Protest In Egypt: One Million Marchers On Cairo Streets

Egyptian protesters are gathering for a massive rally in Cairo as they step up their efforts to  force President Hosni Mubarak from power.

Organisers say they hope one million will come on to the streets in what is expected to be the  biggest show yet. A rally is also planned in Alexandria.

Egypt’s powerful army has vowed it will not use force against the protesters.

The BBC’s Lyse Doucet in Tahrir Square says the crowds there are already much bigger than on  previous days.

Meanwhile, new Vice-President Omar Suleiman says he will hold cross-party talks on constitutional  reform.

Mr Mubarak reshuffled his cabinet on Monday to try to head off the protests, replacing the widely  despised Interior Minister Habib al-Adly.

People are pouring in from every direction – it’s a far bigger crowd than we’ve seen in recent  days. Whether it will reach a million or not is contentious, but it’s very important for the people  to think they have public support.

Walking through the crowd you get an idea of the diversity of the people flooding in – young  professionals, middle class people, but also poor people and those from an Islamist background.  This protest has really united a broad spectrum of Egyptian public opinion.

They have confidence in the army; there have been tanks in the square for the past three days with  the soldiers interacting in a very positive way with protesters. Many of the tanks are daubed with  anti-Mubarak slogans, and there’s no sense that the soldiers are in any mood to jump in their tanks  and start crushing people.

But correspondents say that the army’s statement has been a major blow for President Mubarak, and  appears to have encouraged protesters, who are flocking to central Cairo in their thousands.

The feeling that change is coming in Egypt is getting stronger, says the BBC’s Middle East editor  Jeremy Bowen in Cairo. Too much has happened too quickly to go back to the way things were before,  he says.

At least 100 people have been killed across the country since protests began a week ago following  an internet campaign and partly inspired by the ousting of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in  Tunisia last month.

Egypt has since cut off the internet in the country and text messaging services have been  disrupted.