Protesters, Unfazed by Mubarak’s Pledges, Escalate Moves Monday-Tuesday

Egyptian protesters call on Monday for an indefinite strike and a “million man march” on Tuesday in Cairo.

Egyptian protesters have been unfazed by the Egypt President Hosni Mubarak’s promises and bids to satisfy them calling on Monday for an indefinite strike and a “million man march” on Tuesday in Cairo. In Cairo's Tahrir square, hundreds of protesters camped out overnight, defying a curfew that has been extended by the army. Mubarak pledged institute economic, social and political reforms but people feel that such pledges “are too little, too late”. He appointed the first vice president in his 30-year-rule, the intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, and a new prime minister in a desperate attempt to cling to power. The announcement had little discernible effect on the more than 1,000 people encamped at Tahrir square, the protest epicentre, early Monday, marching and shouting their determination to stay there until Mubarak quits. Early on Monday morning, unconfirmed reports said the police had been ordered back on the streets. The army has positioned tanks around the square and was checking identity papers but letting protesters in. Civilian popular committee members were also checking papers to make sure no plainclothes police get in. the 7-days-old protests have left at least 125 people dead. Top dissident Mohamed ElBaradei late Sunday told a sea of angry protesters in the square that they were beginning a new era. The former IAEA chief, who was mandated by Egyptian opposition groups including the Muslim Brotherhood to negotiate with Mubarak's regime, hailed "a new Egypt in which every Egyptian lives in freedom and dignity." "I ask you to be patient, change is coming." Several foreign governments said they would evacuate their nationals, while the United States authorized the departure of embassy families, AFP reported. Washington, a key ally of Egypt, called on Mubarak to do more to defuse the crisis but stopped short of saying he should quit. International press institutes have come out strongly against Egyptian authorities’ suppression of the media, following the withdrawal of Al Jazeera’s license to broadcast from the North African country. Mobile services were partly restored on Saturday, though the CPJ says that 90 per cent of internet connections in the country remain disconnected.