Police fought protesters in two cities in eastern Egypt on Thursday and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei arrived back in the country to join a major demonstration on Friday to try to oust President Hosni Mubarak. Security forces shot dead a Bedouin protester in the north of Egypt's Sinai region on Thursday, bringing the death toll to five on the third day of protests inspired by unrest which toppled Tunisia's president earlier this month.
In a sign open defiance against authoritarian rulers was spreading, police also clashed with protesters in the Arabian Peninsula state of Yemen and Gabon in West Africa. Police in Suez fired rubber bullets, water cannon and tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators calling for an end to Mubarak's 30-year-old rule. Protesters chucked rocks and petrol bombs at police lines.
Hundreds of protesters clashed with police in Ismailia, who dispersed the crowds with tear gas, while support spread for a planned wave of protests on Friday initiated on Facebook. "I will participate," ElBaradei, who has campaigned for reform in Egypt, said on flying in from his home in Vienna, where he used to lead the UN's nuclear watchdog. "I wish we did not have to go out on the streets to press the regime to act."
A US official said the protests gave Mubarak's government a "great opportunity" to advance political reform. Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough also urged both sides to refrain from violence in the latest sign of US concern. As in many other countries in the region, protesters in Egypt, a key US ally, complain about surging prices, unemployment and the authorities' reliance on heavy-handed security to keep dissenting voices quiet.
ElBaradei earlier told Reuters in Vienna that it was time for Mubarak to step aside. "He has served the country for 30 years and it is about time for him to retire," said ElBaradei, who won the peace prize for his work as head of the UN nuclear agency. Arabic satellite channel Al Arabiya said later in a brief screen headline: "ElBaradei: ready to take up power for a transitional period if the street demanded it." His arrival could spur protesters who have no figurehead, although many activists resent his absences in recent months.
Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif urged citizens to exercise self control on Friday, the cabinet spokesman told reporters. Egyptians torched a police post in Suez early on Thursday in response to the killing of three demonstrators earlier in the week, a Reuters witness said.
"Our government is a dictatorship. A total dictatorship," said Mohamed Fahim, a 29-year-old glass factory worker, as he stood near the charred skeleton of a car. "It's our right to choose our government ourselves. We have been living 29 years, my whole life, without being able to choose a president."
On Wednesday evening, people in Suez had tried to burn down a government building, another police post and a local office of Egypt's ruling party before police stopped them. The government has said it intervened there against what it called 'vandalism'. One policeman has been killed in Cairo in the anti-government protests, unprecedented during Mubarak's rule.
Al-Arabiya said on Thursday Egypt's general prosecutor had charged 40 protesters with trying to "overthrow the regime". A page on Facebook announcing Friday's protest gained 55,000 supporters in less than 24 hours and the call was then repeated by some opposition groups.
"Egypt's Muslims and Christians will go out to fight against corruption, unemployment and oppression and absence of freedom," wrote an activist on Facebook, which alongside sites like Twitter have been key tools to rally people onto the streets. Egypt's main stock index suffered the second-biggest one-day fall in its history on Thursday and the prices of two London-listed stocks focused on Egypt also tumbled.
Interior Minister Habib al-Adli, whose resignation is being demanded by the protesters, has dismissed the demonstrations. Witnesses say demonstrators have been dragged away, beaten and shoved into police vans. The Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that 500 had been arrested. An independent coalition of lawyers said at least 1,200 were detained. ElBaradei, 68, launched a campaign for change last year.