Egyptian protesters call for Mubarak trial

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Tens of thousands of Egyptian activists massed in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square on Friday to demand that former regime officials be purged and put on trial, including ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

Draped in Egyptian flags, Muslims were joined by Christians as they gathered for weekly prayers in a protest dubbed the "Day of Trial and Cleansing" to press the ruling military council on promised reforms and justice.

Muslim cleric Safwat al-Higazi, who led the prayer, called for Mubarak to face criminal charges.

"We don't only want to try him for the millions (of dollars) but also for the blood," he told the crowd.

"We want to try him just as he tried the people in state security courts, but we want a popular trial."

Mubarak, his wife Suzanne and their two sons Alaa and Gamal and their wives have already been banned from travel and had their assets ordered frozen.

Protests have been held regularly since Mubarak was toppled on February 11 but the numbers were significantly higher this week due to the participation of the Muslim Brotherhood – the largest and most organised opposition movement.

Protesters held banners calling for the trial of old regime members.

Higazi said the ‘cleansing’ had to go beyond the presidential palace, threatening to storm the state television building because regime elements were still in place there.

"The rotten smell of the regime emanates from under their masks. We are prepared to occupy this building and manage it to make a patriotic media," he said.

Tahrir Square was the centre of massive nationwide protests that erupted on January 25 and lead to the ouster on February 11 of Mubarak, who handed power to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

The new military rulers vowed to carry out political reforms, but in the run-up to the protest, several men who describe themselves as former army officers publicly challenged the democratic aspirations of the council and called for its members to step down.

In a series of defiant videos widely circulated on YouTube, the men who say they are speaking for many members the armed forces, accuse the military council of thwarting the goals of the revolution.

One of them, Hatem Abbadi, accused the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces of staging a counter-revolution led by its head, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who was Mubarak's defence minister for two decades.

Another, Sharif Othman, who says he is a former air force officer, accused Tantawi of corruption and said officers would be joining Friday's protest in uniform to demand the "cleansing" of the military establishment.

Critics have slammed the public messages, however, saying they would sow discord between the army and the people during a fragile transition.

The military council has warned that any civilian wearing military uniform at the protest would face trial in a military court, the state-owned Al-Ahram reported on Friday.

Several former ministers and members of Mubarak's National Democratic Party are being investigated as part of a sweeping probe into corruption, but pro-democracy activists say key figures still need to be brought to justice.

On Thursday, Mubarak's chief of staff Zakariah Azmi was detained for 15 days on suspicion of illegally acquiring his wealth.

Azmi, one of the former president's closest aides, is under investigation by an anti-corruption panel that has also summoned Mubarak's younger son Gamal for questioning.

Gamal is expected to appear before the panel next week.

The first member of Mubarak's regime to be put on trial was the much-reviled former interior minister Habib al-Adly, whose security forces were given wide powers of arrest under the emergency law.