Cairo (ANTARA News/AFP) - Top dissident Mohamed ElBaradei told thousands at the epicentre of anti-regime protests in Cairo on Sunday that they were "beginning a new era," amid chants for President Hosni Mubarak to stand down.

ElBaradei hailed "a new Egypt in which every Egyptian lives in freedom and dignity," his words however inaudible to most of the vast crowd gathered on Tahrir square that he addressed through a megaphone.

"We are on the right path, our strength is in our numbers," the Nobel peace laureate and former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency said. "I ask you to be patient. Change is coming."

ElBaradei arrived at the square to address the country`s main protest for the first time to cries of "The people want to topple the president."

"We will sacrifice our soul and our blood for the nation," the crowd shouted.

The National Coalition for Change, which groups several opposition movements including the banned Muslim Brotherhood, on Sunday accused ElBaradei of negotiating with Mubarak`s embattled regime.

Six days of nationwide protests against Mubarak`s three-decade rule have shaken Egypt, the most populous nation in the Arab world, and left at least 125 people dead as the veteran leader clings to power. (*)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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