Over 50,000 people massed in front of Qaed Ibrahim mosque, near El-Raml station, in the Mediterranean port, an AFP correspondent said, with hundreds continuing to stream into the square by the minute.
Organisers of the protests against Mubarak`s three-decade rule called for a `march of a million` in Alexandria after the authorities cancelled all train services in a bid to stymie a similar march in Cairo on Tuesday.
The Alexandria demo was smaller than the hundreds of thousands who massed in Cairo`s Tahrir square, but was expected to grow further before the crowd set off to march along the corniche.
Many demonstrators waved Egyptian flags, including one scrawled with "Get out you scum, go be with Zine El Abidine`, in reference to Tunisian strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, forced into exile by popular protests last month.
Nearby a group of angry protesters carried Mubarak`s symbolic coffin, shouting "Mubarak is dead without God`s mercy."
Just released from hospital after losing his hand after getting caught up in protests on Friday, Osama Maghazi is now demonstrating. Police shotgun pellets blew off his fingers on one hand, which has now been amputated.
The port worker said that on Friday he happened to be passing by the protests when he became embroiled in the violence.
"It`s the people`s right to define their fate," Maghazi, in his 30s, told AFP. "I never expected the people`s will to be stronger than the regime but now it`s the people`s will that rules."
He said he was happy that the police mangling of his hand had spurred on protesters on Friday. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
