Thousands of angry Egyptians defied a curfew today for the second day in a row and stayed on the streets to push their demand that President Hosni Mubarak resign.
The army had warned that anyone who remained on the streets after 4pm local time would be in danger, but as the deadline passed, protests continued in central Cairo and the port city of Alexandria, witnesses said.
Soldiers took no immediate action. They seemed relaxed and some protesters chatted with troops mounted on armoured vehicles, the witnesses said.
Mr Mubarak named a vice president today for the first time since coming to power nearly 30 years ago. He appointed his intelligence chief and close confidant Omar Suleiman to the post, state television reported.
A former air force commander and aviation minister, Ahmed Shafiq, has been picked as the next prime minister.
The announcement was a clear step towards setting up a successor amid the anti-government protests.
On the fifth day of unprecedented protests against Mr Mubarak's rule, it looked increasingly as if the army held the key to the nation's future. The president ordered troops and tanks into Cairo and other cities overnight and imposed a curfew in a bid to quell unrest in which dozens of people were killed.
In an effort to appease the protesters, he dismissed his cabinet and said he would listen to demands for reform.
According to a Reuters tally, at least 74 people have been killed in the unrest. There was no official figure. Medical sources said at least 1,030 people were injured in Cairo, but with more protests starting throughout the country, the number was bound to rise.
Earlier today, thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with police in Alexandria today after Mr Mubarak spurned demands that he end his 30-year authoritarian rule. A Reuters witness said police used teargas and live ammunition against demonstrators in the city.
Protesters also gathered on a main square in the capital Cairo in defiance of military orders for them to disperse. The fresh unrest broke out as Mr Mubarak clung to power, replacing his cabinet in an effort to appease angry Egyptians, complaining about poverty, corruption and unemployment.
The president ordered troops and tanks into Cairo and other cities overnight and imposed a curfew in an attempt to quell the protests that have shaken the Arab world's most populous nation, a key US ally, to the core. Despite dozens of deaths in clashes yesterday, Egyptians said they would press on with protests until Mr Mubarak quits.
The unrest, which follows the overthrow of Tunisian strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali two weeks ago in a popular uprising, has sent shock waves through the Middle East, where other autocratic rulers may face similar challenges.
The capital was strewn with wreckage from a day of protests yesterday when protesters fought running battles with police firing rubber bullets, teargas and wielding batons - an unprecedented turn of events in the tightly-controlled country.
Government buildings, including the ruling party headquarters, still blazed on Saturday morning after being set alight by demonstrators who targeted symbols of Mr Mubarak's rule.
As well as Cairo and Alexandria, clashes have also occurred in Suez, site of the strategically important canal.
The demonstrators, many of them young urban poor and students, complain of repression, corruption, and economic despair under Mr Mubarak, who has held power since the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat by Islamist soldiers.
Although he sacked the cabinet, the president made clear he intended to stay in power and he condemned the violence. So far, the protest movement seems to have no clear leader or organisation even if Mr Mubarak did wish to open a dialogue.
Prominent activist Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Laureate for his work with the UN nuclear agency, returned to Egypt from Europe to join the protests. But many Egyptians feel he has not spent enough time in the country.
In an interview with France 24 television, El Baradei said Mubarak should step down and begin a transition of power.
"There is a consensus in Egypt in every part of society that this is a regime that is a dictatorship, that has failed to deliver on economic, social, and political fronts," he said. "We need a new beginning."
Reuters