Omar Mahdi, a sales manager, said: “I’m not convinced by ElBaradei, even as a transitional figure, he hasn’t really been present in the country.”

Some of the protesters objected to ElBaradei on the grounds that he was too close to the United States, despite the frictions between him and the U.S. administration over the Iranian and Israeli nuclear programs when he was head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog body.

“ElBaradei’s positions toward other Arab countries, and toward Iran and North Korea, were not neutral… So I don’t find him very acceptable,” said Walid Abdel-Mit’aal, 36, who works for a public sector company.

“He would follow Mubarak in the same policies and would take U.S. aid,” he added, reflecting an anti-American strand which was largely absent in the first four days of protests.

ElBaradei’s cosmopolitanism — he lived abroad for years and speaks fluent English — may be an advantage among some Egyptians but it is also a source of suspicion among others.