Opposition calls for a million to protest in Cairo

A COALITION of opposition groups called for a million people to take to Cairo’s streets today to demand the removal of President Hosni Mubarak, the clearest sign yet that a unified leadership was trying to emerge for Egypt’s powerful but disparate protest movement.

In an apparent attempt to defuse the week-long political upheaval, Mubarak named a new government yesterday — dropping the interior minister, who is in charge of security forces and whom protesters have denounced for the brutality of police. But the lineup was greeted with scorn in Tahrir Square, the central Cairo plaza that has become the protests’ epicentre, with crowds of more than 10,000 chanting for Mubarak’s ouster.

“We don’t want life to go back to normal until Mubarak leaves,” said Israa Abdel-Fattah, a founder of the April 6 Group, a movement of young people pushing for democratic reform.

In what appeared to be a reaction to the call for escalated protests, a military spokesman appeared on state TV and warned against “any act that destabilises security of the country”. But the spokesman, Ismail Etman, also underlined that the military “has not and will not use force against the public” and is “conscious of the legitimate demands by honourable citizens” — though he did not specify whether the military considers the demands for Mubarak’s removal legitimate or just calls for reform.

The mood in Tahrir (or Liberation) Square, surrounded by army tanks and barbed wire, was celebratory and determined as more protesters filtered in to join what has turned into a continual encampment despite a curfew, moved up an hour to 3pm on its fourth day.

Young men climbed lampposts to hang Egyptian flags and signs proclaiming “Leave, Mubarak!” One poster featured Mubarak’s face plastered with a Hitler mustache, a sign of the deep resentment toward the 82-year-old leader they blame for widespread poverty, inflation and official indifference and brutality during his 30 years in power.

But Cairo’s international airport was a scene of chaos and confusion as thousands of foreigners sought to flee the unrest, and countries around the world scrambled to send in planes to fly their citizens out.

The official death toll from the crisis stood at 97, with thousands injured, but reports from witnesses across the country indicated the actual toll was far higher.

The White House said President Barack Obama called Britain, Turkey, Israel and Saudi Arabia over the weekend to convey his administration’s desire for restraint and an orderly transition to a more responsive government.

EU foreign ministers urged a peaceful transition to democracy and warned against a takeover by religious militants.

Mubarak’s naming of a new cabinet appeared to be aimed at showing the regime is willing to an extent to listen to the popular anger. The most significant change was the replacement of the interior minister, Habib el-Adly, who heads internal security forces and is widely despised by protesters for the brutality some officers have shown.

Of the 29-member cabinet, 14 were new faces, most of them not members of the ruling National Democratic Party. Among those purged were several prominent businessmen who held economic posts and engineered the country’s economic liberalisation policies the past decades.