March 5, 2003
Half-a-million people to gather in Cairo for anti-war protest after government made exception to emergency law.
Tens of thousands of people gathered on Wednesday morning in Cairo ahead of a huge protest against a possible war in Iraq. Starting at about 10:00 a.m. (0800 GMT) people from all of the capital's neighborhoods, many carrying Egyptian and Iraqi flags and banners, were heading east toward Cairo Stadium and the Exhibition Center in Madinet Nasr, witnesses said.
More than half-a-million people are expected to take part in the protest, the largest in Egypt since the start of the Iraqi crisis, according to its organizer, the ruling National Democratic Party.
The main part of the demonstration is likely to take place on the streets outside the stadium, which can hold only 100,000 people. Authorities have allowed the street gathering to take place, making an exception to its emergency laws in place since 1981 and recently extended for another three years and which prohibit street demonstrations.
The crowd was already heating up in front of the Exhibition Center and was chanting slogans opposing the war and US President George W. Bush. "No war, save Iraq", "stop the assassins in Palestine" and other slogans in English were splashed on banners.
The crowds included government and private-sector employees, school children, students from Al-Azhar's religious schools and young school girls wearing white veils and in navy blue uniforms. Representatives of the ruling party were broadcasting patriotic chants through loudspeakers.
The government is hoping it can better control the protest if it limits it to a defined area around the stadium. Opposition parties, trade unions and the officially-banned Islamic Brotherhood staged a similar protest on February 27 in Cario Stadium attracting about 140,000 people.
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