CAIRO — Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians marched peacefully in Cairo on Friday to demand an immediate end to President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule, but there was no word of his generals, or his U.S. allies, squeezing him out just yet.
Hoping for a million-strong turnout nationwide to mark what they called “Departure Day,” men and women from across Egyptian society streamed past patient soldiers to join a crowd estimated at about 200,000 in the capital’s Tahrir, or Liberation, Square.
Similar pro-democracy rallies were held in other cities.
“Leave! Leave! Leave!” they chanted after weekly Friday prayers in Cairo. A cleric praised the “revolution of the young” and declared: “We want the head of the regime removed.”
There was a festive, weekend atmosphere as secular, middle-class professionals and pious, generally poorer, members of the mass Islamist movement the Muslim Brotherhood, mingled, sang and chanted under banners and ubiquitous Egyptian flags.
Members of the Christian minority were also taking part.
“Game over” said one banner, in English for the benefit of international television channels beaming out live coverage.
The defence minister visited the square, inspecting troops who have promised to protect demonstrators. There was no sign of Mubarak loyalists who attacked protesters on previous days.
U.S. officials said they were discussing with Egyptians a number of options to begin a handover of power that would keep Egypt stable. Though President Barack Obama has called publicly only for an immediate start to “transition,” one option, a U.S. official said, was for Mubarak to be replaced right away.
NATIONAL POST
Stig Östlund
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