Crowds of protesters continued to join tens of thousands already in Tahrir square in preparation for another million-person protest following afternoon prayers Friday. Protesters have named today the "Friday of Challenge." Ibrahim Nour, 28, anticipated hundreds of thousands of protesters would join in the 18th day of Egypt's revolution, and that their numbers would exceed 1 million later in the afternoon. Nour added that others are demonstrating in around the capital including in front of the Television building on the Corniche, the Parliament building downtown, and the Presidential Palace in Heliopolis. More religious scholars are expected to join demonstrators in Tahrir Square as they march from Al-Azhar Mosque. Protesters attributed the swelling crowds to President Hosni Mubarak's speech Thursday night, during which he did not resign as anticipated, but designated several of his powers to Vice President Omar Suleiman, which further aggravated protesters. Hours before Mubarak's speech, thousands in Tahrir Square had started to celebrate in anticipation of Mubarak's stepping down. The Egyptian military's position toward Mubarak's speech remains ambiguous. The Supreme Council of Armed Forces released a statement today supporting the changes Mubarak promised in his speech, but a number of soldiers have also put down their weapons to join protesters in Tahrir Square. Mubarak's absence from the military leadership meeting Thursday convoluted the situation further. The council said it was meeting continuously in an earlier statement Thursday, adding that protesters' demands are legitimate and the army will protect the country's security. According to observers, the situation in Egypt is likely to become more complicated, and might even escalate into violent clashes as Mubarak continues to hold on to power. The president and vice president's calls for anational dialogue with opposition forces has failed to convince any of the major political forces, which announced their withdrawal from the dialogue this week, describing it as "not serious." The largest group--the youth protesters--assert that they were not represented in the dialogue and oppose participating in any dialogue before the president resigns.
