CAIRO—Egypt's opposition movement extended its protest to new territory outside parliament and called on labor unions to join it, in an effort to increase pressure on a regime that is digging in behind President Hosni Mubarak.
Protesters blocking the street outside parliament and other government buildings a few blocks from Tahrir Square forced cabinet ministers to move a meeting Wednesday, ahead of a mass protest planned for Friday.
February in Giza, Egypt, is usually the peak season for tourists, who come here to see the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx. But the country's recent unrest has turned this desert town into a ghost town. WSJ's Christopher Rhoads reports.
Vice President Omar Suleiman reiterated that Mr. Mubarak won't step down. Urging the opposition to join talks, he said the alternative was a "coup," which would bring "uncalculated and hasty steps, including lots of irrationalities."
White House officials tried in a conference call with reporters to hammer home their view that the Egyptian government hasn't moved fast enough or meaningfully enough toward political change.
The officials, however, continued to refuse to give a timetable for change. The U.S. has faced concerns that the rapid demise of Mr. Mubarak's secular regime would clear the way an Egypt run by Islamists.
U.S. officials also called on Egyptian officials and opposition negotiators to work with more secular civil society organizations, after the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood broke ranks with the opposition Sunday to meet with Mr. Suleiman.
Wael Ghonim, the Google executive detained for two weeks during the protests, doesn't see himself as a hero. But the youth he inspired to protest through a Facebook page want him to be their voice. Kelsey Hubbard talks with WSJ's Matt Bradley in Cairo.
The Islamist group held a news conference Wednesday to say it continued to back the protesters' main demand for Mr. Mubarak's immediate departure, and to reject what the opposition says are incremental concessions by the regime to stall for time and avoid reforms.
"The situation now looks like a monologue, not a dialogue," said Mohamed Mursi, a member of the group's guidance council.
The labor movement, historically Egypt's most effective protest force, has been the sleeping giant during the recent turmoil, which has been spurred in part by economic discontent.
Before the latest antigovernment demonstrations, laborers were among the few civil society blocs capable of winning concessions from the regime.
Anti-Mubarak protesters unfurled flags, set up camp and blocked the street outside the gates of Egypt's parliament in Cairo Wednesday.
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"People were always asking why [laborers] don't join our protests," said Ayman Nour, the head of the opposition Al Ghad Party. "Today, it was the right timing that both parties will become one. We're organizing with them from now on."
State TV showed angry workers in the health, telecommunications and power sectors protesting at locations across Cairo. Many were contract workers or part-timers demanding full-time work and benefits.
More than 6,000 workers at companies owned by the Suez Canal Authority began an open-ended strike for better wages and conditions on Tuesday. Canal traffic wasn't affected, the the semiofficial daily al-Ahram reported.
On Wednesday, the paper reported that strikes in the Suez Canal area escalated, as 2,000 textile workers and others demanded salary increases.
Wednesday Photos
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John Moore/Getty Images
Antigovernment protesters walked during a candlelight vigil Wednesday in Cairo for people killed during the protests.
Regional Upheaval
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A succession of rallies and demonstrations, in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and Algeria have been inspired directly by the popular outpouring of anger that toppled Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. See how these uprisings have progressed.
Clashes in Cairo
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Since late January, antigovernment demonstrators have swarmed the streets of Cairo, calling for President Hosni Mubarak to step down and at times clashing with the president's supporters. See where the action took place.
Basem Kamel, an organizer in opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei's youth movement, said the Tahrir Square protest organizers have asked labor movements to help bolster the protests in the capital, but said they aren't coordinating individual strikes around the country.
Some protests against Mr. Mubarak in the oasis of Kharga and the Suez Canal town of Port Said turned violent Wednesday, according to al-Ahram and wire reports. In Kharga, protesters burned a police station and the ruling party headquarters.
Organizers in Cairo called for a massive protest Friday, when most Egyptians have the day off.
"We are hoping that the 'Friday of Martyrs' will be the world largest funeral to bid farewell to 300 Egyptians," tweeted Wael Ghonim, the Google Inc. executive whose release from state security and emotional interview on satellite TV late Monday gave the protest movement a shot in the arm.
Human Rights Watch says at least 302 people have been killed since Jan. 28, based on figures collected from eight hospitals.
In Cairo, protest organizers said they aim to slowly extend the swath of real estate they control downtown.
Opposition organizers used a feint to set up camp outside the iron gate of the parliament building. They first called for a march on the state television building, in the opposite direction from Tahrir. While the army deployed to that sensitive communications hub, protesters moved into the lightly defended area around the parliament.
Signs hung on the gates outside the building, including one that said, "Closed for cleaning." The legislature is stacked with Mubarak supporters, particularly so after elections in November that drew charges of fraud. The government has promised to look into those allegations as a concession to protesters.
Soldiers occupied the courtyard inside the gate, and could be seen on the balconies of the Council of Ministers building.
Other countries in the region took steps to assuage popular pressure for change.
—Margaret Coker, Joel Millman and Jonathan Weisman contributed to this article.
الرئيسية 
موضوع: Rallies Fan Out as Regime Closes Ranks 
الأربعاء فبراير 09, 2011 10:26 pm
