Egypt protests Cairo is a war Zone

[Cawaale]

I am afraid reer Galbed won't help this time.

For the first time since i got my feet in Egypt people gather for a useful cause and not for a football game, i just hope they did it long before Tunisia's demonstrations. nevertheless Good job to the organizers(mainly activists and facebook addicts). On the hand the Government is shaking, they blocked Twitter and shut the media up. Its interesting to follow thou.

[Cawaale]

Click here for Live streaming of the Cairo protest.

 

I don't think what has happened in Tunisia is adoptable here and can be remade, but its good start nevertheless. On another note, the oppositions are taking shots and seizing the moment. Baradi is making commentary now.

 

Recent picture

[General Duke]

^^^Keep us updated. The fear is gone and thats a start..

[Cawaale]

One person is confirmed dead in Suez while protesting and another was reported dead too. Huge number of riot police are coming still. What i like most about this is that the people are smart enough not to destroy public property, because that will be the perfect excuse to wipe them all.

 

The government is already blaming the Muslim brotherhood for this, even though the said brotherhood don't present more then 5% of the protesters. Protesters are increasing despite the detentions and the riot, yet I'll be surprised if they hang on for another day or sleep on the streets for the night.

[Che -Guevara]

Amazing what people can do when they have no room to maneuver and feel like they have nothing to lose. There's no fear in them.

[General Duke]

Cawaale, thanks for the update. The updates on the major news outlets has become nothing more than a trickle now. Twitter has been shutt down, Facebook is still up and the regime is in trouble.

 

This is the Middle Easts 1989, if Egypt falls then all the Arab world will change for the better one hopes..

[nuune]

The protesters had access to weapons in the case of Somalia in late 80s and early 90s!

[Cawaale]

Down town(Tahrir Square) residents unprotected their wireless connections, so the protesters and the tweeters can access to it. makeshift antennas on the balconies to boost the network of the area. the restaurants gave away free sandwiches and water. Its indeed Amazing.

[nuune]

Thanks for the updates yaa Cawaale, Madinat Nasri ma soo gaarey mudaaharaadka lol

[Cawaale]

Duke, Yeh. I think it's pretty interesting start. I noticed that the Media(printed,TV or electronic) is practicing some kind of self censorship, even those who used to call for a change and freedom of press. So what happened? Nobody knows.

Early this day many local websites were down, and some international sites were blocked.

[Cawaale]

^Its only in the Down Town yaa Nuune.

[Cawaale]

This demonstration is the the largest & most daring i have ever seen Guys. They are even calling for Nationwide strike tomorrow.

[General Duke]

Egypt protests are breaking new groundEgyptians have been here before, but the nature of this protest will unsettle a regime for which complacency is a way of life

 

Simon Tisdall guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 25 January 2011 19.02 GMT Article history

Anti-government protesters take part in a demonstration in Cairo on 25 January. Photograph: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters

 

Egypt is not Tunisia. It's much bigger. Eighty million people, compared with 10 million. Geographically, politically, strategically, it's in a different league – the Arab world's natural leader and its most populous nation. But many of the grievances on the street are the same. Tunis and Cairo differ only in size. If Egypt explodes, the explosion will be much bigger, too.

 

Egyptians have been here before. The so-called Cairo spring of 2005 briefly lifted hopes of peaceful reform and open elections. Those hopes died, like autumn leaves, blown away by a withering sirocco of regressive measures and reimposed emergency laws. Food and price riots in Mahalla el Kubra in 2008 briefly raised the standard of revolt again. They were quickly suppressed.

 

But Tuesday's large-scale protests were different in significant ways, sending unsettling signals to a regime that has made complacency a way of life. "Day of Rage" demonstrators in Cairo did not merely stand and shout in small groups, as is usual. They did not remain in one place. They joined together – and they marched. And in some cases, the police could not, or would not, stop them.

 

This took President Hosni Mubarak and his ministers way out of their comfort zone. Interior minister Habib al-Adli had said earlier he held no objection to stationary protests by small groups. But marching en masse, uncontrolled and officially undirected, along a central Cairo boulevard, heading for the regime heartland of Tahrir Square – this was something new and dangerous.

 

The protests' organisation was different, too – recalling Tunisia, and Iran in 2009. The biggest opposition grouping, the banned Muslim Brotherhood, for so long a useful Islamist ***** manipulated to bolster western support for the secular regime, declined to take part. Egypt's establishment rebel, the former UN nuclear watchdog chief, Mohammad ElBaradei, also steered clear.

 

Instead an ad hoc coalition of students, unemployed youths, industrial workers, intellectuals, football fans and women, connected by social media such as Twitter and Facebook, instigated a series of fast-moving, rapidly shifting demos across half a dozen or more Egyptian cities. The police could not keep up – and predictably, resorted to violence. Egypt's protests already have their martyrs, killed by police or burned to death by their own hands. But Egypt does not yet have a Neda Agha-Soltan. Pray it never does.

 

The language and symbolism were different, too. "Enough, enough (kifaya)!" they shouted in 2005, giving a name to the movement for change. Now the message is: "Too much, too far, for too long!"

"Mubarak, Saudi Arabia awaits you," the demonstrators chanted, referring to the refuge of the Tunisian ex-dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. "Out! Out! Revolution until victory," shouted a group of mothers, babes in arms. Across Cairo, Alexandria and beyond, the banners of the Tunisian intifada waved liked semaphore flags, wishfully signalling an end to the ancien regime.

 

But Egypt is not Tunisia. Egypt is a much more efficient police state, a much harder nut to crack. Its leader is as tough and as canny as an old fox. Its military and ruling elite is in hock to the Americans to the tune of $2bn a year – and the American republic, itself born of revolt, has no love of revolutions. Mubarak, 82, has held power for 30 years. He is his own, and Washington's man. According to WikiLeaks cables, he likely plans to die in office – and then hand over to his son.

 

There is no revolution in Egypt, yet. But, hypothetically, if Mubarak were to fall, the consequences would be incalculable – for Israel and the peace process, for the ascending power of Iran, for US influence across the Middle East, and for the future rise and spread of militant, anti-western Islam. And not least, for 80 million Egyptians.

"Our assessment is that the Egyptian government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people," US secretary of state Hillary Clinton declared on Tuesday night. They thought that about Ben Ali's Tunisia, too. Clinton's hurried words show how worried they are.

[General Duke]

As midnight approaches in Cairo thousands of protesters are still occupying the Tahrir Square, vowing to remain in place until the government falls. News has reached Egyptians here of deaths in Suez and the capital, as well as unconfirmed reports that Gamal Mubarak – the president's wildly unpopular son and presumed heir apparent – has fled to London, and they appear more determined than ever to hold their ground.

"We will stay here all night, all week if necessary," said Youssef Hisham, a 25 year old filmmaker. "There are too many people on the streets for the police to charge – if they did, it would be a massacre. I came here today not as the representative of any political party, but simply in the name of Egypt. We have liberated the heart of the country, and Mubarak now knows that his people want him gone."

As fresh waves of protesters broke through police cordons to join the throng in Tahrir, a festival atmosphere took hold – groups were cheered as they arrived carrying blankets and food, and demonstrators pooled money together to buy water and other supplies. "The atmosphere is simply amazing – everyone is so friendly, there's no anger, no harassment, just solidarity and remarkable energy," added Hisham.

Drums were banged and fires started as night moved in; having established their lines, hundreds of security forces stayed put and kept their distance, although alarmingly police snipers were seen to be taking up position on nearby buildings. "They are waiting for numbers to dwindle, and then they will switch off the street lights and charge," warned Ahmed Salah, a veteran activist.

"We must hold Tahrir through the night and tomorrow, so that every corner of Egypt can take us as an inspiration and rise up in revolt," claimed Salah. "It's a matter of life and death now – what happens over the next 24 hours will be vital to the history of this country. It's a very emotional moment for me."

Pamphlets widely distributed amongst protesters declared that 'the spark of intifada' had been launched in Egypt. "We have started an uprising with the will of the people, the people who have suffered for thirty years under oppression, injustice and poverty," read the Arabic-language texts. "Egyptians have proven today that they are capable of taking freedom by force and destroying despotism."

They went on to call for the immediate removal of President Mubarak and his government, and urged Egyptians nationwide to begin a wave of strikes, sit-ins and demonstrations across the country until these demands were met. "Long live the struggle of the Egyptian people," the pamphlets ended.

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

Great stuff ya Duke.

 

The Arab Street needs to slowly overthrow the current Arab State. Let the citizens have a fresh start in life. The expected temporary chaos is surely a better alternative than decades of repression and thievery.