* Queues form as protesters pass through army checkpoints
* Tahrir Square epicentre of protests to overthrow Mubarak
By Marwa Awad and Dina Zayed
CAIRO, Feb 1 (Reuters) - More than 100,000 Egyptians poured
into Tahrir Square in Cairo on Tuesday hoping to gather a
million people to bring an end to 30 years of President Hosni
Mubarak's authoritarian rule.
The army's pledge on Monday not to use force against
demonstrators emboldened Egyptians to push for the biggest
shake-up of the political system since 1952 when army officers
deposed King Farouk.
"Mubarak go away to Saudi or Bahrain" and "We don't want
you, we don't want you", chanted men, women and children in a
sea of people that began gathering from the early hours.
The scenes in Tahrir, or Liberation Square, were in sharp
contrast to Friday when police beat, teargassed and sprayed
water cannon on protesters.
There had been talk that the protesters on Tuesday would
march on the presidential palace but by midday with numbers
still swelling the crowd had not moved from the square, the
focal point of the unrest.
Initially unorganised, the protests against Mubarak are
gradually coalescing into a loose reformist movement
encompassing many sections of Egyptian society. Young,
unemployed mixed with members of the Islamist Muslim
Brotherhood, the urban poor held hands in solidarity with
doctors and teachers.
"We are calling for the overthrow of the regime. We have one
goal, and that is to remove Hosni, nothing else. Our politicians
need to step in and form coalitions and committees to propose a
new administration," said Ahmed Abdelmoneim, 25, a computer
engineer.
Effigies of Mubarak, who like all his predecessors was a
senior military officer, were strung up from traffic lights.
ABSENT MUBARAK
Mubarak has not addressed the nation since Friday, when he
sacked his cabinet. On Monday, it was his newly appointed vice
president, Omar Suleiman, who announced a call for dialogue with
all political forces. Protesters scent victory.
"The revolution won't accept Omar Suleiman, even for a
transitional period. We went a new democratic leader," said
Mohamed Saber, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
"We are very patient, we can stay here a long time ... For
the last 30 years this regime brought the worst out of the
people. Now everyone is speaking out. Before everyone was
negative and passive," said Mahmoud Ali, 42, a civil servant.
What will come after Mubarak if he steps down is not so
clear. Egypt's opposition has been fragmented and weakened under
Mubarak. The Muslim Brotherhood has the biggest grassroots
network with its health and other social charity projects.
The group, banned from politics under Mubarak, says it wants
an Islamic, pluralistic and democratic state.
"Our country has many people capable of being president,"
said Essam Kamel, 48, a lawyer, although he said he did not want
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, who has said he
was ready to take on a role in the transition.
But Kamel added: "We are Muslims, but we don't need an
Islamic government."
(Additional reporting by Alexander Dziadosz and Jonathan
Wright, Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Matthew Jones)
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