Egypt Records Unprecedented Protests

Egypt Records Unprecedented Protests

Hundreds of Egyptians have continued their protests in Cairo , which started on Tuesday.

Police fired teargas in the early hours of Wednesday, after a long day of unprecedented protests calling for President Hosni Mubarak to end his 30 year rule.

On Tuesday, two protesters and one policeman were killed in clashes and protests that erupted in several Egyptian cities, where demonstrators, angry at poverty and repression, have been inspired by this month's downfall of Tunisian president Ban Ali.

“Down, Down Hosni Mubarak,” protesters chanted after fleeing from the Central Tahrir square, as police fired teargas and water cannon to disperse them.

Some threw stones at the police, who charged them with batons to prevent the protesters from returning to the square.

Police sprayed water cannon on protesters and moved in rows into the square.

Sporadic clashes took place into early Wednesday, but by the pre-dawn hours protesters appeared to have been dispersed.

Washington, a close ally and major donor has called for calm.

State Department spokesman, David Crowley said in a statement, “The U.S. supports the fundamental right of expression and assembly for all people. All parties should exercise restraint and we call on the Egyptian authorities to handle these protests peacefully.”

Thousands of demonstrators had earlier said they planned to stay out in Tahrir square until the government fell.

Demonstrators tore up pictures of the president and his son, Gamal, who many Egyptians say is being groomed for office. Both Gamal and his father deny any such plan.

Mobilising via social network

Twitter, the Internet messaging service that has been one of the main methods used by demonstrators to organise, said it had been blocked in Egypt .

“Tomorrow, don't go to work. Don't go to college. We will all go down to the streets and stand hand in hand for you our Egypt . We will be millions,” wrote one activist on a group on Facebook, which has been a key tool for mobilising demonstrators.

Tuesday was a national holiday and ministries were closed.

A government source said ministers had been told to ensure staff returned to work on Wednesday and did not join protests.

Web activists, who called for Tuesday's "Day of Wrath" against poverty and repression, have become some of the most vociferous critics of Mubarak and his three decades in office.

Demands by the protesters were posted on Facebook and passed around Tahrir square on slips of paper before police moved in.

They included calling for Mubarak to step down, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif to quit, parliament to be dissolved and the formation of a national government.

A union activist repeated the demands to the crowd in the square by megaphone.

''We are glued to the ground here in Tahrir and will not move, not tomorrow, not the day after until this government falls,'' said 35 -year-old shopkeeper Sameh Adam, shortly before protesters emptied the square.

‘Youth bulge'

The demonstrations brought many thousands onto the streets of Cairo and several other cities in a coordinated wave of anti-government protests not witnessed since Mubarak came to office in 1981 after Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Islamists.

The population is growing by two per cent a year and has a "youth bulge" , with some 60 percent under 30 years old.

About 40 per cent of citizens live on less than two dollars a day and a third are illiterate.

REUTERS/NAN/Margaret/Yinka