Cairo braced for 'victory march' marking Mubarak's fall

Mubarak resigned last Friday after 30 years in power, bowing to pressure from pro-democracy demonstrators who occupied Cairo's central Tahrir Square for more than two weeks.

Since then, he has been staying with his family in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Reports have been surfacing online of his allegedly deteriorating health, with some reports even claiming he slipped into a coma.

Despite the resignation however, life is still not back to normal as the interim military government tries to exercise power.

A week since, pro-democracy organisers are now predicting a million people would turn out for a demonstration to "protect the revolution and its demands", as a Twitter message put it – while supporters of the former president are planning a counter-march.

The president’s supporters plan a simultaneous demonstration to "apologise" to Mubarak for the way he was ousted and recognise his achievements in almost 30 years in power, Reuters news agency reports.

Organisers said the Mubarak sympathisers would be wearing black, with the victory marchers in white. Demonstrations are also likely in the port city of Alexandria.

In the wake of the resignation, anti-corruption campaigners have been pressing prosecutors to open an investigation into the Mubarak family's assets, put at anywhere from $1bn to $70bn.

On Thursday, Egypt's new authorities arrested three of his former cabinet ministers for corruption, including the feared former Interior Minister, Habib el-Adly, and steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz, a close Mubarak ally. All four denied any wrongdoing.

But life in Egypt remains disrupted, with tanks on Cairo streets, banks closed, strikes and closed schools.

The interim government, or Higher Military Council, pledged to "put matters back on track" on Wednesday but called, in return, for Egyptians to help them.

"The armed forces do not have future ambitions and want to hand power to the civilian parties when they are strong so that they don't collapse," spokesman Gen Ismail Etmaan said on state TV.

One opposition leader, the former UN diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei, told the BBC that protesters needed to keep up pressure on the army to deliver reforms.

"I haven't seen any of the demands of the peaceful revolution that took place a couple of weeks ago with millions of people in the street being implemented," he said.

"All what we see is terse military bulletins every few days, saying this is what's going to happen next week, this is what's going to happen the week after. But what is the roadmap? How are we going through the transition, which is crucial to the future - nobody knows."