Al Arabiya TV says Mubarak, family leave Cairo

Al Arabiya television reported today that President Hosni Mubarak and his family had left Cairo from a military airbase in the suburbs and may have gone to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Factbox: Hosni Mubarak | Timeline | Your Say | Rise and fall of Hosni

Al Arabiya television reported on Friday that President Hosni Mubarak and his family had left Cairo from a military airbase in the suburbs and may have gone to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

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It did not give a source for the series of reports on the movement of the president and his family. It said the report that Mubarak had gone to Sharm el-Sheikh was "unconfirmed".

The news comes as protesters moved overnight to the Ittihadiya presidential palace in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis for the first time since protests started in Jan. 25.

The protesters gathered up against a barbed wire cordon around the palace, about 50 metres (yards) from the palace walls at its closest point.

Tanks and soldiers of the elite Republican Guard, responsible for the president's security, surrounded the palace, a Reuters witness said.

"The Republican Guard are protecting the presidential palaces," an armed forces source told Reuters.

A senior military source contacted by Reuters declined to comment on the report that Mubarak had left Cairo. Al Arabiya had initially reported Mubarak and his family had left Egypt.

The president often spends time in Sharm el-Sheikh, a popular tourist destination on the Red Sea, and receives guests there.