Cairo Crowds Prepare For A March

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Cairo crowds prepare for a march
aimed at bringing down the 30-year
regime of President Hosni Mubarak.
Organizers requested that a million
people flood the streets.

Egyptian authorities shut down the
Internet and cell-phone service
ahead of the protest to stop people
from showing-up.

The ruling National Democratic Party
announced a counter demonstration in
support of Mubarak.

Tuesday's new arrivals gave new energy
to protesters who spent another chilly
night in the plaza, and the crowd broke
into a full-bodied roar of "Down, Mubarak,
down!"

Protesters are demanding an end to what
they feel is a repressive, incompetent
and corrupt regime that didn't improve
the lives of ordinary people, but
restricted civil liberties and violated
human rights.

They don't have a leader, but have united
around Mohammed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace
Prize winner and former secretary general
of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The crowd in the square came from all walks
of life: secular middle-class professionals
and pious Muslims of modest means.

The religious element has become more
visible, and dawn brought a long audio
burst of Koranic verses. After being
caught off guard by the protests, the
Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest
opposition group and one of the cornerstones
of political Islam in the Middle East, has
thrown its support behind the movement and
endorsed ElBaradei as a transitional figure.

Source: http://newsblaze.com/story/20110201091445writ.nb/topstory.html