A day after the cabinet offered its resignation to Egypt?s transitional military rulers, protesters sought to mobilise yet bigger demonstrations on Tuesday, despite an increasingly lethal crackdown recalling the uncertainty that marked the earliest days of the Arab Spring.
As the confrontation entered a fourth tense day, news reports said crowds of people were converging on Tahrir Square, the epicenter of Egyptian resistance ? first to the former president, Hosni Mubarak, ousted in February and now to the military commanders who replaced him.
Such was the nervousness about the test of wills that trading was briefly suspended on the Cairo stock exchange after its main index slumped for a third successive day, deepening the sense of crisis that has built since street fighting began on Saturday ? just days ahead of the first parliamentary elections next week since Mubarak was forced from power. Thousands of Egyptians milled in the square in advance of gatherings planned for the afternoon, news reports said, but there was no immediate word on how the military would deal with the cabinet?s move to quit. By early afternoon, the crowd had swollen to some 10,000 ? far fewer than at the height of the protests in January and February but nonetheless offering a challenge to the authorities. The fighting came as criticism of the military spread beyond Egypt?s borders. In a statement, Amnesty International said the ruling commanders had ?been responsible for a catalog of abuses which in some cases exceeds the record of Hosni Mubarak.?
Meanwhile, Egyptian politicians demanded on Tuesday that parliamentary polls proceed on time, as a crisis meeting called by generals after days of protests against military rule got under way.