CAIRO (Agencies) – Egyptian protesters on Monday called for an indefinite general strike and said they planned a “million man march” on Tuesday (today) to mark one week since the start of deadly anti-government protests.
“It was decided overnight that there will be a million man march on Tuesday,” Eid Mohammed, one of the protesters and organisers, said.
“We have also decided to begin an open ended general strike,” he said.
The strike was first called for by workers in the canal city of Suez late on Sunday.
“We will be joining the Suez workers and begin a general strike until our demands are met,” Mohammed Waked, another protest organiser, said.
In Tahrir square, hundreds of protesters camped out overnight, in a bid to keep up the biggest anti-government protests in three decades.
Troops backed by American-built tanks paid for with US aid made no effort to disperse the crowd well after dark, hours after a curfew started. Military helicopters flew overhead.
In the square, protesters insisted they will not leave until Mubarak does, chanting “We will stay in the square, until the coward leaves.”
The army said it would not use force against Egyptians staging protests demanding President Mubarak step down, a statement said.
It said “freedom of expression” was guaranteed to all citizens using peaceful means.
A number of businessmen holding economic posts have been removed. Some Egyptians have resented the influence of the tycoons.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak overhauled his government to try to defuse a popular uprising against his 30-year rule but angry protesters rejected the changes and said he must surrender power.
The President removed Interior Minister Habib al-Adly, who is widely despised by protesters. He named General Mahmoud Wagdy, previously head of Cairo criminal investigations department, as the new interior minister.
There are few major changes in the new cabinet line-up, with Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and Defence Minister Gen Mohamed Hussein Tantaw both keeping their posts.
The President also slapped curfew across the country to stem ‘a million man march’ on Tuesday (today).
The opposition is declaring a general strike and talks of bringing a million people onto the streets tomorrow but itÂ’s far from clear that they have the coherent structure to keep sustained pressure focused on the Mubarak administration.
Many protesters dismissed the new cabinet appointments.
Looters have pillaged a number of warehouses containing ancient Egyptian artefacts, stealing and damaging some of them, archaeologists and warehouse workers said on Monday.
A group of looters attacked a warehouse at the Qantara Museum near the city of Ismailia on the Suez Canal that contained 3,000 objects from the Roman and Byzantine periods, a source at the tourism police said.
Many of the objects had been found in Sinai by the Israelis after they occupied the peninsula during the 1967 war with Egypt, and had only been recently returned to Egypt.
The United States, which has poured billions of dollars of aid into Egypt since Mubarak came to power, stopped short of saying openly that it wanted him out. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton instead urged reform and spoke about “an orderly transition.”
Israeli officials said Egypt has moved about 800 troops into the Sinai peninsula with IsraelÂ’s consent to beef up security as protests aimed at toppling President Hosni Mubarak spread across Egypt.
Meanwhile, foreign governments, airlines and tour operators worked together on Monday to fly their nationals out of Egypt where protesters pressed their campaign to topple President Hosni Mubarak.