Egypt's military agree to speed up presidential elections as protesters pour into Tahrir Square demanding a 'second revolution'



Generals say presidential elections will go ahead by July next year

Next week's parliamentary vote WILL go ahead as planned

Concessions come on fourth day of clashes as death toll rises to 36

Three doctors allegedly hit with rubber bullets in a makeshift hospital

Protest leaders calling for a million-strong rally in the capital to intensify pressure





Tens of thousands of protesters poured into central Cairo yesterday, calling for a ‘second revolution’ and the immediate removal of Egypt’s military rulers.

The increasingly confident crowd stepped up their demands after apparently dismissing an offer from the military to form a ‘national salvation government’.

It was the first time the leadership had bowed to the pressure – but with their numbers swelling by the day, the demonstrators were not in a mood to compromise.



Congregating: Thousands of Egyptian protesters are gathered yesterday in Tahrir Square

Chaos: As thousands of Egyptians descend into Tahrir Square, violence has continued to break out between protesters and riot police



Non-stop: The clashes between protesters and police around Tahrir Square, Cairo, have continued



Injured: A protester is carried today as clashes with riot police continued into a fourth day



Mourning: Egyptians protester shout today as they attend a funeral of a victim supposedly killed during clashes with Egyptian police in Tahrir Square

No way through: An ambulance struggled through the crowds to treat injured protesters

Battles broke out in streets connecting the square to police headquarters, with black-clad security forces backed by soldiers firing volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets at groups of angry young men.

INTERNATIONAL CONCERN OVER EGYPT CONTINUES TO GROW The U.S. has called for restraint on all sides and urged Egypt to proceed with elections despite the violence.

'The United States continues to believe that these tragic events should not stand in the way of elections,' White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton echoed that message and said the EU was keen to monitor the polls.

'The Egyptian authorities have been very clear that they wish to conduct these elections themselves.

'We believe it would give credibility to them to have international observation,' she told British lawmakers in London.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he deplored the loss of life.

He has called on the transitional authorities 'to guarantee the protection of human rights and civil liberties for all Egyptians, including the right to peaceful protest'.

They responded by hurling stones and fire bombs. The new wave of protests and violence around the country that began on Saturday has left at least 36 dead and has thrown Egypt’s politics into chaos.

In his brief TV address, Field Marshal Tantawi announced the electoral concessions and sought to cast the military as the nation’s foremost patriots, angrily denouncing what he called attempts to taint its reputation.

But the masses in Tahrir Square rejected his proposal, greeting it with chants of ‘erhal’, or leave.



Men in the square opened a corridor in the middle of the crowd to give easy access to motorcycles and ambulances ferrying dozens of wounded to field hospitals nearby.



At one point the crowds carried an open wooden coffin containing the body of a protester wrapped in white and conducted a funeral in the middle of the square.

The mood was determined and defiant. ‘The real revolution begins from today,’ said Taymour Abu Ezz, 58. ‘Nobody will leave until the military council leaves power.’

Protester Fahmy Ali said: ‘We demand a full purge of the system and the removal of the military council.’

Ahmad Gad, 20, a student, said many felt that ousted President Hosni Mubarak was still in power and added: ‘In Tunisia they already had elections.’



Angry: Protesters in Tahrir Square kept their distance and fled from tear gas fired by riot police during clashes last night

Action: An Egyptian protester looks on as others hurl stones at security forces (left) as a protester runs for cover during clashes yesterday (right)



Ambulance bike: Protesters carry an injured comrade after the clashes with police yesterday

Fourth day: An Egyptian protester is carried away (left) during clashes with security forces, as a dead body (right) is seen lying in Zeinhom Morgue in Cairo, having allegedly been killed by police forces in Tahrir Square

Holding a sign that read ‘Mubarak, leave’, English teacher Mohammad Abdullah, 50, said: ‘He’s still in power. He just moved his HQ from the palace to the hospital.’

WHY IS HOSTILITY AGAINST THE MILITARY REGIME GROWING?

Army generals were feted for their part in easing Mubarak out. But hostility to their rule has hardened since, especially over attempts to set new constitutional principles that would keep the military permanently beyond civilian control.

The violence casts a pall over the first round of Egypt's staggered and complex election process, which starts on November 28 in Cairo and elsewhere.

The army says the polls will go ahead.

'The January 25 revolution is continuing and there are attempts to run it off its course and there are those that are pushing it in the direction of chaos.

'That is why these protests have started,' presidential candidate Amr Moussa told Al-Hayat Television.

Islamist presidential candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, who had joined the protests in Tahrir Square, described the military council's apology for the deaths of protesters as worthless.

He said: 'I call on them to step down.'

Mubarak, 83, on trial since July for ordering the killing of protesters, has spent months in a military hospital in Cairo.

‘The army is making the same mistake as Mubarak. They hear the demands but respond when it’s too late,’ said Abdel-Hamid, a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood.

In stinging criticism yesterday, Amnesty International accused Egypt’s rulers of brutality sometimes exceeding that of former president Hosni Mubarak, saying the hopes of protestors had been crushed.

The Human Rights group said military rulers had met few of their commitments since assuming power after the overthrow of Mubarak and that military courts had extended emergency laws trying hundreds of civilians.

Torture had continued in army custody, it said, and there were consistent reports of security forces employing armed ‘thugs’ to attack protestors.

The decision to form a ‘national salvation government’ came after crisis talks between political and military leaders that preserved parliamentary elections and sped the process towards presidential elections.

But the major concessions were immediately rejected by tens of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square threatening a 'second revolution.'



‘We are not leaving, until he leaves,' chanted the protesters, demanding that Tantawi and his council of generals immediately give up power to a civilian transitional authority.

‘The people want to bring down the field marshal,' they shouted in scenes starkly reminiscent of the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak nine months ago.

Cracking down: Riot policemen seen during clashes with protesters along a debris-strewn side street near Tahrir Square yesterday

Violence: A protester gets ready to throw a firebomb (left) as a young boy looks on (right)



Protest: Egyptians are today converging on Cairo's central Tahrir Square for a 'one million-man march'

Fahmy Ali, one protester in Tahrir, said the concessions did not go far enough. ‘We demand a full purge of the system and the removal of the military council,’ he said.

Ahmed Shouman, an army major who gained fame as the first officer to join protests against Mubarak, returned to Tahrir to join the demonstrations. Ecstatic protesters carried him on their shoulders. Shouman was acquitted in a military court after his defection in February, but was suspended from service.

The military has been backed into a difficult corner. Protesters are demanding it surrender the reins of power - or at least set a firm date in the very near future for doing so soon.



Without that, few civilian political leaders are likely to join a new government for fear of being tainted as facades for the generals, as many consider the current Cabinet.

The political uncertainty and prospect of continued violence dealt a punishing blow to an already battered economy.

Egypt’s benchmark index plunged more than 5 per cent, the third straight day of declines. Banks closed early and many workplaces sent employees home ahead of schedule for fear of a deterioration in security.



Flash attack: The protests have also spread to Alexandria