'March of a million' demands Mubarak's ouster

CAIRO — Protesters converged on the heart of Cairo in droves Tuesday, responding to a call for a million Egyptians to unite in the largest protest in a week of unceasing demands for President Hosni Mubarak to leave after nearly 30 years in power.

Crowd estimates ranged widely but media reports suggested that Tuesday's protest was the largest to date. The BBC said at least 100,000 people attended while Al Jazeera estimated that organizers reached their goal of 1 million.

A stream of protesters arrived in Tahrir, or Liberation, Square at checkpoints guarded by protesters and the army, which promised Monday night that it would not fire on protesters.

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"So hard to judge numbers now we are in crowd. But it is an enormous mass of people here & in every street leading here!" Al Jazeera correspondent Dan Nolan said in a Twitter post from the area.

Mubarak's newly appointed vice-president, intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, began talks with opposition figures on Monday and promised reforms ahead of Tuesday's so-called "march of a million."

But protesters, who kept vigil in the square through the night in defiance of a curfew, vowed to continue their campaign until the 82-year-old Mubarak quit.

'New Egyptians'
However, opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei said Tuesday that Mubarak must leave the country before any dialogue can start between the opposition and the government.

"There can be dialogue but it has to come after the demands of the people are met and the first of those is that President Mubarak leaves," he told Al Arabiya television, saying the dialogue would involve transitional power arrangements and dissolving parliament.

"I hope to see Egypt peaceful and that's going to require as a first step the departure of President Mubarak. If President Mubarak leaves, then everything will progress correctly," he said.

Speaking to NBC News' Brian Williams, ElBaradei added that the protests had created a generation of "new Egyptians."

"They have confidence, they have hope, they have dignity," he added. "They feel that they have been reborn from being slaves into human beings."

One of the country's oldest political parties said in a statement Tuesday that opposition groups had agreed to form "a national front," according to Al Jazeera. The Wafd party said Mubarak "has lost legitimacy," the report said, adding that the Muslim Brotherhood Islamist group also said it wouldn't deal with the embattled president.

Protesters in the streets echoed those sentiments.

"The only thing we will accept from him is that he gets on a plane and leaves," said 45-year-old lawyer Ahmed Helmi.

Khaled Bassyouny, a 30-year-old Internet entrepreneur, said it was time to escalate the marches. "It has to burn," he said. "It has to become ugly. We have to take it to the presidential palace."

NBC News reported that two military surplus stores in Cairo had been looted. Mubarak's home had been barricaded with concrete blocks and razor wire, a military official added.

'Murderous president'
Two stuffed dummies representing Mubarak were hung from traffic lights at the square. On their chests was written: "We want to put the murderous president on trial."

The faces of the dummies were covered with the Star of David, an allusion to many protesters' accusation that Mubarak is a friend of Israel, which continues to be seen by most Egyptians as their country's archenemy more than 30 years after the two nations signed a peace treaty.

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But Al Jazeera's Nolan said in a later post that the situation in the square seemed largely peaceful, saying it "feels kinda like an Egyptian version of Woodstock."

Mubarak would be the second Arab leader pushed from office by a popular uprising in the history of the modern Middle East.

The loosely organized and disparate movement to drive him out is fueled by deep frustration with an autocratic regime blamed for ignoring the needs of the poor and allowing corruption and official abuse to run rampant.

After years of tight state control, protesters emboldened by the overthrow of Tunisia's president last month took to the streets on Jan. 25 and mounted a relentless and once unimaginable series of protests across this nation of 80 million people — the region's most populous country and the center of Arabic-language film-making, music and literature.

Soviet-era and newer U.S.-made Abrams tanks stood at the roads leading into Tahrir Square, a plaza overlooked by the headquarters of the Arab League, the campus of the American University in Cairo, the famed Egyptian Museum and the Mugammma, an enormous winged building housing dozens of departments of the country's notoriously corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy.

Working-class men in scuffed shoes and worn cloth pants stood alongside women in full-face veils who chanted, "The people want to bring down the regime!"

For days, army tanks and troops have surrounded the square, keeping the protests confined but doing nothing to stop people from joining. The guns of many of the tanks pointed out from the square.

'The succession is already under way'
Meanwhile, foreigners continued to leave the country, though at least 4,500 were still stranded at Cairo's airport, NBC News reported. One airport official said 18 charter flights carrying 1,500 passengers left early Tuesday, with the U.S. organizing nine flights out.

Saudi Arabia has evacuated 14,000 of its citizens, Antara News reported.

Political analysts predicted it was not a matter of whether Mubarak would step down, but when and how.

"The succession is already under way," said Steven Cook at the Council on Foreign Relations on the CFR website.

"The important thing now is to manage Mubarak's exit, which must be as graceful as possible at this point. For honor's sake, the brass won't have it any other way."

The military, which has run Egypt since it toppled the monarchy in 1952, will be the key player in deciding who replaces him and some expect it to retain significant power while introducing enough reforms to defuse the protests.

The military pledged not to fire on protesters in a sign that army support for Mubarak may be unraveling.

Military spokesman Ismail Etman said the military "has not and will not use force against the public" and underlined that "the freedom of peaceful expression is guaranteed for everyone."

'A liability'
He added the caveats, however, that protesters should not commit "any act that destabilizes security of the country" or damage property.

"At this point Suleiman represents the army, not Mubarak," said Fawaz Gerges at the London School of Economics.

"Mubarak has become a liability for the institution of the army," said. "And so it is becoming more difficult by the day for Mubarak to remain in office."

The United States and other Western powers have demanded Mubarak hold free elections. Even if he holds out against calls for his resignation, it seems unlikely he could win a vote.

Washington also said Mubarak must revoke the emergency law under which he has ruled since 1981. It has sent a special envoy, former ambassador to Cairo Frank Wisner, to meet Egyptian leaders. "The way Egypt looks and operates must change," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Protesters have demanded an end to political oppression.

But years of repression have left few obvious civilian leaders able to fill any gap left by Mubarak.

ElBaradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has offered to act as a transitional leader to prepare Egypt for democratic elections. Many Egyptians, however, have said they had reservations about a man who has spent much of his recent career outside the country.

Among the more organized in the opposition is the hitherto banned Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood, which says it supports a pluralist democracy, began with a cautious approach to joining the protests led by the young and urban professional classes. The group has borne the brunt of Mubarak's repressive rule.

But it is now raising its profile, seeking to tie up with ElBaradei. It said on Monday it was calling for protests until the whole establishment departed — "including the president, his party, his ministers and his parliament."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, used to calm on his southern border since a 1979 peace treaty with Cairo, said Egypt could turn into the kind of militant theocracy installed in Iran that same year.

Suleiman appeared on state television on Monday to say Mubarak had asked him to begin talks with all political forces on reforms. Some saw his appearance — rather than that of the president — as a sign Mubarak was already on his way out.

A presidential election due in September might give Mubarak the opportunity simply to say he will not run again. But such a tactic may underestimate the desire on the street to see him go.

"This all aims to gain time, calm the mood on the street, drive the protesters away and diminish the revolution ... The president must end his rule and leave, there is no alternative," Cairo University politics professor Hassan Nafaa said.

At least 140 people have died since demonstrations began last Tuesday.

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Looting that erupted over the weekend across the city of around 18 million eased — but Egyptians endured another day of the virtual halt of normal life, raising fears of damage to the economy if the crisis drags on.

Authorities shut down all roads and public transportation to Cairo on Tuesday, security officials said. Train services nationwide were suspended for a second day and all bus services between cities were halted.

All roads in and out of the flashpoint cities of Alexandria, Suez, Masnoura and Fayoum were also closed.

Abdel Rahman Fathi, 25, said that his friends from the provinces were taking private cars to the square.

"The goal is to oust the regime," he said. "Every day we try to increase the number."

With internet access cut off, Google Inc. said it was launching a special service to allow people to send Twitter messages by dialing a phone number and leaving a voicemail.