CAIRO (Agencies) – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, clinging on despite mass popular demands for an end to his 30-year rule, met on Sunday with the generals who may hold the keys to EgyptÂ’s future, but in Cairo protesters defied a curfew.
As his key ally the US called for an “orderly transition,” Mubarak’s disparate opponents, including the banned Muslim Brotherhood, rallied behind former international diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei to lead possible talks with the army on organising a handover of power to a national unity coalition.
“I ask of you patience, change is coming in the next few days,” Baradei told thousands of demonstrators on Cairo’s Tahrir Square after dark. “You have taken back your rights and what we have begun, cannot go back.”
The protesters took over the centre of Cairo on the sixth day of demonstrations against the rule of President Mubarak.
The police, who have been involved in violent clashes with protesters in recent days, have largely disappeared from the streets. There was a heavy military presence in the city, but soldiers were not intervening.
Meanwhile, al-Jazeera’s broadcasts via an Egyptian satellite have been halted. The Egyptian government had earlier ordered the Al Arabiya TV channel, which has been showing blanket coverage of the protests, to shut down its operations in the country. In Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US wanted to see an orderly transition of power in Egypt. “We want to see an orderly transition so that no one fills a void, that there not be a void, that there be a well-thought-out plan that will bring about a democratic participatory government,” Clinton told the ‘Fox News Sunday’ programme. “We also don’t want to see some takeover that would lead not to democracy but to oppression and the end of the aspirations of the Egyptian people,” she said.
“America’s message has been consistent. We want to see free and fair elections and we expect that will be one of the outcomes of what is going on right now,” Clinton said during an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
As thousands gathered in the streets, unmolested by patient troops in their American-built tanks, the fragmented opposition gave a sign of coming together.
In a series of interviews with US television networks, ElBaradei said he had a mandate to negotiate a national unity government and would soon reach out to the army, at the heart of power in Egypt for more than a half century.
He put pressure on the US to support calls for Mubarak to step down, saying “life support to the dictator” must end.
ElBaradei said it was only a matter of time before Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt for three decades, stepped down. He urged US President Barack Obama to take a stand.
“Mubarak has to leave today,” he told CNN before joining thousands of demonstrators in central Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
“The people want the regime to fall!” the crowd chanted.
Earlier on Sunday, a leading member of EgyptÂ’s Muslim Brotherhood said Egyptian opposition forces had agreed to support ElBaradei to negotiate with the government.
In his interviews, ElBaradei rejected concerns about extremism within the Muslim Brotherhood.
“They are no way extremists. They are no way using violence,” he told ABC’s “This Week” programme.
President Mubarak visited a military headquarters and met top commanders, state media reported, showing the leader chairing a meeting as protesters who have rocked the country demanded he quit.
State television showed Mubarak meeting newly-appointed Vice-President Omar Suleiman, Defence Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Chief of Staff Sami al-Anan and other commanders.
The official state news agency said Mubarak was reviewing the armed forces headquarters in charge of security operations.
With tanks still on the streets, no-one yet knows if President Mubarak will order the army to turn against the protesters, but scenes like these are potent and powerful.
Clashes between protesters and the security forces – mostly riot police – are reported to have left at least 100 people dead across Egypt since rallies began on Tuesday. Thousands have been injured as violence has flared in cities including Cairo, Suez and Alexandria.
As many as 10,000 people defied curfew and protested in Tahrir Square, a rallying point in the centre of Cairo, to express anger at poverty, repression, unemployment and corruption.
As the curfew started and was ignored, warplanes and helicopters flew over the square. By late afternoon more army trucks appeared in a show of military force but no one moved.
“Hosni Mubarak, Omar Suleiman, both of you are agents of the Americans,” shouted protesters, referring to the appointment on Saturday of intelligence chief Suleiman as vice president, the first time Mubarak has appointed a deputy in 30 years of office.
Chants of ‘Mubarak, Mubarak, the plane awaits’ could be heard on Sunday, a reference to protesters’ hopes that President Mubarak will step down and leave Egypt.
In surreal scenes, soldiers from Mubarak’s army stood by tanks covered in anti-Mubarak graffiti: “Down with Mubarak. Down with the despot. Down with the traitor. Pharaoh out of Egypt.”
Asked how they could let protesters scrawl anti-Mubarak slogans on their vehicles, one soldier said: “These are written by the people, it’s the views of the people.”
Many protesters once again climbed onto tanks and armoured vehicles around the square, with many soldiers apparently on friendly terms with the anti-Mubarak demonstrators.
Throughout the city, armed citizensÂ’ groups have formed to respond to the widespread looting and disorder that has accompanied the growing sense of lawlessness.
The vacuum left by police melting away has prompted residents to form neighbourhood protection groups, armed with firearms, sticks and clubs. The citizens set up self-styled checkpoints and barricades and used bricks and metal traffic barriers to block off side streets.
Groups of youths also directed traffic in parts of Cairo, chasing away the gangs of criminals smashing passing cars. Residents said gangs were also stopping people on the streets and robbing them.
For one Egyptian, Gamal Hassanein, it began with a slap. The unemployed 24-year-old was arguing with a police officer when the man struck him across the face – a blow that seemed to sting for months. “He stole my dignity with that slap,” said Hassanein, who does odd jobs to make money. “We could never stand up to those officers before because we were afraid. But weÂ’re no longer willing to be silenced by our fear.
Across Egypt, thousands of prisoners are reported to have escaped from jails after overpowering their guards. Security officials said several inmates were killed and wounded, but gave no specific figures.
Sunday saw a number of Egyptian political movements issue a joint statement calling on leading opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei to form a transitional government.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his government is watching events in Egypt carefully and hoping to maintain peaceful relations with its Arab neighbour.
The Rafah crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip is closed, Palestinian officials said.
The US government, which previously had advised US citizens against non-essential travel to Egypt, is now advising Americans in Egypt to consider leaving the country as soon as possible. The UK has advised against all but essential travel to Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor and Suez. A number of other European countries have also advised against visiting the country.
Gangs of armed men attacked at least four jails across Egypt before dawn Sunday, helping to free hundreds of extremists and thousands of other inmates.
The army sent hundreds more troops and armoured vehicles onto the streets of Cairo and other cities but appeared to be taking little action against gangs of young men with guns and large sticks who were smashing cars and robbing people.
At least one Nile-side shopping mall in Cairo was on fire after being looted the previous day.
Fighter jets and army helicopters were flying low over Cairo.
President Barack Obama met with security aides Saturday afternoon and issued a plea for government restraint in Egypt, where Washington has long feared increasing influence by Muslim militants.
Meanwhile, in Tunisia, leading Islamist Rachid Ghannouchi returned home on Sunday from 22 years in exile, witnesses said. Thousands turned out to greet him at the airport. His return is the most powerful symbol to date of the change that has swept this country since its president was toppled by popular protests this month.
Meanwhile, Sudanese police beat and arrested students on Sunday as protests broke out throughout Khartoum demanding the government resign, inspired by a popular uprising in neighbouring Egypt.
Hundreds of armed riot police fired tear gas on students demonstrating in central Khartoum and in at least two universities in the capital, which were surrounded by police reinforcements. At one, students hurled stones at police cars.
Police beat students with batons as they chanted anti-government slogans like: “We are ready to die for Sudan” and “Revolution, revolution until victory.”