Cairo, Jan. 26: The Egyptian President, Mr Hosni Mubarak’s son, who is considered his successor, has fled to Britain along with his family, a US-based Arabic website reported.
The plane with Mr Gamal Mubarak, his wife and daughter on board left for London on Tuesday from an airport in western Cairo, the website Akhbar al-Arab said. The report came as violent unrest broke out in Cairo and other Egyptian cities and hundreds of thousands of people reportedly took to the streets in a Tunisia-inspired day of revolt.
The protesters want the government to end its 30-year state of emergency and pass a law preventing a president from serving more than two terms, and want the interior minister, Mr Habib al-Adly, to resign. Over 30,000 people gathered in Cairo’s Maidan al-Tahrir square to protest, said the spokesman for the opposition movement, Mr Mohammed Adel.
“Police used water cannons and teargas to break up our protests and arrested 40 of us, but we don’t have official figures on the numbers of arrests across Egypt,” said Mr Adel.
More than 200,000 people took part in the protests.
The US secretary of state, Ms Hillary Clinton, urged restraint on both sides.