Monday, January 31, 2011

Egyptian Protesters Plan “Million Man March”

on Tuesday…

A sea of protesters have flooded Cairo on Monday for a seventh day of demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak’s regime and called for a rolling general strike until the veteran leader stands down.

Protest organizers said Tuesday would see a “march of a million” in the Egyptian capital after a week of revolt in which at least 125 people have been killed, upping the stakes in their bid to topple Mubarak’s creaking regime.

Tens of thousands of protesters carpeted Cairo’s Tahrir square, the epicenter for those calling 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.

The army has positioned tanks around the area and was checking identity papers but letting protesters in. Civilian popular committee members were also checking papers to make sure no plain-clothes police get in.

“We are looking for police trouble makers, they want to come in and break our unity,” said a popular committee member who asked not to be named.

Nearby, soldiers scrubbed furiously at their tanks in a bid to wash off some of the anti-Mubarak graffiti they have been covered in over the last three days, as officers looked on.

Eid Mohammed, one of the protesters and organizers, 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.”