Egypt protests mount as govt rejects 'hasty' reforms
(Anti clockwise from top left) Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (R) meets with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and the Presidential Special Envoy to the Middle East Alexander Sultanov (C) in Cairo, Egyptian anti-government protesters gather outside the Parliament gates and a doctor takes care of a injured in Tahrir Square yesterday, on the 16th day of protests against the regime of President Hosni Mubarak. Photo: AFP
Galvanised by the biggest day of protest since their campaign to oust Hosni Mubarak's regime began, Egyptian pro-democracy campaigners attempted to blockade parliament yesterday.
Meanwhile, at least three people were killed and 100 wounded in two days of clashes between police and demonstrators in a town in southern Egypt's New Valley region, a security official told AFP yesterday.
Police fired live rounds when local people rioted in the oasis town of El Kharga, more than 400 kilometres south of Cairo, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Scores were wounded and three people died of their injuries yesterday.
The furious mob responded by burning seven official buildings, including two police stations, a police barracks, a court house and the local headquarters of President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party.
The unrest in the country's south was the latest indication that the frustration with Hosni Mubarak's 30-year-reign has spread far beyond Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the massive two-week-old protests.
Around a thousand marched on parliament to demand its member's resignation. The protest was peaceful, and government troops secured the building, but the marchers swore they would not leave until the body was dissolved.
Egypt's 82-year-old president has deputised his vice president and former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to draw selected opposition groups into negotiations on democratic reform before elections in September.
Some parties have joined the talks, but the crowds in Tahrir insist that Mubarak must go before they will halt the protest. Suleiman, however, warns that the transition must be slow and orderly if there is not to be chaos.
"A clear road map has been put in place with a set timetable to realise a peaceful and organised transfer of power," he said Tuesday on state television.
Afterwards, however, he told Egyptian editors that he would not allow "uncalculated and hasty steps" and warned "there will be no ending of the regime, nor a coup, because that means chaos."
The United States is watching events in the biggest country in the Arab world with great concern, hoping the transition to elected rule can take place without a descent into violence or an Islamist or military takeover.
On Tuesday, US Vice President Joe Biden renewed an appeal for "immediate" and "irreversible" political change in a phone call to Suleiman, including a wider national dialogue with the opposition, a White House statement said.
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