to oust President Hosni Mubarak, reassured by the all-powerful army,
which has said their demands are legitimate and that it will not fire
on them.
As Mubarak announced a new cabinet that saw the demise of a widely
feared interior minister, and the newly appointed vice president
offered talks with the opposition, protesters pushed ahead with a
singular goal of forcing the president from office.
They announced an indefinite general strike and called for a "march of
a million" in the capital on Tuesday, the eighth day of an uprising
that has claimed at least 125 lives in clashes between demonstrators
and police.
Another million-strong march was planned in the Mediterranean port
city of Alexandria, as national train services were cancelled in an
apparent bid to stymie protests.
The new demonstrations will come as the hated police have returned to
the street after a mysterious two-day absence that protesters said was
a ploy to sow a sense of insecurity.
But while it remains unknown what posture police will adopt in the
face of the strike and marches, the army stated clearly that it would
not confront the demonstrators.
"To the great people of Egypt, your armed forces, acknowledging the
legitimate rights of the people," stress that "they have not and will
not use force against the Egyptian people," the military said in a
statement.
Tens of thousands of protesters had carpeted Cairo's Tahrir
(Liberation) 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.
Eid Mohammed, an organiser of the protests, told AFP: "It was decided
overnight that there will be a million-man march on Tuesday. We have
also decided to begin an open-ended general strike."
Faced with the biggest protests of his presidency, an increasingly
embattled Mubarak has appointed his first-ever vice president and a
new prime minister in a desperate attempt to hold on to power.
A new cabinet unveiled on Monday did little to placate the protesters.
However, the departure of interior minister Habib al-Adly, whose
notorious security forces have been accused of systematic human rights
violations, was welcomed.
"We will accept no change other than Mubarak's departure," said one
protester who asked not to be named.
Another, Rifat Ressat, said: "We want a complete change of government,
with a civilian authority."
Police were ordered back onto the nation's streets on Monday, after an
absence during which the army was deployed in the face of the revolt,
but few policemen were visible on Cairo's streets.
Their vanishing act remains unexplained officially, but it left the
city prey to looters and jail-breakers, and residents formed
self-defence groups to protect their patches.
As the anti-regime campaign continued apace, Vice President Omar
Suleiman said Mubarak had tasked him "with opening immediate talks
with the political forces to begin a dialogue around all the issues
concerning constitutional and legislative reforms."
Meanwhile, Arab League chief Amr Mussa, a highly former Egyptian
foreign minister often tipped as a possible successor to Mubarak,
called for a peaceful transition.
"There has to be a peaceful way forward, a peaceful transition ...
from an era to the other," Mussa told AFP. "It is incumbent upon
politicians or people working in politics to help that process."
Protesters massed in downtown Cairo vowed that Mubarak's resignation
would not be enough, while Egypt's main opposition group, the Muslim
Brotherhood, called for them to press on until they bring down his
creaking regime.
Amid chaos and lawlessness, several foreign governments said they
would evacuate their nationals, and the United States authorised the
departure of embassy families.
Washington, a key ally of Egypt, has urged Mubarak to do more to
defuse the crisis, with President Barack Obama calling for "an orderly
transition to a government that is responsive to the aspirations of
the Egyptian people."
