checkpoints to screen people coming to the square.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, who is a former Egyptian foreign minister, appeared in Tahrir Square. In an interview with French radio earlier, he did not rule out a role in a transitional government or eventually running for president.

In Luxor, in the south, and Mansura and Mahalla in the Nile Delta, tens of thousands also demonstrated, while there were smaller protests in the cities of Assiut, Menufiya, and Suez.

Mubarak, in comments on U.S. television on February 3, said he wants to quit but he fears his resignation would bring chaos to Egypt. He told Christiane Amanpour of the U.S. television network ABC: "I am fed up. After 62 years in public service, I have had enough. I want to go."

But he added, "If I resign now there will be chaos," and that, "I'm afraid the Muslim Brotherhood will take over."

Overnight, thousands of people defied a curfew to camp in Tahrir Square and keep hold of the ground for today's rally. That's despite clashes on February 3 with Mubarak supporters seeking to sweep them from the area.

The clashes, which reportedly killed eight people, saw both sides hurling rocks at each other. But protesters also accuse pro-Mubarak forces of using firearms against them. The government has denied there was any sniping.

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said today that Egypt must carry out a "transparent and impartial" investigation into violent clashes this week between supporters and opponents of Mubarak. Pillay has said that up to 300 people may have died in the unrest across Egypt so far.

As protesters gathered for today's rally, Defense Minister Mohamed Tantawi visited Tahrir Square and spoke to the crowd. He told them their main demand had been met by Mubarak's pledge not to run in the next presidential election in September.

The army has reinforced its presence around the square over the past few days and sought to keep a distance between the protesters and the Mubarak supporters.

It is widely regarded by protesters as remaining neutral in the crisis so far, while the police are regarded as actively supporting Mubarak.

New Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq has said the interior minister should not obstruct today's peaceful rallies.

"Some of the policemen and the majority of the army men are surrounding [Tahrir Square], but we will try to arrange that -- between both [sides] -- to guarantee that there is no conflict between the different ideas there," he told Reuters on February 3.

Shafiq, appointed by Mubarak earlier this week, also said he was prepared to meet with representatives of the protesters to hear their demands.

"Many of the protesters send many messages through some mediators describing their demands. And I will receive some of those young protesters to hold talks together," he said.

"There is a sort of dialogue among us now and I hope it can be useful for achieving a compromise among the concerned sides."

Rejected Talks

But despite such calls for dialogue, there is no indication so far that the government and opposition parties can find common ground for talks.

The opposition -- which includes the liberal figurehead Mohamed ElBaradei and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood -- has rejected talks until Mubarak resigns.

They also say they want democracy rather than Mubarak's replacement by another leader drawn from the army, which has dominated Egypt since it toppled the monarchy in 1952.

Mubarak's latest comments come amid reports that U.S. officials are discussing different scenarios with Cairo, including one in which Mubarak resigns immediately.

"The New York Times" quoted U.S. officials and Arab diplomats as saying privately that Washington was discussing a plan for Mubarak to hand over power to a transitional government headed by Vice President Omar Suleiman with the support of the Egyptian military.

The vice president has said the protests are being fanned by what he called "foreign" interests. "We will look into [the violence], into the fact it was a conspiracy," he said, adding that it could have been instigated by some "with foreign agendas, the Muslim Brotherhood, certain parties or businessmen."

Media 'Targeted'

His charges of foreign interference come as many media groups say they are being targeted by Egyptian police.

Two journalists -- one from Greece, the other from Sweden -- suffered knife wounds. The Committee To Protect Journalists said 24 reporters had been detained over 24 hours. Two reporters from RFE/RL were detained in Cairo today.

The reported crackdown on the press drew sharp criticism from Washington.

"We support freedom of the press, and so that has been our message to the government of Egypt, and any attempts at interfering with this fundamental right and freedom is of great concern to us," U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said on February 3.

The crisis in Egypt is being closely watched by governments around the world.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a Friday Prayer sermon in Tehran today that Egypt's protests are a sign of "Islamic awareness" in the region and a reverberation of Iran's own 1979 Islamic Revolution. He also called Mubarak a "servant" of Israel and the United States.

Reduce The Violence

EU leaders meeting in Brussels said the transition to a broad-based government in Egypt "must start now."

In a joint statement, the bloc's leaders said Egyptian authorities should "meet the aspirations of the Egyptian people with political reform not repression."

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters ahead of the summit that a main concern was to reduce the level of violence in the streets so that dialogue can begin.

"What seems to be happening is that [Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman] is moving towards some kind of national dialogue," Ashton said. "So, as you would expect, we've been urging the continuation of support for people on the streets, to keep people safe, to make sure that the violence does not break out again.

She also said that "it's for the Egyptian people and the Egyptian government to move forward together."

British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters ahead of the meeting that the Egyptian government's first steps toward a promised transition had failed to meet its people's aspirations.

written by Charles Recknagel, with agency material

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/egypt_protests_day_departure/2297340.html

Copyright (c) 2011. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.