EGYPT: Military interference...

 

Egyptian Protesters

Defy Curfew, Military Deployment, To Remain In The Streets

Antigovernment demonstrators in Egypt defied a nationwide curfew and remained on the streets in the thousands overnight to press their demand that President Hosni Mubarak step down. The government deployed the army to enforce a 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew that was first ordered in Cairo, Alexandria, and Suez, then quickly expanded to cover the entire country. But as of 10 p.m. local time, the army hadn’t moved to suppress the crowds, who are demanding that Mubarak relinquish his 30-year monopoly on power as a step toward solving the country's rampant poverty and unemployment problems.

Instead, the crowds turned on army vehicles, according to Voice of America’s Cairo correspondent Henry Ridgwell, who tells RFE/RL that some protesters stormed army tanks and, in one incident, seized control of an armored personal carrier. He says police vehicles have also been set on fire.

 

“Clearly at the moment, it’s a very, very tense situation, [with] few people obeying the curfew," Ridgwell says. "The curfew initially was put in place just for Cairo and Alexandria and Suez. That has since been extended to all provinces across Egypt."

"But a lot of people are still out on the streets tonight. The army and the riot police are in a tense standoff. There are still violent clashes. We can see the orange glows of fires dotted across the city, some burning tires, some burning vehicles.”

Around 9 p.m. local time, the army dispersed protesters who were trying to storm Egypt's state television building in central Cairo. Arab television stations reported that demonstrators had forced their way in but did not disrupt broadcasts. 

For the first time in four days of protests, Islamist leaders called on supporters to officially join the latest demonstrations, which began after Friday Prayer services ended on January 28.

Egyptians praying 

while riot police is on guard.

Police in central Cairo fired rubber bullets, tear gas, and water cannon to disperse protesters, who threw stones at police. Up to seven people have been reported killed since the protests began, but none today.

Parts of the ruling party headquarters in the capital were on fire, apparently set alight by enraged protesters. Protesters also ransacked the party's headquarters in the cities of Mansoura, north of Cairo, and in Suez, east of the capital. Some of the most serious violence was in Suez.

At Least Seven Killed

Egyptians frustrated over rising prices, unemployment, and an authoritarian government have been protesting since January 25.

The government shut down the country's mobile phone and Internet systems in an effort to hamper the protest organizers. The VOA’s Ridgwell says crowds were also prevented from joining up with each other because the police blocked key intersections.

“The picture today has been one of disparate groups dotted around Cairo," Ridgwell says, "and other cities across Egypt, and we’ve seen the riot police [in Cairo] try and keep these different protest groups separate from each another, to try and stop them coalescing into one big mass group that could perhaps overwhelm the security forces and start storming and destroying public property, which is of course the biggest fear here. So there are huge deployments of security forces around government buildings.”


Ehab el-Zelaky, the managing editor of the independent newspaper "Al-Masry Al-Youm," witnessed one clash from his Cairo office building earlier in the day.


"[The protesters] are angry and security forces are treating them very hard. They are using everything to combat this demonstration," he said. "Five minutes ago, there was a big demonstration on the street in front of our building and they are bombarding them with tear gas bombs. And we here in the newspaper, regardless of whether we are on the fourth or fifth floor of the building, we are all wearing masks because it is a very heavy bombardment with tear gas." 

 

Women Protestors

El-Baradei Under House Arrest

The protest movement was buoyed by the arrival of Nobel Peace laureate and pro-democracy campaigner Muhammad El-Baradei from Vienna. El-Baradei said, "if people, in particular young people…want me to lead the transition, I will not let them down."

But El-Baradei was placed under house arrest on January 28 immediately after joining demonstrators.

"The Egyptian people will take care of themselves," he told reporters before he was taken away. "The Egyptian people will be the ones who will make the change. We are not waiting for help or assistance from the outside world. But what I expect from the outside world is to practice what they preach and defend the right of the Egyptians to their universal values: freedom, dignity, social justice."

The showdown in Egypt is being closely watched worldwide as it pits one of the Arab world's longest-lasting regimes against mass demands for change.

Speaking in Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States is “deeply concerned about the use of violence by Egyptian police and security forces against protesters.” She called on the Egyptian government to restrain the security forces and restore communication services.

And she repeated the administration’s message to the Mubarak government, that “reform is absolutely critical to the well-being of Egypt."

"These protests underscore that there are deep grievances within Egyptian society and the Egyptian government needs to understand that violence will not make these grievances go away," she said.

From Davos, Switzerland, where he is attending the World Economic Forum, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged calm.

"All concerned people or leaders should ensure that the situation in that region -- in particular now in Egypt -- does not and should not lead to further violence," he said. "And I have been calling on the authorities to see all these situations as an opportunity to engage in addressing the legitimate concerns and wishes of their peoples."