Post date: Jan 30, 2011 6:58:45 PM
Jets and a helicopter are deployed by the Egyptian authorities above central Cairo as protests continue for a 6th day.
CAIRO, EGYPT (JANUARY 30, 2011) REUTERS - President Hosni Mubarak, clinging on despite unprecedented demands for an end to his 30-year rule, met on Sunday (January 29) with the military which is seen as holding the key to Egypt's future while in Cairo, protesters defied a curfew.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States wanted an "orderly transition" through free and fair elections in its key ally and the Arab world's most populous nation.An earthquake of unrest is shaking Mubarak's authoritarian grip on Egypt and the high command's support is vital as other pillars of his ruling apparatus crumble, political analysts said as protests ran on through a sixth day.
As thousands gathered in the streets, unmolested by patient troops in their American-built tanks, the fragmented opposition gave a sign of coming together. Nobel peace laureate and retired international diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei said he had been given a mandate to reach out to the army and build a new government:
"Mubarak has to leave today," he told CNN before joining thousands of demonstrators in central Cairo's Tahrir Square.
"The people want the regime to fall!" the crowd chanted.
As many as 10,000 people protested in Tahrir Square, a rallying point in the centre of Cairo, to express anger at poverty, repression, unemployment and corruption.
As the curfew started and was ignored, warplanes and helicopters flew over the square. By late afternoon more army trucks appeared in a show of military force but no one moved.
"Hosni Mubarak, Omar Suleiman, both of you are agents of the Americans," shouted protesters, referring to the appointment on Saturday of intelligence chief Suleiman as vice president, the first time Mubarak has appointed a deputy in 30 years of office.
It was the position Mubarak, 82, held before he become president and many saw the appointment as ending his son Gamal's long-predicted ambitions to take over and as an attempt to reshape the administration to placate reformists.
Mubarak held talks with Suleiman, Defence Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Chief of Staff Sami al-Anan and others.
Clearly those in Tahrir Square did not wish to see Mubarak's ruling structure replaced by a military line-up featuring his closest associates.
"Mubarak, Mubarak, the plane awaits," they said.
There was also a big protest in Alexandria.
A senior figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, the banned Islamist group that has long seemed the strongest single force against Mubarak, said it backed ElBaradei as negotiator.
The Muslim Brotherhood has stayed in the background although several of its senior officials have been rounded up. The government has accused it of planning to exploit the protests.
The turmoil, in which more than 100 people have died, has sent shock waves through the Middle East where other autocratic rulers may face similar challenges, and unsettled financial markets around the globe as well as Egypt's allies in the West.