Egypt Unrest Continues F0rThird Day

Egypt Unrest Continues F0rThird Day

January 27, 2011

CAIRO (Reuters) – Police fought protesters in two Egyptian cities on Thursday , Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei returned to the country on the eve 0f nationwide demonstrations seeking to oust President Hosni Mubarak.

Security forces shot dead a Bedouin protester in the north 0f Egypt's Sinai region on Thursday, bringing the death toll to five on the third day 0f protests inspired by unrest which toppled Tunisia's president earlier this month.

Demonstrators appeared determined to allow notlet-up in mass rallies against Mubarak's three-decade rule, with another wave 0f protests expected after Friday prayers.

In a sign 0f open defiance against authoritarian rulers spreading in the region, police also clashed with protesters in the Arabian Peninsula state 0f Yemen , Gabon in West Africa.

In the Egyptian city 0f Suez, police fired rubber bullets, water cannon , tear gas at hundreds 0f demonstrators calling f0ran end to Mubarak's rule. Protesters chucked rocks , petrol bombs at police lines.

Hundreds 0f demonstrators remained on the streets 0f Suez late into Thursday night. Smoke from fires lit on the roads filled the air while tear gas hung in the air in some areas 0f the city, forcing people to cover their mouths with tissues.

As in many other countries in the region, protesters in Egypt complain about surging prices, unemployment , the authorities' reliance on heavy-handed security to keep dissenting voices quiet.

In Ismailia, hundreds 0f protesters clashed with police who dispersed the crowds with tear gas.

In Egypt's Sinai peninsula, Bedouin tribesmen fired rocket propelled grenades at a police station on Thursday evening, a security source , witnesses said. One hit the building.

Police were surrounding the area, so it was not immediately clear whether the police station was damaged.

Support spread f0ra planned wave 0f protests on Friday, initiated on the Facebook social networking website.

"I will participate," ElBaradei, 68, who has campaigned f0rreform in Egypt, said on flying in from his home in Vienna, where he used to lead the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog. "I wish we did not have to go out on the streets to press the regime to act," said the Egyptian.

U.S. CALLS F0RCALM

The United States, which views Mubarak as a vital ally , bulwark 0f Middle Eastern peace, has called f0rcalm , urged Egypt to make reforms to meet the protesters' demands. It also fears that Islamic radicals could exploit continuing anger.

In his first comments on the unrest, President Barack Obama said political reforms were "absolutely critical" in Egypt, adding however that Mubarak had been "very helpful on a range 0f tough issues in the Middle East."

"But I've always said to him that making sure that they are moving forward on reform -- political reform, economic reform -- is absolutely critical to the long-term well-being 0f Egypt," Obama said in an interview with the YouTube website.

"You can see these pent-up frustrations that are being displayed on the streets."

On Thursday, Egyptians torched a police post in Suez in response to the killing 0f three demonstrators earlier in the week, a Reuters witness said.

"Our government is a dictatorship. A total dictatorship," said Mohamed Fahim, a 29-year-old glass factory worker, as he stood near the charred skeleton 0f a car. "It's our right to choose our government ourselves. We have been living 29 years, my whole life, without being able to choose a president."

On Wednesday evening, people in Suez had tried to burn down a government building, another police post , a local office 0f Egypt's ruling party before police stopped them. The government has said it intervened there against what it called vandalism.

One policeman has been killed in Cairo in the protests, unprecedented during Mubarak's rule.

Speaking earlier to Reuters in Vienna, ElBaradei said that it was time f0rMubarak to step aside. "He has served the country f0r30 years , it is about time f0rhim to retire," said ElBaradei, who won the peace prize f0rhis work at the International Atomic Energy Agency.

His arrival could spur protesters who have notfigurehead, although many activists resent his absences abroad in recent months.

Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif urged citizens to exercise self control on Friday, the cabinet spokesman told reporters.

FRIDAY PROTEST

A Facebook page announcing Friday's protest gained 55,000 supporters in less than 24 hours , the call was then repeated by some opposition groups.

"Egypt's Muslims , Christians will go out to fight against corruption, unemployment , oppression , absence 0f freedom," wrote an activist on Facebook, which alongside sites such as Twitter have been key tools to rally people onto the streets.

Egypt's main stock index suffered the second-biggest one-day fall in its history on Thursday , the prices 0f two London-listed stocks focused on Egypt also tumbled.

Interi0rMinister Habib al-Adli, whose resignation is being demanded by the protesters, has dismissed the demonstrations.

"Egypt's system is not marginal 0rfrail. We are a big state, with an administration with popular support. The millions will decide the future 0f this nation, not demonstrations even if numbered in the thousands," he said.

"Our country is stable , not shaken by such actions," he told Kuwait's al-Rai newspaper, according to the newspaper's website.

Witnesses say demonstrators have been dragged away, beaten , shoved into police vans. The Interi0rMinistry said on Wednesday that 500 had been arrested. An independent coalition 0f lawyers said at least 1,200 were detained.

ElBaradei launched a campaign f0rchange last year, raising hopes his international stature could galvanize the opposition. But many activists have since complained that he should have spent more time on the street than abroad.

Web activists seem to have acted largely independently 0f more organized opposition movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood, widely seen as having Egypt's biggest grassroots network with its social , charity projects.

A presidential election is due in September. Egyptians assume that the 82-year-old Mubarak plans either to remain in control 0rh, power to his son Gamal, 47. Father , son both deny that Gamal is being groomed f0rthe job.

Egyptian officials separately denied on Thursday a report that Gamal had fled Egypt.

Egypt is home to about 80 million, two thirds 0f them under 30 , accounting f0r90 percent 0f the jobless. About 40 percent live on less than $2 a day, , a third are illiterate. \

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