Corrected: Egypt protestors camp in Cairo overnight defying curfew

31 January 2011 06:23  [Source: ICIS news]

Correction: In the ICIS story headlined "Egypt protestors camp in Cairo overnight defying curfew" dated 31 January 2011, please read in the 11th paragraph …in 2010… instead of …this year…. In the 12th paragraph, please read …in 2009… instead of …over the same period the previous year…. Also, in the sixth paragraph, please read …ElBaradei… instead of …ElBaderei…. A corrected story follows.

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Thousands of protestors were out in force in the Egyptian capital Cairo overnight, ignoring a curfew and low flying military jets and helicopters, to demand the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, BBC reported on Monday.

Mubarak has urged the new leaders of his government to undertake "dialogue with all the political parties", according to a reading of his remarks on state-run Nile TV.

However, protests have not stopped despite the appointment of a vice president and prime minister by Mubarak over the weekend following days of demonstrations by the public against his rule.

More than 3,000 people have been arrested so far, according to Nile TV.

BBC Television showed early Monday morning scenes of thousands of people on the streets of Cairo refusing to go home.

Opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei - a Nobel peace prize winner - defied a curfew to address the crowd in the city’s Liberation Square on Sunday, BBC reported.

The Egyptian unrest has shaken the Middle East markets with shares plunging in many countries of the region on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the 192-km Suez Canal has been operating as usual during the protests, with 45 to 50 ships passing through each day, a canal official told Reuters.

A Chinese polyethylene (PE) trader told ICIS that email and phone communications with an Egyptian producer had been down since Sunday.

But any disruption in Egyptian PE and polypropylene (PP) supply would have limited impact as Egypt exports very little material to China, he said.

Egypt exported 9,351 tonnes of homopolymer polypropylene and 15,792 tonnes of high density polyethylene (HDPE) to China in 2010, according to China Customs data.

These are 36% and 34% lower, respectively, than the 14,650 tonnes of homopolymer PP and 24,055 tonnes of HDPE exported in 2009, the data showed.

China imported a total of 3.9m tonnes of homopolymer PP and 3.5m tonnes of HDPE last year, according to China Customs data.

Additional reporting by Chow Bee Lin

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