Egypt: Challenger to Mubarak flies in as street protests escalate

And earlier Mr ElBaradei declared he was ready to lead the grassroots protest movement to a regime change.

Yesterday, violence escalated outside Cairo. In the flashpoint city of Suez, east of the capital, rioters - some wearing surgical masks or scarves over their faces to cope with tear gas - attacked a fire station and looted it before torching it with firebombs. Firefighters jumped out windows to escape the flames. In the northern Sinai area of Sheik Zuweid, several hundred bedouins and police exchanged gunfire. A 17-year-old youth was killed.

Social networking sites were abuzz with talk that today's rallies - due after millions gather at mosques for Friday prayer - could be some of the biggest so far calling Mr Mubarak to quit after 30 years in power.

Social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger, were interrupted last night in what was seen as a bid to hamper protest organisers.

Egypt's ruling party said it was ready for a dialogue with the public but offered no concessions to address demands for a solution to rampant poverty and political change heard in the country's largest anti-government protests in years.

Safwat El-Sherif, the secretary general of the National Democratic Party and a confidant of Mr Mubarak, 82, was dismissive of the protesters.

"We are confident of our ability to listen. The NDP is ready for a dialogue with the public, youth and legal parties," he said. "But democracy has its rules and process. The minority does not force its will on the majority."

Mr Mubarak's administration suffered another serious blow yesterday when Egypt's stock market crashed. The benchmark index fell more than 10 per cent by close, its biggest drop in more two years on the back of a 6 percent fall a day earlier.

The protesters have sustaining their demonstrations for three days in the face of a brutal police crackdown. Seven people have been killed, hundreds hurt and nearly 1,000 detained. The government has banned all gatherings and police have fired rubber bullets, tear gas, and used water cannons to disperse crowds. They have also fired live ammunition in the air and beaten protesters.

Some of the worst unrest yesterday was in Suez. Protesters stoned riot police who fired rubber bullets, water cannon and tear gas in return. Mr ElBaradei said at Vienna airport on his way back to Egypt: "The regime has not been listening. If people, in particular young people, if they want me to lead the transition, I will not let them down. My priority right now… is to see a new regime and to see a new Egypt through peaceful transition."When he touched down in Egypt, he was greeted by family and friends and reporters. "It's a critical time in the life of Egypt, and I have to participate with the Egyptian people," he said.

A spokesman for ElBaradei, Abdul-Rahman Samir, said the former head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog was expected to join protests planned today.

In another boost to the protest movement, the country's largest opposition group - the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood - also threw its support behind the demonstrations. But the group has stopped short of a call for its supporters to turn out for today's demonstrations.

The Muslim Brotherhood called on its website for protests to remain peaceful. It also called for new elections under judicial supervision, the introduction of reforms and the lifting of emergency laws in force since 1981.