Thousands rally in Cairo despite vote pledge

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who served as minister under Hosni Mubarak but took power when the ex-president was ousted in February, pledged in a rare televised address Tuesday to hold a presidential election by the end of June.

He was speaking after deadly protests swept the country, in scenes reminiscent of the popular uprisings that toppled Mubarak.

According to the health ministry, 31 people have been killed since Saturday -- 28 of them in Tahrir Square -- when the security forces first resorted to tear gas, rubber bullets and birdshot in an bid to scatter protesters.

Demonstrators have responded with stones and petrol bombs.

Heba Morayef, a researcher for Human Rights Watch in Cairo, described the latest bloody confrontations as "very worrying."

"(Tantawi\'s) speech shows that the military is not ceding anything, and at the same time the ongoing violence is strengthening the protesters resolve."

As well as promising to hold the presidential elections some six months earlier than previously expected, Tantawi said he was ready to transfer power immediately, via a referendum, "should the people wish it."

But tens of thousands of Egyptians attending an anti-military rally in Tahrir Square railed against Tantawi, when news of his statement filtered through, saying they did not believe a word he said.

"We can\'t trust what he says. The ball has been in SCAF\'s court for months, and they didn\'t do anything," said Ibtisam al-Hamalawy, 50, referring to the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

"Tantawi is Mubarak, copy pasted. He\'s Mubarak in a military uniform," said Ahmed Mamduh, 35, an accountant.

Observers on Wednesday said that, while people demonstrating in Tahrir Square might not represent the majority of the Egyptian population, their influence was unquestionable.

"It was the same during the uprsising; there was a silent majority that didn\'t feel like joining, they were perhaps against it. But at that end of the day it was Tahrir that decided the course of events," said Egyptian analyst and blogger Issander El-Amrani.

Nabil Abdel Fatah, analyst at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, agreed.

"The continued spilling of blood has an effect. We are seeing middle class youth being killed, and that moves big segments in the cities and provinces."

Protesters in Egypt\'s iconic central plaza have indicated they want to hear nothing less than an announcement of an end to military rule.

Since Mubarak\'s ouster, protesters have grown increasingly angry at the military council which they accuse of being an extension of the old regime and of resorting to Mubarak-era tactics to stifle dissent.

The latest mass protests resulted in the resignation of the cabinet, on Monday, just a week before crucial legislative polls, the first since Mubarak was toppled, which Tantawi said would be held on schedule.

The SCAF had invited the country\'s political forces for crisis talks amid spiralling unrest that threatened to derail the election.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt\'s best-organised political force, joined the talks, which also included presidential hopeful and former Arab League chief Amr Mussa and the head of the liberal Wafd party Sayyed Badawi.

Protests also erupted in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the canal city of Suez and the central city of Qena, the northern city of Port Said and Assiut and Aswan in the south, as well as in the Nile Delta province of Daqahliya and the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Amrani, the analyst and blogger, said the new demonstrations pointed to a dangerous stalemate between the army and the protesters.

"The military faces the same problem Mubarak did. They can\'t crush Tahrir, for domestic reasons and for international reasons," he told AFP, saying that doing so would cause a "bloodbath."

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