Cairo, February 01: A sea of protesters flooded downtown Cairo on Monday, brushing aside concessions by President Hosni Mubarak and vowing to topple his regime with strikes and million-strong marches in the capital and Alexandria.
In what is seen as a sop to the protesters, a new cabinet line-up was announced in which widely hated interior minister Habib al-Adly and the previous finance and culture ministers were axed. But protesters massed in downtown Cairo vowed they would only be satisfied when Mubarak quits, and promised to step up their efforts to bring down his creaking regime.
Organisers announced an indefinite general strike and said Tuesday would see a “march of a million” in the capital after a week of revolt in which at least 125 people have been killed. Another march was called in Alexandria, after national train services were cancelled in an apparent bid to stymie protests. Tens of thousands of protesters carpeted Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicentre of demands for an end to the corruption, deprivation and police oppression indelibly associated with Mubarak’s 30-year rule. “We will stay in the square, until the coward leaves,” the crowd chanted.
The army has positioned tanks around the area and was checking identity papers but letting protesters in. Civilian popular committee members were also checking papers to make sure no plainclothes police get in. “We are looking for police trouble makers. They want to come in and break our unity,” said a popular committee member.
Faced with the prospect of untold numbers trying to converge on the capital, authorities stopped all train traffic with immediate effect on Monday afternoon. State-owned national carrier EgyptAir said it was cancelling all domestic and international flights. Egypt ordered riot police back onto the streets nationwide two days after they virtually disappeared and the army was deployed to deal with the revolt, but few were visible.
-Agencies