20100626
reuters

Potential Egyptian presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei led thousands of people on Friday in an anti-torture protest that analysts said was significant for joining disparate groups in a common cause.

Around 4,000 people, representing varied political views, and many ordinary citizens greeted ElBaradei, 68, the former nuclear inspector, as he visited the port city of Alexandria to offer condolences to the family of Khaled Mohammed Said, an Egyptian who rights groups say was beaten to death by police.

The protest, ElBaradei's second public appearance this month and the first in which his family joined him in public, was his biggest rally so far. Earlier in June he visited Fayoum in a signature drive campaign that drew some 3,500 supporters.

The events in part reflect pent up frustration in Egypt after almost three decades of rule by President Hosni Mubarak, 82, and with an emergency law that gives authorities wide powers to quash dissent.

Mubarak has no designated successor and has not said if he will seek another term in the 2011 presidential election. If he does not, the most common view is that he will hand power to his politician son Gamal, 46.

ElBaradei, the former U.N. nuclear watchdog head, has said he may run in the 2011 presidential vote if there were constitutional reforms, but the existing rules make it almost impossible for an independent to get on the ballot. The government insists the electoral system is free and fair.

In the latest protest, crowds chanted pro-democracy slogans and waved images of Said while ElBaradei, flanked by hundreds of worshippers, emerged from a mosque after Muslim prayers.

Youths and activists from political and online groups including the Facebook group "ElBaradei for presidency of 2011" joined the protest. Some chanted "Down Down Hosni Mubarak" and "Said you are a martyr" while rushing to meet ElBaradei.