Opposition leader Mohammed ElBaradei said Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak's transfer of powers to his vice president did not satisfy the demands of protesters and warned of clashes in the coming hours if the Army did not come to the rescue, dpa reported.
In a comment on the website Twitter, ElBaradei warned: "Egypt will explode. Army must save the country now."
Protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square reacted furiously to Mubarak's speech Thursday night, in which he refused to resign but handed authority to deputy Omar Suleiman.
"There is no way the Egyptians ... are ready to accept either Mubarak or his vice president," ElBaradei told broadcaster CNN. "They are twins. Neither of them is acceptable to the people."
ElBaradei said it was up to the Army to keep the peace in the coming hours. Suleiman late Thursday urged protestors to go home, and ElBaradei warned of violence on Friday if the Army chose to side with Mubarak and Suleiman instead of the protesters in Cairo.
"People have always taken it for granted that the Army is on their side," ElBaradei told CNN. "If you do not see that, if the Army does not declare themselves on the side of the people, you will have, I think, major clashes ... between the Army and the people."