CAIRO, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Anti-government groups protesting in Tahrir Square in Cairo formed a unified leadership to provide a voice for demonstrators in the future, an activist said.
Ziad al-Alimy said Monday the coalition also would maintain the protests that began Jan. 25 and called for President Hosni Mubarak to step down immediately, al-Masry al-Youm reported.
"Five major groups (participating in the demonstrations) have formed a revolutionary committee and chosen 10 individuals to represent them," al-Alimy said. "The coalition will coordinate with other opposition parties and groups to continue demanding the departure of President Hosni Mubarak."
The organizations include the 6 April protest movement, the Muslim Brotherhood's youth wing, the Mohamed ElBaradei Support Group, the Young Freedom and Justice Movement and the Democratic Front Party's youth wing, the activist said.
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Leading opposition groups in Egypt, including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, said they still stood behind their demand that Mubarak resign before a political agreement could be reached to end mass protests against Mubarak's 30-year regime, The Guardian reported.
Pro-democracy protesters called for another demonstration for Tuesday to maintain the pressure on Mubarak, 82, to quit.
Mubarak's new Cabinet, installed after he dismantled the previous one to appease protesters, met for the first time Monday and announced a 15 percent pay hike for government employees in what observers and critics say was an attempt to buy support among workers stung by high food prices, several media outlets reported.
But Egypt's newly appointed finance minister, Samir Radwan, said the pay raises were "not a bribe," al-Masry al-Youm reported.
"We are not bribing citizens," Radwan said during a parliamentary subcommittee meeting. "We are simply responding to their demands."
Radwan also said the government established a fund to compensate people victimized by recent looting and vandalism that occurred during the demonstrations, among other things.
A sense of normalcy was seen in parts of Cairo Monday, The New York Times reported. Cash-dispensing machines provided much-needed money, and shops and banks were open and staffed.
In Tahrir Square the crowds were smaller but big enough to form a human chain to block the entrance to the Mugamma, a government building.
Radwan said the country will auction as much as $2.5 billion in treasury bills, CNN reported. Radwan also said the stock market could reopen on Wednesday.
