Egypt braces for protests

The Egyptian capital, Cairo, was bracing for a day of civil disobedience on Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary of the ouster of long-time President Hosni Mubarak.

Opposition activists called for a general strike to put pressure on the country's ruling military council to speed up its promised transfer of power to a civilian government.

In a joint statement, the groups that organized the planned work stoppage urged Egyptians "to support these strikes in order to end the unjust rule and build a nation in which justice, freedom and dignity prevail."

University students were also due to hold protests on Saturday, expected to be concentrated at Cairo's Tahrir Square, the site of anti-Mubarak demonstrations that persuaded the president to step down on February 11, 2011.

Security forces at the ready

The military council has said it would deploy additional troops across the country on Saturday.

In a statement read out on state television late on Friday, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) pledged to maintain order.

"We will never yield to threats, and we will never give in to pressure," the statement said. "We are facing plots against the nation aiming to undermine the institutions of the Egyptian state, and to topple the state itself so that chaos reigns."

The council has crushed several protests by force over the past year.

Pledge renewed

At the same time, it reiterated a promise to hand over power to a civilian government.

"We have kept the first promise and returned legislative power to the people's assembly," the statement said, referring to the country's recent parliamentary elections. "Presidential power will pass to the president of the republic after the election ending the period of transition, and your faithful army will revert to its original role."

It wasn't immediately clear how much public support the day of protests would have. State media reported that public transportation was operating normally throughout the capital and state institutions pledged to work overtime, to signal their rejection of the strike call.

Muslim and Coptic Christian clergymen also rejected the call for civil disobedience. The Muslim Brotherhood, which holds almost half of the seats in Egypt's newly elected parliament, said it could not support any action that would hurt the country's economy.

pfd/cmk (AFP, dpa)