Egypt protesters vow to step up pressure

Egypt protesters vow to step up pressure





Tens of thousands of people have gathered in central Cairo for a seventh day of protest, calling for a general strike.
Police
have been ordered back to the streets, to positions they abandoned on
Friday, but it is not clear whether they are returning to central Cairo.
The demonstrators are also planning a huge march to take place on Tuesday.
Protesters want President Hosni Mubarak to step down after 30 years in power, but he has promised political reform.
The president has ordered his new Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq to push through democratic reforms and create new jobs.
Correspondents
say all the signs continue to suggest that the only change the
protesters will settle for is Mr Mubarak's removal from office.
Meanwhile
Moodys Investor Services downgraded Egypt's bond rating and changed its
outlook from stable to negative, following a similar move by Fitch
Ratings last week. Both cited the political crisis.
'Protest of millions'
But
there were signs of disagreement within the opposition, with the
largest group, the Muslim Brotherhood, appearing to go back on its
endorsement of leading figure Mohamed ElBaradei as a negotiator with Mr
Mubarak.



As demonstrations enter their seventh day, correspondents say there
are at least 50,000 people on Tahrir Square in the centre of the city.
Elsewhere the streets are busy and things appear to be returning to normal, says the BBC's Tim Wilcox in Cairo.
There are plans for a "protest of the millions" march on Tuesday.
On Sunday, most of the crowd in Cairo's Tahrir (Liberation) Square were unfazed by low-flying air force jets and a helicopter.
"Change is coming," promised Mr ElBaradei when he addressed the crowds.




Mr ElBaradei has been mandated by opposition groups to negotiate with the regime.
But a spokesman for the largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, appeared to reject this position.
"The people have not appointed Mohamed ElBaradei to become a spokesman of them," Mohamed Morsy told the BBC.
"The
Muslim Brotherhood is much stronger than Mohamed ElBaradei as a person.
And we do not agree on he himself to become representing [sic] this
movement, the movement is represented by itself, and it will come up
with a committee... to make delegations with any government."
Thousands rallied in Alexandria and there were also sizeable demonstrations in Mansoura, Damanhour and Suez.
Police
were noticeable by their absence so the protests were not marked by the
sort of clashes which have left at least 100 people dead since rallies
began on Tuesday.
But with continued reports of
looting, the Interior Minister Habib al-Adly announced on Sunday that
police would be back on the streets to restore order.
Economic impact
The
unrest is having an impact on the Egyptian economy, beyond the closure
of shops and businesses and the call for a general strike.


On Monday, New Zealand joined a growing list
of countries warning their nationals not to travel to Egypt if they can
avoid it and the US, Japan and China are among states preparing to
evacuate their citizens.
Tourism is a vital sector in the Egyptian economy, accounting for about 5 to 6% of GDP.
Meanwhile,
Japanese car maker Nissan has announced that it is halting production
at its Egypt plant for a week, and it has urged non-Egyptian employees
to leave the country.
Global markets are also likely to
react. The Nikkei fell in early trading in Tokyo as the Egyptian unrest
prompted investors to shun riskier assets.
'Orderly transition'
International pressure is growing for some kind of resolution.


In the strongest language yet, both US President Barack Obama and
his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talked about the need for an
"orderly transition" to a democratic future for Egypt.
The
White House says Mr Obama made a number of calls about the situation
over the weekend to foreign leaders including Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and British Prime
Minister David Cameron.
The protests in Egypt are top of the agenda of a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.
China, meanwhile, has called for a return to order.
"Egypt
is a friend of China's, and we hope social stability and order will
return to Egypt as soon as possible," a Chinese foreign ministry
spokesman said on Sunday.
The unrest in Egypt follows
the uprising in Tunisia which ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali
two weeks ago after 23 years in power.