Cairo, Jan 29 (IBNS) Hit by a tornado of anti-establishment protest, Egypt's beleaguered president Hosni Mubarak on Saturday asked the government to resign but himself stuck to power, even as street riots raged with arson, stoning and rampage in defiance of a night curfew and crackdown by the troops.

"I asked the government to resign today and I will commission a new government to take over tomorrow," Mubarak said in a nationally televisied address Saturday after midnight.

However, Mubarak refused to step down himself and sent army and tanks in Egypt's cities to quell the violence.

"I assure you that I'm working for the people and giving freedoms of opinion as long as you're respecting the law. There is very little line between freedom and chaos," he said.

Reports said protesters demanding an end to three decades or rule by Mubarak burnt down police stations in Cairo and Alexandria and went on torching vehicles.

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with the Egyptian president after Mubarak's night address.

"I just spoke to him after his speech, and told him he has a responsibility to give meaning to those words, to take concrete steps and actions that deliver on that promise," Obama said in Washington.

"Violence will not address the grievances of the Egyptian people. Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away," Obama said.

Mubarak said "these protests arose to express a legitimate demand for more democracy, need for a greater social safety net, and the improvement of living standards, fighting poverty and rampant corruption."

"I understand these legitimate demands of the people and I truly understand the depth of their worries and burdens and I will not part from them ever and I will work for them everyday," he said.

"But regardless of what problems we face, this does not justify violence or lawlessness."

Meanwhile, top United Nations officials has urged the Government of Egypt to protect the rights of its citizens amid the political protests taking place in the country, particularly freedoms of expression, information and assembly.

“One of the ground principles of democracy is to protect and ensure the freedom of speech of the people,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Davos, Switzerland, Friday when asked about the situation in Egypt.

According to media reports, anti-government protests are intensifying across Egypt, as police clash with demonstrators in several cities demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.

Protests continued  despite reports of widespread disruptions to Internet and mobile phone service from early on Friday.

The Secretary-General stressed that the situation in Egypt, and the wider region, must not lead to further violence.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged the Egyptian Government to exercise restraint, and to initiate investigations into reports of the use of excessive force, particularly the killing of at least five and possibly more civilians.

“It has been brought to my attention that since the street protests erupted, police have confronted protestors with rubber-coated bullets, tear gas, water cannons and batons, and arrested more than 1,000 people, including political opponents,” she said.

She called on the Government to guarantee the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, including by restoring free use of mobile phones and social networks.

“People must be entitled to express their grievances against violations of their civil and political rights as well as their frustrations at lack of realisation of their economic rights, the right to work and the right to an adequate standard of living,”  Pillay stated.

The protests in Egypt are taking place just weeks after anti-government demonstrations led to the ouster of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in neighbouring Tunisia earlier this month.