Egyptian protesters want Mubarak out by Friday
Thousands of protesters defied a curfew in Cairo again on Monday, taking to the streets for a seventh straight day of anti-government demonstrations and demanding that President Hosni Mubarak step down by Friday.
Even as Mubarak's new cabinet held its first meeting Monday, a coalition of opposition groups began calling for a million people to protest in the Egyptian capital on Tuesday to demand his removal.
The coalition includes youth movement groups as well as the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. They were discussing the possibility of making prominent reform advocate Mohamed ElBaradei spokesman for the protesters, spokesmen for several of the groups' members said.
About 40 coalition representatives were meeting to discuss the future of Egypt after Mubarak. They blame the 82-year-old for widespread poverty, inflation, and official indifference and brutality during his 30 years in power.
In an apparent attempt to show change, State TV reported that Mubarak has given instructions to the new cabinet to alleviate economic burdens on citizens. State-run newspapers also reported that Mubarak has asked his new prime minister to introduce reforms and ensure "wider participation" by political parties.
But the lineup dominated by regime cronies was greeted with scorn by protesters camped out in the capital's central Tahrir Square, also known as Freedom or Liberation Square.
Barbed wire sealed off the main road to Tahrir Square, but at least 50,000 flocked there anyway. Banks, schools and the stock market in Cairo were shut for the second working day.
"We don't want life to go back to normal but until Mubarak leaves; we want people to abandon their jobs until he leaves," said Israa Abdel-Fattah, one of the protest organizers and a founder of April 6 group, a grassroots movement of young people that has been pushing for democratic reform since 2008.
CBC's Nahlah Ayed, reporting from Cairo, said more people continue to arrive at Tahrir Square, despite the fact there is more security on the streets. She said tanks and soldiers are deployed around the square, around the entrances and along the way to it.
"They're checking ID's. They're even more active today than they were yesterday," Ayed said. "Things seem a little more tense today."
Police were also back on the streets on Monday, she said. Some people expressed relief following nights of looting and random violence.
"On the other hand, there is quite a bit of anger from people saying, 'Where were they when we needed them?'" Ayed said.
Since thousands of protesters took to the streets in Cairo and other major cities across Egypt last Tuesday, more than 75 people have been killed, according to medical officials quoted by Reuters. About 2,000 have been injured.
The Egyptian military's role remains unclear. Several protesters said they have felt a kind of solidarity with the army.
With police absent from the streets, gangs of armed men attacked as many as four jails across Egypt before dawn Sunday. About 1,000 inmates escaped from Prison Demu in Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, state-run Nile TV reported.
Looters broke into Cairo's famed Museum of Egyptian Antiquities overnight, tearing the heads off two mummies and damaging about 10 objects before they were arrested.
Zahi Hawass, Egypt's antiquities chief, said the museum is now under army protection.
Countries have sent planes to evacuate their citizens. In Ottawa, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said he expects some 600 Canadians to fly out of Egypt on Monday.
Canada will also be working with other countries, including the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, to help get Canadians out of Egypt. Cannon said, for instance, that Canadians in Alexandia will have the opportunity to leave Tuesday on an Australian carrier.
He denied accusations that Canada is slow getting its citizens out. "We are no slower or faster than other like-minded countries," he said.
"It's true there is chaos, but we are working very hard to facilitate things as much as possible. At the same time, it's important to remember this is a difficult environment, it's not as though we were telling people to go from downtown Ottawa to go to the airport or downtown Toronto to go to the airport. It's much more complex and difficult."
Canada originally had two flights scheduled to leave Cairo on Monday, but Ayed, who was at the airport, said it appeared there may be only one plane leaving from there with Canadians, and they do expect to be taking off fairly shortly.
About 200 Canadians were being processed before entering the terminal, and "there was mention possibly of another plane tomorrow [Tuesday] because there were supposed to be two today," Ayed said.
Video: the crisis in Egpyt 2011
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