>Thousands converge in Cairo to demand Mubarak go – Yahoo! News
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CAIRO – Thousands of people converged on the heart of Cairo Tuesday to demand the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak after nearly 30 years in power.
Organizers hoped a million would turn out in Tahrir, or Liberation, Square to force out a man they blame for ignoring the needs of the poor and allowing corruption and official abuse to run rampant.
Mubarak would be the second Arab leader pushed from office by a popular uprising in the history of the modern Middle East.
Authorities tried to thwart the protest by shutting down all roads and public transportation to Cairo, security officials said. Train services nationwide were suspended for a second day and all bus services between cities were halted.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. .
It’s a day to the week after an extraordinary eruption of discontent and demands for democracy in the United States’ most important Arab ally. The uprising is fueled by years of frustration with Mubarak’s autocratic regime and emboldened by an uprising last month that overthrew Tunisia’s president.
Several thousand camped out overnight in Tahrir Square, sleeping on a grass traffic circle and the pavement in a the massive plaza they took over Friday in a day of protests and clashes with riot police.
Around 10 a.m., they were being joined by a stream of individuals arriving at checkpoints guarded by protesters and the army, which promised Monday night that it would not fire on protesters.
Working-class men in scuffed shoes and worn cloth pants stood alongside women in full-face veils who chanted, “The people want to bring down the regime!”
The protesters — and the Obama administration — roundly rejected Mubarak’s announcement of a new government Monday that dropped his highly unpopular interior minister, who heads police forces and has been widely denounced by the protesters.
Abdel Rahman Fathi, 25, said that his friends from the provinces were taking privates cars and heading to the square.
“The goal is to oust the regime,” he said. “Every day we try to increase the number.”
