CAIRO, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Egyptian opposition leader Mohammed ElBaradei joined protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday, the hub of anti-Mubarak protests, a Reuters witness said.
"The people want the regime to fall," protesters chanted as ElBaradei 
walked to the center of the square, holding hands with some demonstrators. He did not make a statement to reporters.
The nobel peace laureate and retired international diplomat said he had been given a mandate to reach out to the army and build a new government:
"Mubarak has to leave today," ElBaradei told CNN before joining the demonstrators.
As many as 10,000 protesters defied a curfew to gather in Tahrir, a rallying point in the centre of Cairo, to express anger at poverty, repression, unemployment and corruption.
President Hosni Mubarak, clinging on despite unprecedented demands for an end to his 30-year rule, met on Sunday with the military which is seen as holding the key to Egypt's future while in Cairo.
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