CLASHES ROCK CAIRO LEAVING 22 DEAD
CAIRO, Egypt - Back to square one and like what they did during Hosni Mubarak regime, fresh deadly clashes erupted like volcano taken place in Cairo's Tahrir Square between police and protesters demanding the end of army rule, as the ruling military council faced its worst crisis since Hosni Mubarak was toppled.The clashes, which have left 22 left dead in three days according to the interior ministry, threatened to derail the country's first elections since Mubarak's ouster in February. Renewed fighting also broke out in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, state television said.
Hundreds have also been injured during the protests that have raged in Cairo, Alexandria and the canal city of Suez.
Police and military forces Monday sporadically used batons, tear gas and birdshot against thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square demanding for a third straight day that the ruling military cede power to a civilian authority.- Culture minister Emad Abu Ghazi quit in protest at the government response to the demonstrations, he told the official MENA news agency.
By the afternoon, thousands had converged on Tahrir Square — the symbolic heart of protests that toppled Mubarak.- The health ministry said 22 people had died in the violence, kicking off a violent countdown to the country's November 28 parliamentary elections.
- Egypt's stock exchange tumbled 4.04 per cent on closing yesterday, with the main EGX-30 index dropping 3,860.00 points.
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi called for calm and urged all political forces to press forward with the democratic process.- He urged them to work for calm and return to the political process and move forward with the process of democratic change based on the principles of freedom, dignity and social justice on which the January 25 revolution was founded.
The clashes first erupted on Saturday, a day after large crowds staged a peaceful anti-military mass rally at the square, resuming on Sunday and carrying through the night into Monday, witnesses and television footage showed.Police and troops on Sunday seized the square only to be beaten back by protesters who retook it later, as had also happened on Saturday.
EXPATRIATE EGYPTIANS FORSEE WORSE TROUBLE
Shrouk Abdelgaffar said she has a 'sickening' feeling Mubarak has the support of the Egyptian army.
OTTAWA, Canada - Around the world, expatriate Egyptians were tuned in to radio, television, and streaming webcasts awaiting President Hosni Mubarak’s words and confidently expecting a resignation. For many who had fled repression and corruption in the country, the overwhelming response was disappointment.- The CBC’s Dave Seglins sat with a group of Egyptian-Canadians who watched Thursday's events unfold live on television at a restaurant in suburban Mississauga, Ontario.
- Businessman Emad Barsoum, who left Egypt and involvement in politics there back in 2001 over what he calls corruption and abuses, shook his head and laughed at Mubarak's remarks.
- "Huh! He’s still the president! How come? Eighteen million don’t want him, and still he insists."
Fellow expat and political reformer Mohamed Fetaih said the world got a glimpse Thursday of a tyrant, who is out of touch.- "He doesn’t listen … he doesn’t want to understand, he doesn’t get the message." Fetaih forecast more demonstrations in Cairo tomorrow.
In Ottawa, a group of Egyptian-Canadians gathered at a house to watch Mubarak's speech. While they waited for it to start, they spoke by phone and by Skype with protesters in Tahrir Square. Everyone in the room was disappointed, and they were fearful about violence in the coming hours.
Source: CBC
MALAYSIAN GROUPS JOIN WORLDWIDE PROTESTS AGAINST EGYPT'S MUBARAK?
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysian groups added to the worldwide calls for Egyptian despot Hosni Mubarak to step down, with more than 100 protesters from NGOs and opposition parties staging a peaceful protest in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.They demanded the resignation of the Egyptian president and called for an end to his authoritarian regime. It is unclear what the Malaysian government's official stand is although so far few countries except for Saudi Arabia has expressed support for Mubarak.
In the past week, Egyptians and activists from around the world have taken to the streets in various cities to show their support for the protests currently underway in Egypt and to join the call for Mubarak to step down.- On Saturday, outside the Egyptian Embassy in London, people rallied, chanted, hoisted banners and demanded change. One sign, written in red ink, said it all: "From The Nile, To the Sea -- Egypt Soon Will Be Free! Freedom for Egypt!"
Meanwhile,the anti-Mubarak protest was a telling sign of how the winds of change were also blowing through Malaysia - a key part of the modern Islamic world.Kuala Lumpur protesters began by marching a short distance from a car park nearby to the Egyptian commission chanting “Down Mubarak!”. They carried posters depicting the Egyptian leader with a Zionist symbol on his forehead.
About 50 police personnel in riot gear showed up to block their approach to the embassy gates. After intense negotiations, a few of the protestors tried to hand over a memorandum to the embassy officials but were rebuffed.- The protestors - Malaysians from all walks of life, political parties PAS, PKR and PSM as well as human rights groups GMI and Suaram - continued to chant anti-Mubarak slogans before dispersing.
FROM HAVOC TO CHAOS IN EGYPT
CAIRO – Egyptians woke up to a dawn of uncertainty Sunday with several key buildings still smoldering in the capital and thousands of anti-regime protesters remaining camped out at the city's main square in defiance of an extended nighttime curfew.President Hosni Mubarak, clinging to power with promises of reform and a new government, had named his intelligence chief as his first-ever vice president on Saturday, setting the stage for a successor as chaos engulfed Cairo. Soldiers stood by — a few even joining the demonstrators — and the death toll from five days of anti-government fury rose sharply to 74.
Overnight and as police melted away, residents set up self-styled checkpoints and barricades at street corners and intersections of their neighborhoods, armed mostly with clubs and sticks to protect their homes. By dawn, the city was eerily quiet, with armored military vehicles encircling main government buildings in the downtown.- Sunday marks the start of the working week here but banks and the stock market will remain closed, as will schools.
Saturday's fast-moving developments across the north African nation marked a sharp turning point in Mubarak's three-decade rule of Egypt. Residents and shopkeepers in affluent neighborhoods boarded up their houses and stores against looters, who roamed the streets with knives and sticks, stealing what they could and destroying cars, windows and street signs. Gunfire rang out in some neighborhoods.- Tanks and armored personnel carriers are fanned out across the city of 18 million, guarding key government buildings, and major tourist and archaeological sites. Among those singled out for special protection was the Egyptian Museum, home to some of the country's most treasured antiquities, and the Cabinet building. The military closed the pyramids on the outskirts of Cairo — Egypt's leading tourist site.
But soldiers made no moves against protesters, even after a curfew came and went for the second night.- "This is the revolution of people of all walks of life," read black graffiti scrolled on one army tank in Tahrir Square. "Mubarak, take your son and leave," it said, in a stark message to the president and his son and potential successor.
Police protecting the Interior Ministry near the site opened fire Saturday at a funeral procession for a dead protester, possibly because it came too close to the force. Clashes broke out and at least two people were killed.- The crackdown on protesters has drawn harsh criticism from the Obama administration and even a threat Friday to reduce a $1.5 billion foreign aid program if Washington's most important Arab ally escalates the use of force.
Thousands of passengers were stranded at Cairo's airport as flights were canceled or delayed, leaving them unable to leave because of a government-imposed curfew. Several Arab nations, meanwhile, moved to evacuate their citizens.The cancelations of flights and the arrival of several largely empty aircraft appeared to herald an ominous erosion of key tourism revenue.
The protesters united in one overarching demand — Mubarak and his family must go. The movement is a culmination of years of simmering frustration over a government they see as corrupt, heavy-handed and neglectful of poverty.- At the end of a long day of rioting and mass demonstrations Friday, Mubarak fired his Cabinet and promised reforms. But the demonstrators returned in force again Saturday to demand a complete change of regime.
- As the army presence expanded in Cairo Saturday, police largely disappeared from the streets — possibly because their presence seemed only to fuel protesters' anger. Egyptian police are hated for their brutality.
On Friday, 17 police stations throughout Cairo were torched, with protesters stealing firearms and ammunition and freeing some jailed suspects. They also burned dozens of police trucks in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. On Saturday, protesters besieged a police station in the Giza neighborhood of Cairo, looted and pulled down Egyptian flags, then burned the building to the ground.- There were no clashes reported between protesters and the military at all, and many in the crowds showered soldiers with affection.
- Some 200 inmates escaped a jail on the outskirts of the city, starting a fire first to cover their breakout. Eight inmates were killed during the escape.
"There is nothing short of Mubarak leaving power that will satisfy the people," Mohamed ElBaradei, the country's leading pro-reform activist told The Associated Press on Saturday. "I think what Mubarak said yesterday was an insult to the intelligence of the Egyptian people."- Buildings, statues and even armored security vehicles were covered in anti-Mubarak graffiti, including the words "Mubarak must fall," which by morning had been written over to say "Mubarak fell."
- The Internet appeared blocked for a third day Sunday, an effort to hamper protesters who use social networking sites to organize. After cell phone service was cut for a day Friday, two of the country's major providers were up and running Saturday.
In Friday night's looting, hundreds of young men had carted away televisions, fans and stereo equipment from the ruling National Democratic Party, near the Egyptian Museum. Others around the city looted banks, smashed cars, tore down street signs and pelted armored riot police vehicles with paving stones torn from roadways.
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