Eqypt: Protesters marching from Tahrir Square to Mubarak’s presidential palace

Egypt: Protestors demanding Hosni Mubarak to step down started marching from Cairo’s Tahrir Square to Mubarak’s presidential palace as the Friday dead line given to Mubarak is over. After finished Friday prayers several thousand protestors started their march towards the palace from Tahrir square demanding that President Hosni Mubarak must  step down.

The protestor’s slogans are “change, strength, nationalism, and justice”. Most of the protestors carried the Egyptian flag and were also singing the National Anthem.

President Mubarak has been given the deadline of Friday called the ‘Day of Departure’.

President Mubarak told ABC’s Christiane Amanpour that he wants to step down but fears that there will be chaos in the country. The protests have emerged as an unexpected existential challenge to Mr Mubarak’s near 30-year rule, but some of his supporters launched a violent counter-attack this week and the leader himself warned the country risked sliding into chaos if he leaves now.

But protesters said the violent response of pro- Mubarak mobs had made them more determined to push the president from power straight away.

“We are still waiting for our demands to be answered and now it’s even more severe than before. This is not acceptable on a humanitarian level,” said one protester.

On January 25, 2011, Tahrir Square staged massive demonstrations demanding Mubarak’s ouster.

On January 28, the square saw one of the deadliest days in Egypt’s history after security forces cracked down on anti-Mubarak protestors.

Since then, protestors have camped in the square demanding an immediate ouster of Mubarak’s regime.

As many as 300 people were killed in the protests that swept almost all Egyptian cities, Egypt’s nation-sweeping protests over the last nine days, according to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

There has been a crackdown on journalists in Egypt with many being detained and their cameras, tapes and identity cards being impounded.

CNN-IBN Foreign Affairs Editor Surya Gangadharan and video journalist Rajesh Bhardwaj were detained by Cairo police on Friday and released after two hours. They were questioned by police officials before being released.

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