Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=02/27/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=EGYPT/DEMOS (L-O)

NUMBER=2-300111

BYLINE=GREG LAMOTTE

DATELINE=CAIRO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: An estimated 140-thousand people rallied in a Cairo sports stadium to protest a possible U-S led war against Iraq. V-O-A's Greg LaMotte reports from Cairo.

TEXT: The football stadium was filled to capacity with 100-thousand protestors. Another 40-thousand demonstrators, who could not get in, gathered outside. It was one of the largest demonstrations in Egypt.

The protesters chanted slogans of support for Iraq and condemned what they called American aggression.

The demonstration was organized by a group of opposition parties and trade unions. While demonstrations have largely been banned in Egypt since emergency laws went into effect in 1981, officials have allowed protests to take place on college campuses, in mosques and in sports stadiums.

Wednesday, interior ministry officials announced that no demonstration would be allowed to disrupt the flow of traffic, and said security forces would arrest any protestor engaged in violence or the use of what the officials called, "bad language."

But Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party hopes to draw as many as one-half-million people to a march planned for sometime next week.

Egypt is to host a summit of Arab states to discuss the Iraq crisis beginning Saturday in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh. (SIGNED)

NEB/GL/AWP/RAE