Cheers as freed protest leader insists: We stick to our demands

Wael Ghonim joined a huge gathering in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and was greeted with cheers, whistling and thunderous applause when he declared: “We will not abandon our demand and that is the departure of the regime.”

Many in the crowd said they were inspired by Mr Ghonim, a 30-year-old Google marketing manager who was a key figure in the online campaign that sparked the first protest on January 25 to demand the removal of president Hosni Mubarak.

After his release from 12 days of detention, Mr Ghonim gave an emotional television interview where he sobbed over those killed in two weeks of clashes.

When he arrived in the square it was packed shoulder-to-shoulder, a crowd comparable in size to the biggest demonstration so far that drew a quarter of a million people. He spoke softly and briefly to the huge crowd from a stage and began by offering his condolences to the families of those killed.

“I’m not a hero but those who were martyred are the heroes,” he said, breaking into a chant of “Mubarak leave, leave.” When he finished, the crowd erupted in cheering, whistling and applause.

Mr Ghonim has emerged as a rallying point for protesters, who reject a group of traditional Egyptian opposition groups that have met the government amid the most sweeping concessions the regime has made in its three decades in power.

Protesters have lacked a clear representative voice and many worry the traditional parties are trying to hijack the uprising, which began when activists used the internet to mobilise protesters. The mostly youthful protesters are insisting that no concessions will do unless Mr Mubarak goes. About 130,000 people have joined a Facebook group nominating Mr Ghonim as the spokesman of their uprising. The page is called “I delegate Wael Ghonim to speak in the name of Egypt’s revolutionaries.”

The huge turnout in the square gave a resounding answer to the question of whether the protesters still have momentum even though two weeks of steadfast pressure have not achieved their goal of ousting Mr Mubarak.

Even government employees joined the crowed, including about 5,000 university professors and teachers who failed in an earlier attempt to march on the Interior Ministry, where they were blocked by security forces.

There were demonstrations around the country calling for the president’s removal as well with 18,000 people cramming into the main square of Egypt’s second largest city, Alexandria.

About 3,000 service workers for the Suez Canal also demonstrated in Suez city, while 8,000 people chanted anti Mubarak slogans in the southern city of Assuit.

Meanwhile Mr Mubarak’s regime offered more concessions to the protesters in hopes of appeasing them while keeping as firm a grip on power as it possibly can.

Vice president Omar Suleiman offered to set up committees to propose constitutional amendments and monitor the implementation of proposed reforms.

The amendments will include limits on a presidential term and relaxing the rules on who can run.

Mr Mubarak has refused the protesters’ central demand to step down, insisting staying on until elections in September.