* Mubarak’s son Gamal resigns, Hossam Badrawi named new secretary general * Muslim Brotherhood says no Islamic revolution in Egypt * Saboteurs attack gas pipeline to Jordan
CAIRO: The leadership of Egypt’s ruling party quit on Saturday, but the protesters who have rocked the political establishment dismissed the move as a ruse that would not deter them from their goal of toppling the president.
Reports by Al Arabiya saying President Hosni Mubarak had resigned as head of the party were later withdrawn by the Dubai-based television news channel.
State television said only the leadership of the party, including Mubarak’s son Gamal, had resigned and named the new secretary general as Hossam Badrawi, seen as more liberal. But the protesters were not impressed by the latest gesture. “These are not gains for the protesters, this is a trick by the regime. This is not fulfilling our demands. These are red herrings,” said Bilal Fathi, 22.
Earlier, Mubarak met some of the new ministers, the state news agency said, in a clear rebuff to the hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s influential Muslim Brotherhood is keeping a low profile in the current unrest because it does not want the revolt to be seen as an Islamic revolution, one of its leaders said.
“It is an uprising of the Egyptian people,” spokesman Rashad al-Bayoumi told the German weekly Der Spiegel, while accusing Mubarak’s government of distorting the image of the movement.
“The West won’t listen to us, but we’re not devils. We want peace not violence,” he said. Separately, unknown saboteurs attacked an Egyptian pipeline supplying gas to Jordan, forcing authorities to switch off gas supply from a twin pipeline to Israel, an official told AFP.
The attackers used explosives against the pipeline in the town of Lihfen in northern Sinai, near the Gaza Strip, the official said. It was initially thought the pipeline to Israel was attacked.
