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Talks to begin with newly appointed vice-president Omar Suleiman as protests run into 12th day The standoff between Egyptian anti-government protesters and their 82-year-old president has continued into its 12th day, with Cairo’s central square still under occupation and Hosni Mubarak maintaining his refusal to stand down. In an effort to break the deadlock, a group of prominent opposition figures said they would meet newly appointed vice-president Omar Suleiman later today to discuss the possibility of him assuming power for a transitional period. The opening of any negotiations now between the government and opposition forces is being fiercely opposed by a wide swath of the pro-change movement, including the Muslim Brotherhood, former UN nuclear weapons chief Mohamed ElBaradei and many of the pro-change demonstrators on the ground, all of whom believe that talks should only begin after Mubarak resigns. After a relatively peaceful night in Tahrir Square following a huge “day of departure” rally yesterday that once again brought hundreds of thousands on to the streets of downtown Cairo, opponents of the regime are beginning to cast around for new tactics in their struggle to unseat a president who is proving stubbornly resistant to all attempts at toppling him. Attempts made in the early hours by the army to dismantle some of the barricades built by protesters at the northern entrance to Tahrir – the main battleground between pro-change protesters and the regime-supporting baltagiya or “thugs” in recent days – were successfully resisted. “Our focus this morning is very much on what we do next and how we move forward,” Amr Gharbeia, one of the activists camped out in Tahrir Square, said. “I think today is going to be really centred on improving the democratic decision-making process we’ve developed here in the square, but for now there is clear consensus on two things – no negotiations with anybody until Mubarak steps down and no leaving the square until Mubarak steps down. “These so-called prominent opposition figures can do what they want with regards to speaking with the government, but they have nothing to do with those on the ground here.” The self-titled “council of wise men”, who plan to meet Suleiman today, are hoping to activate article 139 of the Egyptian constitution, which enables Mubarak to delegate his powers to a deputy while retaining his presidential post in a symbolic capacity. “The only way forward is for Mubarak to give up power to Suleiman,” explained Diaa Rashwan, an expert at the semi-official Al-Ahram centre and member of the council. “The opposition leadership is so divided that no clear option is available outside the ruling establishment.” But any scenario that involves the continuing presence of Mubarak in government would clearly be unacceptable to the majority of the pro-change movement, who are demanding a clean break from the National Democratic Party (NDP) ruling elite. “The so-called dialogue is the first step to exhaust this revolution. The president must go,” said Mohammad Habib, deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood. Anti-Mubarak protesters received a boost late yesterday evening when Shahira Amin, deputy head of the state-owned English-language Nile TV news station, resigned in protest at government media manipulation of the current crisis. “I can’t be a mouthpiece of this regime with what’s going on, there are people out there sacrificing their lives – if I do what they want me to do and be part of this propaganda machine I will be betraying them,” Amin told local newspaper Daily News Egypt. “The fact is that history is being made. I can’t, as a credible journalist, have my hands tied and prevented from covering what’s going on in our backyard.” Over the past fortnight state-controlled media outlets have painted protesters as being saboteurs, fomenters of chaos and the pawns of unnamed foreign powers, a situation Amin described as “suffocating”. “[The youth protesters] did something my generation didn’t do, so we have to support them all the way,” she added. “I walked away with a clear conscience … no longer scared.” Elsewhere in the country, a key gas pipeline in the northern Sinai peninsula was attacked overnight, triggering explosions across the region. State television blamed a “big terrorist operation” and said that fires around the pipeline had now been brought under control, although gas supply to the pipeline network remains shut off as a safety precaution. Sinai has been the site of major tensions between local Bedouins and the Egyptian government in recent years, with tribal leaders accusing Cairo of marginalising their communities. The area is a high-security zone for the Egyptian government given its proximity to the Israeli border and the Gaza Strip; a controversial gas pipeline that runs from Egypt to Israel is not thought to have been directly affected by the attacks. Egypt Middle East Protest Hosni Mubarak Jack Shenker guardian.co.uk