Egyptians stage protest over call for Mubarak's son to be president

CAIRO // About 200 people demonstrated in Egypt's capital yesterday against what they fear could be the succession of President Hosni Mubarak by his youngest son, Gamal. An unknown number of activists were arrested an hour before the protest outside a presidential palace started. They were kept in a police van where they chanted: "We are not going to be inherited."

They called upon Hosni, 82, who has been in power since 1981 and Gamal Mubarak, 46, to leave the country. The demonstration was in response to a campaign calling for Gamal Mubarak, a senior member of the ruling National Democratic Party, to run in next year's presidential election. The protest was called by Kefaya, or Enough, an opposition group that first protested against the inheritance of power in 2004, the April 6 movement and the el-Ghad Party, headed by Ayman Nour, who was at the demonstration and who finished a distant second to Hosni Mubarak in the 2005 presidential race.

One protester, Sanaa Saif, 16, wore a white T-shirt with a crossed-out drawing of Gamal Mubarak and the words "We don't want you". "I'm here because I want to be able to witness fair elections," Ms Saif said, adding that she would vote for Mohamed ElBaradei, the former UN atomic energy agency director who has become the most prominent opposition leader. @Email:[e-mail]