There was chaos in Cairo on Sunday, the sixth day of protests in Egypt against the government of President Hosni Mubarak, and as night closed in on the capital, the streets were still filled with uncertainty about what will happen next.
The army set up checkpoints around the square, frisked people for weapons and looked at IDs, but otherwise it left alone the 5,000 demonstrators gathered at Tahrir Square, which has been occupied since Friday afternoon.
The demonstrations continued past the curfew and into the night. At around 7 p.m., Nobel Peace Laureate Mohammed ElBaradei, a key opposition figure, came to the square for the first time.
"You are the owners of this revolution. You are the future," he told the cheering crowd. "Our essential demand is the departure of the regime and the beginning of a new Egypt in which each Egyptian lives in virtue, freedom and dignity."
The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, which wants to establish an Islamist state in Egypt, has made some statements that it was willing to let ElBaradei act as point man for the movement. But it also appeared to be moving for a more prominent role after lying low when the protests first erupted.
