U.S. urging Egypt military to cede power

The United States increased pressure Friday on Egypt's military rulers to hand over power to civilian leaders, and the generals turned to a Mubarak-era politician to head a new government in a move that failed to satisfy the more than 100,000 protesters who jammed Tahrir Square in the biggest rally yet this week.

The demonstrators rejected the appointment of Kamal el-Ganzouri as prime minister, breaking into chants of "Illegitimate! Illegitimate!" and setting up a showdown between the two sides only three days before key parliamentary elections.

The size of the rally and the resilience of protesters in the face of the violence used by security forces in this week's deadly street battles have won back for the movement much of the strength it projected during the 18-day uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February.

Meanwhile Friday, three American students arrested during a protest were released and planned to catch flights out of Cairo to begin their trips home, an attorney and family said. An Egyptian court had ordered that American University in Cairo students Derrik Sweeney, Luke Gates and Gregory Porter be released from police custody.

The three U.S. college students were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square on Sunday. Officials accused them of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters.

Showing the sort of resolve from the earliest days of the Arab Spring, the Egyptian protesters say they will not leave Cairo's iconic square until the military rulers led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi step down and a civilian presidential council is formed to run the country until a new leader is elected.

"They stole our January revolution because we did not agree on who should represent us," said activist Sedeeqah Abu Seadah. "We shouted 'erhal' [leave]