CAIRO, Feb 4 (AFP) - Several dozen Egyptians demonstrated against a fifth term for President Hosni Mubarak Friday just two days after US President George W. Bush urged democratic reforms on the key regional ally.
Several thousand police kept the protestors apart from tens of thousands of visitors attending the Cairo international book fair in the suburbs of the Egyptian capital.
"Enough!" said one banner, in an apparent reference to Mubarak`s 24-year rule and his expected decision to run again later this year.
"No to the Renewal (of Mubarak`s mandate)," the demonstrators chanted. "No to heredity," they said, referring to speculation that if Mubarak, 76, does not stand his eldest son Gamal will be anointed in his place.
Under the Egyptian system, parliament will elect a single candidate for the presidency in May, whose name will then be put to a referendum in September.
The opposition has long called for constitutional reform to pave the way for direct elections for the presidency and reduced powers for the encumbent.
Compact squads of police, armed with truncheons and riot shields, patrolled the aisles of the conference hall to keep the demonstrators away from the crowds of book-buyers and publishers.
Visitors were prevented from approaching the venue`s mosque from which the demonstration set off while mounted police guarded the perimeter of the showground in the Cairo suburb of Madinet Nasr.
"Mubarak, you bankrupt, what are you doing with our money," the demontrators chanted. "We want a free government, life is becoming bitter."
A speaker told the crowd: "During Mubarak`s four terms in office, a quarter of a million Egyptians have been jailed. If you want others to follow them, vote for a fifth term."
On Wednesday, Bush called for democratic reforms in Egypt and Saudi Arabia -- two key US allies in the Middle East -- in his State of the Union address.
"The great and proud nation of Egypt, which showed the way toward peace in the Middle East, can now show the way toward democracy in the Middle East," Bush said.
The human rights situation in Egypt also came under the spotlight with New York-based Human Rights Watch urging Mubarak to free an MP, a journalist and several other people arrested "on politically motivated charges," and stop the harassment of peaceful dissidents.
"The authorities should release them from custody at once and put an end to these repressive tactics," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director of HRW.
Demonstrators also chanted slogans against Egypt`s warm relations with Israel and its plans to host a landmark summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.
"Mubarak stands for shame and treason," they shouted. "Down with the treacherous Sharm el-Sheikh summit."
The protestors also called for the release of the several hundred suspects that human rights watchdogs say remain in custody after last October`s Sinai bombings, in which 34 people died, many of them Israelis.
The demonstration was organized by the Popular Movement for Change, a coalition of campaign groups that first surfaced two months ago when it organized a protest by some 300 people outside the Palace of Justice.
Under the state of emergency in force since the 1981 assassination of Mubarak`s predecessor, Anwar Sadat, demonstrations are normally tolerated in Egypt only on university campuses or outside mosques.
02/04/2005 15:17 GMT - AFP