Cairo:
The Egyptian military moved to clear the last protesters from Tahrir Square on Monday as the armed forces consolidated their control over what it has called a democratic transition from nearly three decades of President Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian rule.
A day after the military dissolved the feeble Parliament, suspended the Constitution and called for elections in six months in sweeping steps that echoed protesters' demands, television images showed red-bereted military policeman urging the final few protesters in the square to leave. The huge plaza in central Cairo had become the epicenter of 18 days of protest that ended Mr. Mubarak's rule last Friday, with hundreds of thousands of people massing to call for his departure.
In political moves, the military leaders now governing Egypt have told a coalition of young revolutionaries that they plan to convene a panel of distinguished jurists to submit a package of constitutional amendments within 10 days for approval in a national referendum within two months, setting a breakneck schedule for the transition to civilian role.
Just as dramatic a sign of how radically Egypt is changing was the way the army and the protesters disclosed their plans. Two top generals sat down Sunday night to talk about their country's future with seven of the revolution's young organizers -- including the Google marketing executive Wael Ghonim -- and the young organizers posted their notes on the meeting directly to the Internet for the Egyptian public to see.
How completely the military will deliver on its promises of a transition to a constitutional democracy will not be clear until the election, currently set for six months for now. But the young revolutionaries -- most in their early 30s -- were clearly impressed by the deference they received from the two military officials, Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Hijazi and Maj. Gen. Abdel Fattah.
"We all sensed a sincere desire to preserve the gains of the revolution and unprecedented respect for the right of young people to express their views," two of the young organizers, Mr. Ghonim and Amr Salama, wrote in their Internet posting, with the disclaimer that they were speaking only for themselves. They noted that the generals spoke without any of the usual "parental tone (you do not know what is good for you, son)" and called the encounter "the first time an Egyptian officials sat down to listen more than speak."
Mr. Mubarak's ouster spread shock waves around the region, as many autocratic regimes braced for the possibility of protests modeled on the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.
In Bahrain, skirmishes broke out early Monday between heavily armed police and scattered groups of young people in villages outside of the capital. Shops stayed closed and shuttered, the streets were clear of cars, and there were calls for universities to close in anticipation of what organizers here have called Bahrain's own "Day of Rage."
And in Iran, the authorities have vowed to block a move by the opposition to hold its first major rally on Monday since the government quashed a wave of protests after the disputed presidential elections in 2009. A reformist website, said Iranian authorities cut the phone lines of an opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi and cordoned off his house to on Monday, news reports said.
The opposition hopes to capitalize on the contradiction between Iran's embrace of democracy movements abroad -- Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi referred on Friday to "the brave and justice-seeking movement in Egypt" -- and its crackdown on similar protests at home.
Even as calm seemed to be settling over Egypt, antigovernment demonstrations erupted in Yemen, with protesters clashing violently with security forces on Sunday. A small group tried to rush the palace of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, but was beaten back by riot police officers.
In Algeria, opposition groups meeting on Sunday vowed to hold weekly protests against the government in the capital, Algiers, said the head of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, Mustapha Bouchachi. Around 300 people were arrested Saturday at a demonstration in the heart of the city that was stifled by a heavy police presence, the human rights league and other opposition groups said.
In Egypt, a statement on Sunday by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, read on television, effectively put Egypt under direct military authority, thrusting the country into territory uncharted since republican Egypt was founded in 1952. Though enjoying popular support, the military must now cope with the formidable task of negotiating a post-revolutionary landscape still basking in the glow of Mr. Mubarak's fall, but beset by demands to ease Egyptians' many hardships.
Since seizing power from Mr. Mubarak on Friday, the military has struck a reassuring note, responding in words and actions to the platform articulated by hundreds of thousands in Tahrir Square. But beyond more protests, there is almost no check on the sweep of military rule. Its statement said it would form a committee to draft constitutional amendments -- pointedly keeping it in its hands, not the opposition's -- though it promised to put them before a referendum.
While opposition leaders in Egypt welcomed the Egyptian military's moves, some have quietly raised worries about the future role of an institution that has been a pillar of the status quo, playing a crucial behind-the-scenes role in preserving its vast business interests and political capital.
"Over the next six months, I am afraid the army will brainwash the people to think that the military is the best option," said Dina Aboul Seoud, a 35-year-old protester, still in the square on Sunday. "Now, I am afraid of what is going to happen next."
The day in Egypt brought scenes that juxtaposed a more familiar capital with a country forever changed by Mr. Mubarak's fall. Hundreds of policemen, belonging to one of the most loathed institutions in Egypt, rallied in Cairo to demand better pay and treatment. Traffic returned to Tahrir Square on Sunday, navigating through lingering protesters and festive sightseers, many of whom lingered by the pictures of dead protesters that hung from clotheslines at one end of the square.
Youthful volunteers swept streets, painted fences and curbs, washed away graffiti that read, "Down with Mubarak," and planted bushes in a square many want to turn into a memorial for one of the most stunning uprisings in Arab history. Soldiers drove a truck mounted with speakers that blared, "Egypt is my beloved."
"Egypt is my blood," said Oummia Ali, a flight attendant who skipped work to paint the square's railing green. "I want to build our country again."
As she spoke, a boisterous crowd marched down the street away from Tahrir Square, "Liberation" in Arabic and named for the fall of the Egyptian monarchy in 1952. "Let's go home," they chanted, "we got our rights." Though hundreds, perhaps more, vowed to stay until more reforms were enacted, tents were dismantled, banners taken down and trucks piled with blankets that kept protesters warm over the 18 days of demonstrations that began Jan. 25, the date organizers have given to their revolution.
The military's statement was the clearest elaboration yet of its plans for Egypt, as the country's opposition forces, from the Muslim Brotherhood to labor unions, seek to build on the momentum of the protests and create a democratic system with few parallels in the Arab world.
The moves to suspend the Constitution and to dissolve Parliament, chosen in an election deemed a sham even by Mr. Mubarak's standards, were expected. The statement declared that the supreme command would issue laws in the transitional period before elections and that Egypt's defense minister, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, would represent the country, in a sign that the 75-year-old loyalist of Mr. Mubarak's had emerged to the forefront. Protesters -- and some classified American diplomatic cables -- have dismissed him as a "poodle" of Mr. Mubarak's. But some senior American officers say he is a shrewd operator who played a significant role in managing Mr. Mubarak's nonviolent ouster.
The military's communiqué was welcomed by opposition leaders as offering a specific timetable for transition to civil rule. Ayman Nour, a longtime opponent of Mr. Mubarak's, called it a victory for the revolution. "The statement is fine," said Ahmed Maher, a leading organizer. "We still need more details, but it was more comforting than what we heard before." But still unanswered are other demands of the protesters, among them the release of thousands of political prisoners. The military's position on the emergency law, which gave Mr. Mubarak's government wide powers to arrest and detain people, has remained ambiguous. The military said earlier that it would abolish it once conditions improved, but has yet to address it since. Essam al-Arian, a prominent Brotherhood leader, echoed those demands, saying their fulfillment "would bring calm to the society."
"To be able to trust the army completely and do what it says completely is impossible because the country has had corrupted institutions for 30 years working in every sector," said Tamer el-Sady, one of the young organizers at Sunday's meeting. The military has said the government of Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, appointed Jan. 29, will remain in place as a caretaker cabinet in the transition, though it reserved the right to dismiss some of the ministers. The cabinet met Sunday for the first time since Mr. Mubarak's fall, notably with his once-ubiquitous portrait nowhere to be seen.
Other than Mr. Tantawi and Sami Anan, the army chief of staff, the military's council remains opaque, with many in Egypt unable to identity anyone else on it. Omar Suleiman, the former vice president, has not appeared since Friday, and Mr. Shafiq said that the military would determine his role.
With the police yet to return to the streets in force, the military has been deployed across the city, seeking to manage protests that sprung up across Cairo on Sunday. At banks, insurance companies and even the Academy of Scientific Research, scores gathered to demand better pay, in a sign of the difficulties that the military will face in meeting the expectations that have exponentially risen with the success of the uprising.
The most remarkable protest was by the police themselves, who gathered in black uniforms, leather jackets and plain clothes, on Sunday and Monday, blaming the hated former interior minister, Habib el-Adly, for their reputation and seeking forgiveness for orders they said they were forced to obey.