CAIRO, Feb 21: More than 500 people rallied in Cairo on Monday to protest against a new term in office for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and against moves to enable his son Gamal to succeed him afterwards.
"That's enough" and "Down with Hosni Mubarak" shouted protestors who gathered in front of Cairo University, while around 50 trucks packed with police were deployed nearby. A triple cordon of police, wielding batons and shields, surrounded the protestors, blocking other city residents from joining them.
"A quarter of a century in power is enough" and "Mubarak, admit you're a despot", the protestors chanted, brandishing banners with the slogan "No to hereditary power" - a reference to steps being taken by the government to groom Gamal as a possible successor.
Organized by the Egyptian Movement for Change, the demonstrators also included Marxists, Nasserites, liberals and Islamic dissidents from the Muslim Brotherhood.
Leaflets handed out at the rally called for a constitutional amendment which would limit the president to two, four-year terms in power, instead of an indeterminate number of six-year terms. -AFP
