CAIRO - Demonstrators in Egypt are planning to take their protests out of Tahrir Square, the epicentre of 17-day protests, in Central Cairo Friday despite warnings from the Vice Psresident and Cabinet ministers that this may result in a military crackdown or even a coup. While the square looked quiet Thursday, protesters were consolidating their second position outside the Parliament around 500 metres away as they issued a map of nationwide protests, centred near big mosques in all Egyptian cities. "This is a new protest, where millions of Egyptian are set to participate," said Ahmed Maher, a coordinator for April 6th Youth Movement, which rejected dialogue with Vice President Omar Suleiman. But protestors say they are planning to try to break through military lines today in a major escalation of their defiance, demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. "The protesters will get out in all Egyptian squares not only in Tahrir on this Martyers' Friday," Maher, who did not leave the square for 14 days, told The Egyptian Gazette. Rumours were rife Thursday that the Army extended the curfew by three hours. However, a statement by the Army said the report was baseless. "The curfew is from 6:00am until 8pm," read the statement, carried by the official Middle East News Agency (MENA). More than 30,000 protesters marched to Abdin Presidential Palace and the State television, which are both heavily fortified by troops with tanks and armoured personnel carriers and with snipers in position on roofs and at strategic windows. The Army did not stop them, but tried to help organise their marches, which disrupted the traffic in most Cairo areas and spread a case of chaos and instability across the Egyptian capital. Many people found it. The demonstrators have set up tents and barricades outside the Parliament and said they would not leave until the President leaves office. Vice President Omar Suleiman, meanwhile, said Thursday some remarks he gave to the New York-based ABC News were taken out of context. "I do believe in democracy in Egypt. We work for democracy to spread in our country. Any other interpretation of my remarks is mistaken," Suleiman said in a statement Thursday. In his remarks to the US TV on Sunday, Suleiman had been quoted as saying that Egyptians were not ready in the time being for democracy, a remark slammed by the White House as "unhelpful". Meanwhile, the opposition Tagammu Party pulled out of talks on reform with the Government, saying the Mubarak administration had not responded "to the minimum level of popular demands". Explaining its decision in a statement, Tagammu criticised the Government's handling of the dialogue with opposition, saying official announcements on what had been agreed were inaccurate. "Unacceptable statements by officials had put participants in confrontation with the popular revolution", it added. Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, however, said he had ordered the establishment of a website to receive complaints about political detainees. "This website was endorsed by the dialogue committee," he said. Shafiq Thursday formed a fact-finding panel on a bloody attack allegedly unleashed by loyalists to Mubarak the protesters settled in Tahrir Square on Wednesday, February 2. "The panel is entrusted with disclosing circumstances about the illegal practices that overshadowed the protests," the statement added. A Cairo criminal court upheld a decision by the Public Prosecutor, banning three former ministers and businessmen from leaving the country and freezing their bank assets. The ban includes former ministers of housing, trade and tourism as well head of the organizational affairs of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) Ahmed Ezz, in addition to other five officials. "The People's Assembly was approached to let prosecutors question Ezz," read a statement from the Chief Prosecutor's office. Ezz, a steel baron, is a member of parliament who has immunity to questioning.
