250 000 Rally in Egypt's Cairo Ahead of Million-Strong Protest

Thousands of people take part in a protest at Tahrir square in central Cairo, Egypt, 31 January 2011. Protests against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak continued during the whole day and night despite the imposed curfew. EPA/BGNES

The unyielding civil protests demanding the resignation of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak have continued with 250 000 rallying in downtown Cairo Monday night.

Some 250 000 protesters gathered Monday in Tahrir Square in Cairo as Egypt entered its seventh day of protests, according to reports of Al Jazeera and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The protesters have gathered in defiance of the 8 am – 3 pm curfew imposed by the government.

Opposition has also called for a general strike Monday to paralyze the normal functioning of the country, already hampered by weeklong protests. The so-called April 6 Movement said it plans to have more than a million people on the streets of the capital Cairo, reports Al Jazeera. Egyptian opposition leaders are calling for a million people to march through Cairo on Tuesday in order to convince Mubarak, who has been in power since 1981, to step down.

Thousands of people have been arrested and over 100 have been killed in the clashes between protesters and security forces in the past seven days across Egypt.

Reports say that on Monday the Egyptian police have started to gradually regain control of the streets and the traffic in the major cities.

Six Al Jazeera journalists were arrested briefly in Cairo earlier on Monday but the Arab TV network has continued to cover the events in Egypt.

Meanwhile, just as the authorities in Egypt turned off the Internet access in the country on Friday, China has begun censoring online news with references to the protests in Egypt. According to a report of The Guardian, Internet users in Chine have begun to draw comparisons between the events in Egypt and the situation in their country.

Chinese authorities are said to fear the spread of unrest over the internet, after reports on Twitter and a number of blogs about the demonstrations in Tunisia sparked further protest in Egypt.

The Chinese Government has maintained very careful control over coverage of the Egyptian uprising in the country's mainstream media. Newspapers and major websites have been instructed only to run short pieces from the official Xinhua state news agency - standard practice in China when it comes to dealing with sensitive topics.

Commentators have been quick to note that scenes from Cairo are reminiscent of the events of 1989, when between 400 and 800 civilians are believed to have been killed after Chinese tanks opened fire on an estimated 100 000 dissidents gathered in Beijing's Tiananmen square in anti-government protests.

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