Thousands amassing at Tahrir Square to oust military rulers

Tantawi during his meeting with Ganzouri entrusting him with leading the government The crowd at Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt has surpassed those even at the height of the anti-Mubarak protests, reports have claimed. Previous chants against Mubarak have now been swapped for chants against Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. Protestors are said to regard Monday's elections at best irrelevant and at worst a dangerous move by the military to legitimise theire rule.
Some taking part in today's protest have been wearing eye patches to show solidarity with those who have lost eyes. Among them is Google executive Wael Ghonim, the co-founder of the influential pro-revolution We are all Khaled Said Facebook page, who posted a picture of himself wearing a patch.
Thousands of people have also gathered to protest in Alexandria and hundreds in Tanta, says Ahram online.
Reports of a pro-regime rally about 15,000 strong is also coming in. The crowd at the pro-military rally have reportedly been chanting: "Where is al-Jazeera? These are the Egyptian people."
Meanwhile, Kamal Ganzouri has agreed to lead the new government after meeting the head of the military council, Tantawi, the website of state newspaper Al-Ahram reported, citing sources close to Ganzouri.
Egyptian military spokesman Lt. Col. Amr Imam also confirmed the appointment.
Upon hearing the news of Ganzouri’s reported appointment, demonstrators erupted in raucous jeers, chanting "we don’t want him".
Ganzouri, 78, who served in the nineties under Hosni Mubarak, the ousted president, reportedly told the Bloomberg news agency that he met with Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi, the head of the ruling military council, but declined to comment further.
State media said the army leaders picked the political veteran to form a national salvation government, a choice that was quickly snubbed by many of the young activists who have led the demonstrations in Tahrir Square.
After the mass uprising earlier this year, Ganzouri distanced himself from Mubarak in a television interview, prompting several activists to recommend him as a future presidential candidate.
In a further sign that the reported appointment could fail to put an end to seven days of mass rallies, thousands of protestors were already camped out in Tahrir Square before dawn on Friday morning, despite chilly temperatures and a blanket of dense fog.
Activists vowed to step pressure on Egypt’s ruling generals on Friday with a third “one-million man’ march in less than two weeks as plans were underway for the country’s first legislative elections on November 28.
The protest, which has been dubbed the "Friday of the last chance" comes after the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) refused to postpone elections scheduled for Monday. "There is a general feeling to call off the elections completely," said Nasser Abdul Mohsena, an opponent of the junta who has been demonstrating in the capital.
Violence has gripped the nation in the past week, when protestors clashed in an ugly battle with police in Cairo and other revolution centres across the country such as Alexandria and Suez, demanding the Tantawi step down and the government resign. The violence, mostly halted under the terms of a tenuous truce on Thursday, left 41 people dead and more than 3,200 injured across the country.
 Medical workers also confirmed that live ammunition has been used against demonstrators in Tahrir Square. According to morgue officials, at least 22 Egyptians have been killed by live bullets since street battles began on Saturday, directly contradicting government statements that security forces have never opened fire on protesters.
SCAF apologised for the deaths of demonstrators on Thursday and pledged to hold parliamentary elections scheduled for November 28 on time, despite a push from activists and some political parties to postpone them.
The SCAF "presents its regrets and deep apologies for the deaths of martyrs from among Egypt's loyal sons during the recent events in Tahrir Square", it said on Thursday in a statement on its Facebook page.
It also called on "honourable citizens" to protect the square, separate the protestors from interior ministry riot police and arrest those who are found suspicious, raising concerns among some that the announcement had given license for street violence.
The military also began asserting a firmer street presence, promising to help police secure the country during the voting and erecting a two-metre-tall concrete barricade on Mohamed Mahmoud Street.
The street leads towards the interior ministry and has been the focal point of violence between riot police and crowds of young men.
However, some protestors said they feared the cessation in fighting would not last long - evidenced in part by the numbers of young men who remained eager on Thursday to break through a human cordon preventing them from heading to the front line of fighting and violating the truce.
But protestors said they had another reason to fear, as well.
Eslam Yousry, a Cairo doctor who was volunteering in a makeshift medical tent behind the frontline, said he had seen military vehicles parked on a street leading to the interior ministry.
Where the tanks were absent, however, police and protestors were separated only by hastily constructed barricades.
He said this meant in essence, that security forces were serious about protecting the interior ministry, but not about ensuring peace was maintained between protestors and riot police.
"People are afraid of military tanks. If they see the tanks, they won't do anything," Yousry told Al Jazeera news.
"But with no tanks, all it will take is for one person to throw a rock, and the truce is over."
Egypt’s military rulers also rejected protestor demands for them to step down immediately and say they would start the first round of parliamentary elections on time next week, despite serious unrest in Cairo and other cities.
The ruling military council insisted it is not the same as the old regime it replaced, but the generals appear to be on much the same path that doomed Hosni Mubarak nine months ago - responding to the current crisis by delivering speeches seen as arrogant, mixing concessions with threats and using brutal force.
So far it’s working no better than it did under the former leader.
Protestors in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, seething over the military’s perceived failings over the past nine months, said they would not leave the iconic plaza until the generals step down in favor of a civilian presidential council, a show of resolve similar to that which forced Mubarak to give up power in February after nearly three decades.
“What we want to hear is when they are leaving,” said Tahrir protestor Khaled Mahmoud on hearing of an apology offered by the military for the deaths of nearly 40 protestors since Saturday. “The ouster of the marshal is only a matter of time,” he added, referring to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who was Mubarak’s defense minister for 20 years before he succeeded him in February.
“There will be no postponement in the election,” said Maj. Gen. Mamdouh Shaheen, one of two members of the ruling military council who spoke at a televised news conference on Thursday. “The election will be held on time with all of its three stages on schedule.”
The two generals said the throngs in Tahrir do not represent the whole of Egypt and warned of chaos if the council was to immediately step down, language similar to Mubarak’s scare-mongering while trying to cling to power in the face of the 18-day uprising against his rule.
The two generals - Shaheen and Maj. Gen. Mukhtar el-Malla - also said that parliamentary elections would start on time Monday .
The military has been Egypt’s most powerful institution since army officers seized power in a 1952 coup that toppled the monarchy. All four presidents since then hailed from military background. Taking the reins from Mubarak on Feb. 11 gave the military the opportunity to directly rule Egypt for the first time since the early 1950s, something that critics often cite to explain their political inexperience.
With Mubarak under arrest and being tried on crimes punishable by death, Tantawi and his generals would be loath to step down under pressure and leave themselves vulnerable to legal proceedings by the next administration. Additionally, stepping down would inflict lasting damage to the military’s standing, although that has already been hurt by the scathing criticism and ridicule they already have endured on the streets and in the independent press.
Perhaps as a precaution against such a prospect, the generals have been trying to win immunity for the armed forces against civilian oversight and to enshrine a role for themselves in the next constitution as guardians of the nation. The bid was seen as one of the final straws that sent people out onto the streets again, convinced the military was trying to grab and cling to power.
The military has countered the criticism with implicit threats, frequently using the patriotism card and insisting that they have no wish to stay in power beyond the election of a new president before the end of June 2012.
“O glorious people of Egypt, our only loyalty in the armed forces is to you and the soil of Egypt,” Tantawi told the nation this week in a televised address. “Criticism directed at the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces aims at weakening our will and mandate and seeks to undermine the great trust between the people and their armed forces,” said Tantawi, whose address bore a striking resemblance to speeches given by Mubarak during the January-February uprising.
The two generals also praised the police for what they said was their restraint and said they have every right to defend themselves, but acknowledged they made mistakes while handling the protestors. They said nothing about witness reports that members of he military police also battled protestors alongside the hated police in the latest clashes.
They appeared to try to drive a wedge between the protestors, addressing those camping out in Tahrir square as “honorable” while criticising others who battled the police for five days on nearby side streets.
The military, said the two generals, would return to their barracks if only Egyptians voted in favor of that move in a referendum or when an elected civilian administration was in place. The idea of holding a referendum on the military immediately stepping down was first floated by Tantawi on Tuesday.
The military is also accused of remaining loyal to Mubarak, having put him under arrest and on trial only when large protests pressured them to do so.
“The army is now operating like the police, a tool of suppression,” said protestor Mayada Khalaf. “With all these lies from the army, it is like they are sticking their tongues out at us.”
The US has called on the military council to transfer power to a civilian governmentm as soon as possible. In statement spokesman Jay Carney said: "We believe that the full transfer of power to a civilian government must take place in a just and inclusive manner that responds to the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people, as soon as possible."