UPDATE: Very late at night, after speaking to a special U.S. envoy (former Ambassador to Egypt Frank Wisner), Husni Mubarak made a pre-recorded statement to the country. He said the protests have been heard, but that he would stay until elections now set for September (he would not run, he said. Mubarak also said he would not leave the country. Two hours later (after another 30-minute post-Mubarak-speech phone conversation), U.S. President Barack Obama said that “An orderly transition must be meaningful, must be peaceful and must begin now” Of course, it all depends on what one means by “begin”, and what one means by “now”… At least one million people were out on the streets throughout the country during the day — estimates ranged as high as 4 million, or even 8 million (one-tenth of the total population)…
Today is the “million-man (+ women)” march, which started in the morning.
Estimates by 10am were that there were at least 500,000 people already in Tahrir Square.
More people are continuing to stream to Tahrir Square, and demonstrators are also moving in other cities around the country.
One said (in an interview posted on Brian Whitaker’s blog, Al-Bab) that if the Egyptian government is satisfied that it is allowing “democratic expression” in Tahrir Square, then the idea would be to move, today, to protest in front of the Presidential Palace in Heliopolis. The entire regime must go, this man said, not just the government…
The internet was totally shut down in Egypt last night (so much for U.S. President Obama’s call last Friday to turn it back on).