Cairo:
President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt prepared to address the nation on Thursday, with government officials indicating that they expected him to step aside, and Egypt's military announcing that it is intervening in state affairs in an attempt to stop a three-week-old uprising.
The military declared on state television that it would take measures "to maintain the homeland and the achievements and the aspirations of the great people of Egypt" and meet the demands of the protesters who have insisted on ending Mr. Mubarak's 30-year rule.
Several government officials said Mr. Mubarak is expected to announce his own resignation and pass authority to his hand-picked vice president, Omar Suleiman. But if the military does assume formal control of the government, it remains uncertain if it would give Mr. Suleiman, a former military officer, a leading role.
State television said in a bulletin that Mr. Mubarak would make a statement tonight. The news anchor stumbled on her words as she said Mr. Mubarak would speak "live on air from the presidential palace." Footage just before then had showed the president meeting with Mr. Suleiman and the country's prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, in an apparent effort to project an image of an orderly transition.
However, state TV said that the country's information minister had denied that Mr. Mubarak would step down, raising the possibility that he could hand over power but stay on in a ceremonial role.
The character of the military's intervention and the shape of a new Egyptian government remained uncertain. A flurry of reports on state media on Thursday indicated a degree of confusion -- or competing claims -- about what kind of shift was underway, raising the possibility that competing forces did not necessarily see the power transfer the same way.
President Obama, in an appearance at Northern Michigan University, in Marquette, Mich., said "We are witnessing history unfold," and that "America will do everything we can to support a genuine and orderly transition to democracy."
Ahead of the military's formal announcement, the military's chief of staff, Sami Anan, made an appearance in Tahrir Square, where he pledged to safeguard the people's demands and their security. Thousands of protesters roared in approval, but they also chanted "Civilian! Civilian!"
Gen. Hassan al-Roueini, military commander for the Cairo area, also appeared in Tahrir Square and told the demonstrators, "All your demands will be met today." Some in the crowd held up their hands in V-for-victory signs, shouting "the people want the end of the regime" and "Allahu akbar," or "God is great," a victory cry used by secular and religious people alike.
The moves marked a decisive turn in an uprising that has brought hundreds of thousands into the streets in the most sweeping revolt in the country's history. So far, the military has stayed largely on the sidelines, but Thursday's statement suggested it worried that the country was sliding into chaos. The military called the communiqué on state TV "the first statement of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces," strongly suggestive that it had arranged to take power in Egypt.
The statement, read by a spokesman, said that the council was in permanent session to explore "what measures and arrangements could be made to safeguard the nation, its achievements and the ambitions of its great people."
Wael Ghonim, a Google executive and protest organizer whose anti-torture Facebook page helped spark the movement, wrote on his Twitter feed Thursday evening: "Mission accomplished. Thanks to all the brave young Egyptians."
For weeks, the protesters have hoped the military would intervene on their side, though it remained unclear whether the military would support democratic reforms that would threaten its status as the most powerful single institution in the country.
For much of its modern history, the military has played a powerful but behind-the-scenes role, reflecting its confidence that any government would protect its stature. Across the political spectrum, many wondered whether that posture had shifted.
"We're excited and nervous," said Ahmed Sleem, an organizer with an opposition group led by Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel laureate. "If Mubarak and Suleiman leave, it would be a great thing. A six-month deadline for elections would be suitable."
Asked about the possibility of a military takeover, he said he was not afraid. "We know how to force them to step down. We know the way to Tahrir Square."
The prospect of a military takeover was also raised by Hossam Badrawy, the newly appointed secretary-general of the ruling National Democratic Party.
"That's an option," he said. "That can happen. I don't like it. I'd like to see a civil structure for the state. I would like to see the army do its part to keep the country safe until we go back to normal and not military rule."
The youthful leaders of the protest movement said that they would welcome a role for the military in running the government during a transitional period, provided it was overseen by a council composed mainly of civilians. They repeated their previous demand that the council should include only one military officer, and oversee the government for a maximum of one year until free elections under a revised constitution.
Some said they worried about the next steps. "Of course we don't want the military, but the people still consider the military the nation's savior," said Abdel Rahman Faris, 30, an independent member of the youth council set up to lead the revolution. "We should have enough guarantees that the military will not turn into another Mubarak."
He said the young leaders of the revolution did not expect any of their number to sit on their proposed transitional council. "We are the youth," he said. "We know where our role stops."
Moaz Abdel Karim, a 29 year old leader of the youth section of the Muslim Brotherhood, agreed: "We have had enough of military rule. We want a civilian president."
Thursday's meeting of the Supreme Council was shown on television, only the third time the council had met publicly -- the first two were in 1967 and 1973, during the wars with Israel. "Today, Thursday the 10th of February of the year 2011, a meeting was held to discuss the developments of the situation today. It is decided that a meeting will convene continuously to look into what measures and procedures to be taken to maintain the homeland and the achievements and the aspirations of the great people of Egypt," it said.
Even before the military stepped in, support seemed to be crumbling for Mr. Mubarak within his own ruling party and government, as protesters called for the biggest demonstrations on Friday since the uprising began on Jan. 25. Mr. Badrawy said Mr. Mubarak appeared to accept his call to peacefully transfer power to the vice president.
He said he expected the president to speak Thursday night.
"I hope he would say that he has respect for the people and that he has asked for a constitutional amendment that guarantees a peaceful transfer of power and that he will give authority as president to the vice president. I hope this heads to early elections for the presidency so the state and people can move to another era. That is what I hope he says. That is what I've requested him to do," Mr. Badrawy said.
He called Mr. Mubarak "very accommodating."
"I know it is difficult for him," he said. But he added, "I think I convinced him to do that as soon as possible."
The dramatic developments came on the 17th day of the Egypt uprising, bolstered by strikes and protests among professional groups in Cairo and workers across the country. A senior official in Mr. Mubarak's embattled government was quoted as saying the army would "intervene to control the country" if it continued to devolve into chaos.
As tension built ahead of Friday's planned mass protests, thousands of chanting lawyers in black robes and physicians in white laboratory coats marched into Tahrir Square -- the epicenter of the uprising -- to join the clamor for Mr. Mubarak's ouster.
Engineers and journalists also headed for the square on Thursday as the numbers there began to swell once again into the thousands, with demonstrators mingling among the tents and graffiti-sprayed army tanks that have taken on an air of semipermanence.
Officials in Mr. Mubarak's government have been warning for several days that protesters faced a choice between negotiating in earnest with the government on Constitutional changes or having the military step in to guard against a descent into political chaos. Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit seemed to add a further ominous tone to those comments today, telling Al Arabiya television,
"If chaos occurs, the armed forces will intervene to control the country, a step which would lead to a very dangerous situation."
Mr. Aboul Gheit made the comments a day after he dismissed calls by Egyptian protesters and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scrap the country's emergency laws, which allow the authorities to detain people without charge.
Up until now, the military has pledged not to use force against the protesters who have occupied Cairo's central Tahrir Square and whose tactics have broadened to the establishment of a fresh encampment outside the Egyptian Parliament. But a report released Thursday by Human Rights Watch cast doubt on the military's impartiality.
"Since Jan. 31, Human Rights Watch has documented the arbitrary arrest by military police of at least 20 protesters who were leaving or heading to Tahrir Square," the group said in a statement. "Most of these arrests occurred in the vicinity of the square or in other parts of Cairo from where protesters were taking supplies to the square."
The group said it had also documented at least five cases of the torture of detainees at the hands of the military. A spokesman for the military denied the accusations.
The army has also deployed tanks and reinforcements across the city, setting up a narrow access point to the square that forces would-be protesters into single file after they stand in long lines to enter.
The apparently hardening official line -- and the stubborn resistance of the protesters -- coincided with a surge of strikes and worker protests affecting post offices, textile factories and even Al Ahram, the government's flagship newspaper.
While the government turned up pressure on the opposition, there were continued signs of turmoil within its own ranks. State TV reported that the state prosecutor had opened a formal investigation of Ahmed Ezz, a widely hated former senior member of the ruling National Democratic Party and a confidant of the president's son Gamal Mubarak, and two other former ministers.
Another N.D.P. official, Mamdouh Hosny, director of the Industry and Energy Committee in Parliament, announced he was resigning from the party, the Egyptian daily, Al Masry Al Youm, reported.
The presence of lawyers and other professionals joining the demonstrations seemed to broaden the participation in the uprising, reflecting the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has strong support among Egyptian lawyers and other professions..
Some of the protesters say they have been inspired by Mr. Ghonim, who has emerged as a prominent voice in a revolt galvanized in part by social networking sites. On Thursday, a Twitter feed in his name in English declared: "I promise every Egyptian that I will go back to my normal life & not be involved in any politics once Egyptians fulfill their dreams."
But, in an interview on CNN, he was also quoted as saying he was "ready to die" for the opposition's cause. "And I'm telling this to Omar Suleiman," he said. "He's going to watch this. You're not going to stop us. Kidnap me, kidnap all my colleagues. Put us in jail. Kill us. Do whatever you want to do. We are getting back our country. You guys have been ruining this country for 30 years."