Government will not tolerate prolonged anti-government protests, Egypt’s vice president says

PanARMENIAN.Net - Egypt's vice president said the government will not tolerate prolonged anti-government protests in Cairo's main square, where hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the latest effort to force the ouster of long-serving President Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt's state-run MENA news agency quoted Vice President Omar Suleiman as saying that a crisis triggered by 16 days of anti-Mubarak protests in Tahrir Square must end "as soon as possible." Suleiman was speaking to a group of Egyptian newspaper editors.

Suleiman said that the presence of anti-Mubarak activists and satellite television stations in the square was making Egyptian citizens "hesitant to go to work" and disrupting daily life. He accused the satellite television stations of "insulting" Egypt, without naming them.

But, Suleiman also is quoted as saying the government does not want to deal with Egyptian society using "police tools" and prefers to use dialogue to try to address the protesters' demands.

Hundreds of thousands of people rallied in Tahrir Square on February 8 in one of the biggest protests of a two-week-old uprising seeking an immediate end to Mr. Mubarak's nearly 30 years in power. Thousands remained in the squares, after spending another night in makeshift shelters.

Other activists protested for a second day outside Egypt's parliament, several blocks from the square. Some had slept on the ground overnight, hoping to block access to the building. They demanded the resignation of lawmakers elected late last year in a vote they say was rigged in favor of the ruling party, VOA News reported.