Egypt: Thousands of protesters gather in Tahrir Square

Thousands of Egyptian protesters have gathered in central Cairo to press for speedier reforms from the government.

Opposition activists have called for a million-person protest in Tahrir Square, the focus of February's uprising.
They particularly want to see ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his officials put on trial more quickly.
There were riots this week over a court decision to bail policemen accused of killing 17 people during the uprising.
People began arriving in Tahrir Square throughout the night to pitch their tents. They were even directing traffic in place of the police who had agreed to stay away to avoid confrontation.
Police and army officers were stationed in the side streets but were not present on the square itself.
Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood opposition movement said it would attend the protest.
"The law is above everyone, and justice has to prevail on all people, young and old," the group's Mahmoud Ghzolan said.
Ministers acquitted Official figures show that at least 846 people died and 6,000 more were injured in the 18-day uprising during January and February.

This is an expression of frustration with the slow pace of change.
The protesters say the same people are still running the country, in the same way, despite the ousting of President Mubarak.
They want the former president and his inner circle rapidly to face trial, but they also want deeper and faster reforms to the way this country is run, and who runs it.

Since then, only one policeman has been convicted in more than a dozen court cases over the crackdown on protesters, the AP news agency reports. He was tried in absentia.

On Tuesday, a Cairo court acquitted three ministers from the Mubarak regime who had been charged with squandering public funds.
The decision, also this week, to release on bail seven policemen accused of killing 17 protesters sparked riots in both Cairo and Suez.
Activists are concerned that the 83-year-old former president remains in a regular hospital, with no date yet set for a court appearance for either him, his sons or his senior officials.
But, says the BBC's John Leyne, other Egyptians are opposed to the continuing protests and just want a return to normality, law and order and the revival of the economy.

Posted in: mid-east