ElBaradei in Egypt

The plane carrying the former UN nuclear agency head Mohamed ElBaradei landed in Cairo as hundreds of Egyptians gathered at Cairo airport Friday to welcome him.

ElBaradei is seen as a possible future presidential candidate since he announced last year he would not rule out running for the country's presidential elections.

 

   Around 500 people were waiting at the airport for hours to welcome ElBaradei, whose plane was delayed for around two hours in Vienna. 

   While waiting, they chanted the national anthem as well as shouted slogans such as    'ElBaradei for Egypt' and 'ElBaradei, teach them a lesson - Free Egypt is not for succession.' 

   A report  Al-Shorouk independent daily quoted an anonymous security source as saying that some 6,000 police officers were deployed at the airport on Friday, adding that some of them were wearing civilian clothes, and had been ordered to break up any riots. 

   However, witnesses said that there was no apparent extra security at the airport early on Friday. Earlier this week Egyptian security officials warned against any illegal gatherings to welcome ElBaradei. 

   In Egypt, large public gatherings are illegal and can be broken up by police according to the emergency laws.