Ankara, February 03: Some 300 protesters have gathered outside Cairo’s embassy in the Turkish capital, Istanbul, calling on the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to leave power.
The protesters chanted slogans against beleaguered Mubarak and burnt his posters on Wednesday night.
They slammed the incumbent Egyptian president for siding with Israel against Palestinians, and helping it as its key regional ally, the Associated Press reported.
In 1979, Egypt was the first Arab nation signing a peace accord with Israel which it has tightly observed.
The head of the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedom and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), Bulent Yildirim, who was among the protesters, called on the international community “not to back the atrocities or put up with those who want to suppress the protests” in Egypt.
“The [Egyptian] people are on the streets and they want to end the troubles of the past 30 years,” he added.
IHH is the organizer of the international aid flotilla to Gaza, which was raided by Israeli commandos in May last year. Nine pro-Palestinian activists, eight Turkish citizens and a Turkish American were killed in the Israeli assault.
Egypt has entered its tenth day of revolution protests. The protesters want Mubarak to step down from his 30-year rule, but he has so far defied widespread public calls for his resignation.
The long-time Egyptian president, however, said Tuesday that he was not going to leave the North African country. He said that he would not run in the election scheduled to be held in September but said he would stay in office until then.
A report by the United Nations says at least 300 people have so far been killed and thousands more injured during the Egyptian revolutionary protests.
——–Agencies