In an apparent attempt to defuse the weeklong political upheaval, Mubarak named a new government Monday — dropping the widely hated interior minister in charge of security forces.
Defense Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi was promoted to deputy prime minister. Gen. Mahmoud Wagdy, previously head of Cairo criminal investigations department and also a former head of prisons, was named the new interior minister. Ahmed Aboul Gheit remains foreign minister. Samir Mohamed Radwan was named finance minister, while Samiha Fawzi Ibrahim was named trade minister.
But the lineup was greeted with scorn in Tahrir Square, the central Cairo plaza that has become the protests' epicenter, with crowds of more than 10,000 chanting for Mubarak's ouster.
"We don't want life to go back to normal until Mubarak leaves," said Israa Abdel-Fattah, a founder of the April 6 Group, a movement of young people pushing for democratic reform.
In what appeared to be a reaction to the opposition call, state TV aired a warning from the military against "the carrying out of any act that destabilizes security of the country." But it also said the military underlined that it "has not and will not use force against the public."
Movements involved in the protests include students, online activists, grassroots organizers, old-school opposition politicians and the Muslim Brotherhood. Around 30 representatives of disparate groups, meeting in the Cairo district of Dokki, agreed to work as a united coalition and supported a call for a million people to turn out for a march Tuesday, said Abu'l-Ela Madi , the spokesman of one of the participating groups, Al-Wasat, a moderate breakaway faction of the Muslim Brotherhood.
But they disagreed on other key points. The representatives decided to meet again Tuesday morning at the downtown Cairo headquarters of Wafd, the oldest legal opposition party, to finalize and announce a list of demands. They will also decide whether to make prominent reform advocate Mohamed El-Baradei spokesman for the protesters, Madi said.
Egypt endured another day of the virtual halt to normal life that the crisis has caused. Trains stopped running Monday, raising the prospect that the government was trying to prevent residents of the provinces from joining protests in the capital. Banks, schools and the stock market in Cairo were closed for the second working day. An unprecedented complete shutdown of the Internet was in its fourth day.
Cairo's international airport was a scene of chaos and confusion as thousands of foreigners sought to flee the unrest and countries around the world scrambled to send in planes to fly their citizens out.
The Saudi Embassy in Egypt said it has helped about 5,000 Saudis to leave the country. Ambassador Hisham Nazer urged Saudi Arabian Airlines to speed up travel procedures for passengers.
The US State Department said more than 2,400 Americans have contacted US officials seeking government-chartered evacuation flights from Egypt. The department said more than 220 have already left on the special flights.
A wave of looting, armed robbery and arson that erupted Friday night and Saturday — after police disappeared from the streets — appeared to ease as police reappeared in many districts. Neighborhood watch groups armed with clubs and machetes kept the peace in many districts overnight.
