By Marwa Awad

  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's new military rulers, promising to guard against " counter-revolution," faced political pressure on Friday to purge the cabinet of ministers appointed by Hosni Mubarak as thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo.

  On the eve of the rally that also celebrated two weeks since Mubarak's removal, the military, which has promised elections within six months, assured Egyptians there would be " no return to the past" of the Mubarak era.

  In the gathering at Tahrir Square, which also reminded the military of the people power that ended Mubarak's 30-year iron rule, activists urged the military to overhaul the newly appointed cabinet and install a fresh team of technocrats.

  " The demands are clear: resignation of the government of (Prime Minister) Ahmed Shafiq immediate release of political prisoners and the issuing of a general amnesty that absolves all," Safwat Higazie, a leading member of the Council of the Protectors of the Revolution, told Reuters.

  " We do not want Shafiq any more, even if they shoot us with bullets," activists chanted. " Revolution until victory, revolution against Shafiq and the palace."

  The atmosphere was also festive. Mothers pushed little children in strollers, with red, white and black Egyptian flags painted on toddlers' cheeks. People waved the national flag, danced and sang patriotic songs as soldiers looked on.

  During noon prayers, the preacher called on Egypt's powerful army to stand by the people and to respect their demands. He also expressed Egyptian solidarity with the rebellion against Muammar Gaddafi in the western neighbour Libya.

  In the fragmented political arena of post-revolutionary Egypt, those with wealth, whatever its source, may still be able to win power and influence in elections. For decades past, voting in Egypt has been determined by thuggery, bribery and manipulation.

  MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD

  The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's best organised political group, and others are particularly concerned about the key portfolios of defence, interior, justice and foreign affairs, and want a clean break from Mubarak's old guard.

  The military, facing strikes over pay as well as turmoil in Libya, treads a fine line between granting people new freedoms and restoring normal life.

  Having dissolved parliament and preparing a referendum to amend the constitution to dismantle the apparatus that kept Mubarak in power, the military has also effectively banned strikes and urged the nation to get back to work.

  The military told the Arab world's most populous nation on Thursday night to guard against " attempts to create strife."

  " The military council emphasises that it will take all steps to fulfil its promises, so that there is no return to the past and the sublime goal is to achieve the hopes and aspirations of this great nation," the military said on its Facebook page.

  " We demand the resignation of all governors across Egypt. These officials have been appointed by Mubarak and continue to work for him and (Mubarak's) NDP. They are preparing for parliamentary elections," Higazie said, adding:

  " Their aim is to destroy the people's Jan 25 revolution and to stage a comeback of the regime to power. Our demands must be fulfilled in order to put an end to this counter-revolution run by Mubarak's lackeys."

  Tens of thousands of protesters in Ismailia, Arish, Suez and Port Said demonstrated after Friday prayers calling on the cabinet to be removed.

  In Suez, about 7,000 protested, demanding the constitution be changed and not just reformed, the removal of Shafiq from power and the resignation of the governor of Suez.

  In Ismailia, over 10,000 people demonstrated, saying the " revolution was not over and it has not achieved all of its goals."

By Carmel Crimmins and Padraic Halpin

  DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish voters were expected to turn their political order upside down on Friday in the first European general election dominated by the debt crisis and the harsh path back to financial stability.

  With the electorate in a vengeful mood over the country's economic collapse, the ruling Fianna Fail party is set to be booted out of office and Enda Kenny's centre-right Fine Gael party propelled to power in the biggest political shake-up since Ireland won independence from Britain in 1921.

  " This government have shamed us, the whole country is shamed by them," said Alan Pinder, a 49 year old plumber. " They need to be punished."

  Ireland's stunning transformation from economic pin-up to euro zone struggler propped up by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund has electrified and angered voters but overall their instincts remain conservative.

  Like Fianna Fail, Fine Gael has a pro-business and low-tax ideology and it has pledged to stick to the overall austerity targets laid down by the EU and IMF as a condition of an 85 billion euros bailout package agreed in December.

  Crucially, however, Fine Gael is less tainted by allegations of crony capitalism that scarred Fianna Fail's last months in office. Polls show it could win nearly 80 seats, putting it within reach of forming a single-party administration for the first time.

  But a minority Fine Gael government would need the support of a rag-bag of independents and for the sake of stability, most analysts expect Kenny will form a coalition with the centre-left Labour party to navigate the EU/IMF programme.

  AFRAID OF EUROPE

  Keen to mine public discontent over what is seen as a punishing bailout deal, both Fine Gael and Labour have campaigned for a mandate to renegotiate its terms.

  But in trading rooms across the euro zone and on the streets of Dublin, people are sceptical about how far they will push European partners, given Ireland's dependence on European Central Bank (ECB) support to keep its banking sector alive.

  " They are afraid of what Europe will do," said Pinder.

  While Ireland's borrowing costs may be reduced as part of a wider EU agreement on resolving the debt crisis next month, Dublin is unlikely to receive a green light to impose losses on some senior bondholders in Irish banks due to ECB opposition.

  Financial markets have already priced in that Fine Gael, led by former schoolteacher Kenny, will be swept into office, but they are watching to see how big a majority he will secure.

  " You could see some relief rally if there is a clear majority for a new government and it's formed quickly," said Anders Matzen, chief analyst at Nordea Markets in Copenhagen. " But a drawn-out debate with the EU and IMF over a renegotiation of the package could be detrimental to sentiment."

  Voting ends at 2200 GMT and the first exit polls will be released early on Saturday. Manual counting is likely to continue into Sunday.

  Irish bond yields remained steady at around 9.345 percent but such an elevated rate, compared with under two percent before the debt crisis struck, reflects investors' views that Dublin is still at risk of default unless the terms of the bailout are relaxed.

  Underlining the wide impact of Ireland's property bubble, British bank Lloyds booked a 4 billion-pound ($6.5 billion) hit from Irish bad debts on Thursday, while Irish losses at rival Royal Bank of Scotland almost doubled to 3.9 billion pounds.

  NO MASS PROTESTS

  Even with more relaxed borrowing terms, Ireland will still have to get the worst budget deficit in Europe under control by 2015 and if growth falters additional cuts may be needed, ensuring a brief honeymoon for the new government.

  The biggest fault-line between Fine Gael and Labour is over the deadline to tackle the deficit. Labour wants an extra year, 2016, to get it under 3 percent of GDP, the EU limit, from nearly 12 percent of GDP, on an underlying basis, last year.

  Despite the return of mass emigration, one in 10 unemployed, widespread negative equity and a rising suicide rate, Ireland has not experienced the kind of mass public protests seen in fellow euro zone struggler Greece.

  Hard-left parties, including Sinn Fein, once the political wing of the now-dormant Irish Republican Army (IRA), have seen a surge in support on promises to rip up the bailout deal, but are expected to remain a small minority in parliament given voters' preference for low-tax parties.

  Polls suggest Fianna Fail will only retain around 20 seats in the 166-seat chamber, ending the dominant position it has commanded since independence from Britain in the last century.

  Such a slide from the 78 seats it held after the last election in 2007, would mark the sharpest collapse of support for any Irish party in history and a particular humiliation for a party which has run Ireland for 61 of the past 79 years.

  For some voters, however, that isn't enough.

  " I look at the news from those foreign countries and how they protested," said Patricia Byrne, 73, a great-granny from the Liberties area of inner-city Dublin. " They got want they wanted. I think we should protest too but we are far too laid back."

  (Additional reporting by Conor Humphries, editing by Andrew Roche and Paul Taylor)

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

  SANAA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of supporters and opponents of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh held rival demonstrations in the capital on Friday, in a test of support for the veteran leader's 32-year rule.

  Protesters outside Sanaa University, repeating slogans which have echoed round the Arab world since the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, chanted: " The people demand the downfall of the regime."

  About 4 km (2 miles) across town, loyalists shouted support for a leader they said was holding the fractured and impoverished tribal nation together. " The creator of unity is in our hearts. We will not abandon him," they chanted.

  Seventeen people have been killed in the past nine days in a sustained wave of countrywide anti-Saleh protests galvanised by the fall of the Tunisian and Egyptian presidents. Saleh has said he will not give in to " anarchy and killing."

  A U.S. ally against the Yemen-based al Qaeda wing that has launched attacks at home and abroad, the Yemeni leader is struggling to end protests flaring across the Arabian Peninsula's poorest state.

  He is also trying to maintain a shaky truce with northern Shi'ite Muslim rebels and contain a secessionist insurgency in the south against northern rule.

  In the south of the country, more than 10,000 people took to the streets in various districts of the port city of Aden, demanding an end to Saleh's rule.

  Twenty-two people were wounded in the protests from live bullets fired by security forces, witnesses said, and security forces blocked off the city to prevent people from neighbouring cities joining them.

  In Aden's Mansoura district, protesters stormed a city council building and set on fire a government vehicle parked outside the building.

  In the city of Taiz, 200 km (125 miles) south of the capital, about 10,000 people staged an anti-government protest.

  " THE REVOLUTION HAS STARTED"

  Outside Sanaa university, Saleh's opponents held an auction to raise money for their campaign, selling a car and a watch, which fetched 600,000 riyals ($3,000).

  " The revolution has started. It will not stop until all of our demands are met," said Fouad Dahaba, an opposition member of parliament who attended the rally. " We are not less than the people of Tunis and Egypt, who were emancipated."

  Saleh supporters in Tahrir Square, many of whom arrived in buses from provinces outside the capital, chanted " Yes to stability, no to chaos."

  " There is no use in trying to destroy the country and divide it. We all must enter a dialogue to preserve the national interest," said Mohammad Saleh.

  Authorities stepped up security in Sanaa before the rallies. An Interior Ministry statement late on Thursday ordered security forces to " raise their security vigilance and take all measures to control any terrorist elements" who might take advantage of the protests to infiltrate Sanaa.

  Saleh had earlier " demanded security services offer full protection for the demonstrators" and prevent confrontations, according a statement from Yemen's Washington embassy.

  Pro-Saleh loyalists wielding clubs and daggers have often sought to break up opposition protests in Sanaa and elsewhere.

  Saleh has promised to step down when his term ends in 2013 and not hand power to his son, though he has backed out of similar pledges in the past.

  State news agency Saba said on Thursday Saleh has assigned a committee headed by Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Megawar to open a dialogue with protesters to hear their demands.

  Nine members of parliament resigned from Saleh's ruling party on Wednesday in protest against what they said was government violence against protesters, but the president still has the support of around 80 percent of parliamentarians.

  (Additional reporting by Mohamed Sudam and Mohammed Ghobari in Sanaa and Mohammed Mokhashaf in Aden writing by Dominic Evans and Mahmoud Habboush Editing by Alistair Lyon and Elizabeth Piper)