Egyptian protesters were gathering in the thousands early Tuesday as they prepared for a massive million-man march calling for President Hosni Mubarak to step down.The call by opposition leaders for a "march of a million" is seen as a crucial test of support for the biggest uprising in Egypt in three decades which protesters have vowed to escalate until Mubarak's regime falls.
In a bid to defuse the crisis, Mubarak announced a new cabinet that saw the demise of a widely feared interior minister, while his newly appointed vice president offered talks with the opposition.
But protest organisers denounced the moves as too little too late and announced an indefinite general strike while calling for a million-strong marches Tuesday in the capital and in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria.
At dawn on Tuesday, the eighth day of an angry revolt that has claimed at least 125 lives in clashes between demonstrators and police, some 5,000 people had crowded into Cairo's Tahrir square ahead of the march due to start at 11.00 am (0900 GMT).
French21 | 1 feb 2011 - read full post :
