Activists in Egypt are calling for a mass demonstration in Cairo against the country's ruling military council after three days of clashes between protesters and government forces left at least 33 people dead and hundreds injured.
Groups including the Coalition of Revolution Youth and the April 6 movement, which spearheaded the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak in February, called for a "million-man march" on Tuesday afternoon in Tahrir Square to put pressure on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to cede power to civilian leaders.
Egypt's cabinet, headed by Essam Sharaf, the interim prime minister, offered its resignation late on Monday but a military official said the council was seeking agreement on a new prime minister before it would accept the resignation.
Some 20,000 defiantly demonstrated in Tahrir Square overnight, but the protests have yet to attract the hundreds of thousands who toppled President Hosni Mubarak in January and February.
By early on Tuesday - the fourth straight day of protests - crowds in the square were small but loud, reported Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal.
Our correspondent said there was a massive Egyptian flag being carried by a few hundred protesters, many of whom were shouting anti-military slogans.
"The people want the fall of the marshal," protesters chanted, referring to Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak's defence minister for two decades and head of SCAF.
"This land belongs to Egyptians. It is not for sale and does not need any guardians," one banner read. "All Egyptians demand an Egypt run by civilians," another said.
After expressing "deep regret for the victims in these painful incidents", the ruling council appealed for calm late on Monday and called for crisis talks with political forces to find a way forward, as well as calling for a justice ministry investigation into the latest unrest.
The Muslim Brotherhood announced on Tuesday it would participate in talks aimed at ending the deadly clashes.
"The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has called a meeting [for Tuesday] and we will participate," Saad al-Katatni, secretary general of the Party of Freedom and Justice, the Brotherhood's political wing, said.
Anti-SCAF sentiment
Many demonstrators condemned the military's call for talks.
"All the military council is saying now makes absolutely no sense," said Mohamed Sobhy, a 30-year-old translator.
"They kill us and then say they want to investigate the incident. I want to understand how can they be party to the battle and at the same time be the arbitrator."
Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from Cairo, said many Egyptians had lost trust in Tantawi after the government "resumed military trials for civilians, torture and excessive use of force by the military".
Tahrir Square has remained the major rallying point for protesters, recalling the 18-day uprising that ended Mubarak's three decades of power.
Elsewhere, some 5,000 people surrounded a security headquarters in the northern coastal city of Alexandria and police responded by firing live ammunition, witnesses said.
Security forces also battled about 4,000 demonstrators in the port city of Ismailia on the Suez Canal, witnesses said.
Al Jazeera
