Egyptians rally in Cairo to 'save the revolution'

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Tens of thousands of Egyptians gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday, issuing calls to 'save the revolution' that ousted president Hosni Mubarak and to rid of the country of the old regime.

The Youth Coalition Movement, an umbrella grouping of those who launched the uprising against Mubarak, called this week for a new demonstration to demand judgment of the corrupt and people who fired live rounds on protesters.

The young pro-democracy activists also want the country's institutions purged of members of the former ruling National Democratic Party as well as the restitution of 'the millions stolen from the people'.

Protesters chanted, 'the people want to purify the country' and 'Marshal, Marshal, legitimacy stems from Tahrir'.

They were referring to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces who has been de facto head of state since 18 days of popular protests forced Mubarak to resign on February 11.

"The people want to limit the powers of the president and (want) a parliamentary republic," said a huge banner in the square decked with Egyptian, Libyan, Tunisian and Yemeni flags.

A popular uprising ousted veteran Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali earlier this year and anti-regime protests have shaken Yemen, while Libya is in the throes of a full-scale insurgency.

A party atmosphere reigned over the rally and there were no police or soldiers to be seen anywhere around Tahrir Square.

Friday's weekly Muslim prayers in Tahrir Square were attended by 15,000 people and by late afternoon there were twice as many in the emblematic central Cairo plaza, state news agency MENA reported.

Egyptian courts have forbidden several former ministers, politicians and businessmen from leaving the country, as well as freezing their assets pending the findings of an enquiry into corruption and embezzlement.

Mubarak and his family were bound by the same restrictions in February, and earlier this week Egypt's new military rulers said the former president was under house arrest.

And in March the military rulers organised a referendum paving the way for legislative elections in September and a presidential vote in November, in a bid to transfer power gradually to an elected leadership.

Nevertheless, pro-democracy activists say they fear a return to the past that would topple the revolution, and they want to keep the pressure on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.