EGYPT: Egyptians stage big protest, dismiss power plan

By Marwa Awad and Andrew Hammond

CAIRO | Tue Feb 8, 2011 8:12pm EST

(Reuters) - Egyptians staged one of their biggest protests yet on Tuesday demanding President Hosni Mubarak step down now, their wrath undiminished by the vice president's announcement of a plan to transfer power.

Protesters, many moved by a Google executive's tearful account of his detention by security forces, poured into Cairo's Tahrir Square to pack a space that can hold a quarter of a million people.

While the government refuses to budge on the demonstrators' main demands, Vice President Omar Suleiman promised there would be no reprisals against the protesters for their three-week-old campaign to eject Mubarak, 82, after 30 years in office.

But they dismissed his promises, accusing the government of playing for time, and swore they would not give up until the current "half revolution" was complete.

By bringing at least as many people onto the streets as the last big demonstration last Friday, the protesters showed their movement has not lost momentum. The next big test will be whether as many people can be mobilized on Friday.

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Determination