Mubarak remains in power, passes some authority to Suleiman

Mubarak defied hours of rumors that he would step down by vowing, in a televised speech, to stay in office and oversee a reform of the constitution en route to September’s presidential elections, The Jerusalem Post reports.

“Get out, get out!” the crowds shouted and some protesters marched toward his presidential palace and the offices of state TV.

Mubarak said he would delegate further powers to Vice President Omar Suleiman, but would also ignore “diktats from abroad.” Instead, he said, he would “carry on and protect the constitution and the people, and transfer power to whoever is elected next September in free and transparent elections.” The embattled president reiterated that he would not run as a candidate.

Mubarak also said he would lift the country’s reviled state of emergency laws once the situation had stabilized.

But he added, defiantly, “I have confronted death... I have never succumbed to international pressure. I have preserved my dignity. I have preserved peace for Egypt and worked hard for its renaissance.”

Protesters in Cairo’s vast Tahrir Square responded to the speech with indignation, waving their shoes at the leader, who has ruled the Arab world’s largest state with an iron fist for nearly three decades. Later Thursday, there were reports of protesters marching toward his presidential palace.