Clashes erupt amid Cairo protests

Egypt crisis: Gunfire heard in central Cairo early Thursday

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Vehicles burn in front of Cairo's Egyptian Museum early Thursday as people protesting against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak face off against pro-Mubarak crowds.

February 2nd, 2011
09:51 PM ET

[Update 5:16 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 10:16 p.m. ET Wednesday] All remaining U.S. citizens who wish to depart Egypt on a U.S. government-chartered flight "should report to airport immediately," the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs said via Twitter minutes ago.

"Further delay is not advisable," the tweet said.

The State Department offers further information for U.S. citizens in Egypt on the department's website.

[Update 4:51 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 9:51 p.m. ET Wednesday] CNN's Ivan Watson, reporting on the gunfire that was heard in central Cairo minutes ago, said it took place along the barricaded edges of Tahrir Square, where anti-government protesters stayed through the night, facing off with pro-government people.

CNN personnel are seeing wounded being carried into Tahrir Square from the Egyptian Museum entrance to the square. Ambulances also are coming into the square.

Watson reported that he could hear both automatic gunfire and single shots, and that perhaps six young men - possibly wounded - were carried away. One appeared to have been shot in the abdomen, Watson reported.

[Update 4:33 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 9:33 p.m. ET Wednesday] Heavy gunfire reverberated in central Cairo early Thursday as anti- and pro-government protesters continued to face off at Tahrir Square.

[Update 3:43 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 8:43 p.m. ET Wednesday] Chartered flights evacuating U.S. citizens from Cairo will run again on Thursday, but after that, U.S. officials will assess whether the operation should be continued, the U.S. State Department said.

More than 1,900 U.S. citizens and their family members have left Egypt since an evacuation operation began Monday, according to State Department statement. The State Department has been providing passage for any U.S. citizen wishing to leave Egypt.

[Update 3:28 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 8:28 p.m. ET Wednesday] In the video below, CNN's Ivan Watson reports on the Molotov cocktails that have been thrown Wednesday night and Thursday morning between supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and anti-Mubarak protesters outside Cairo's Egyptian Museum.

Watson reports of a "constant stream of wounded people being brought from these front lines between these two warring camps," and "people being treated along the sidewalks, underneath the street lamps ... by medics in lab coats."

"We've seen teams of opposition protesters who've been hard at work digging up the asphalt here in Tahrir Square to pull out stones to use as ammunition in the ongoing battles that have gone thoughout the day," Watson said early Thursday.

[Update 3:15 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 8:15 p.m. ET Wednesday] Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman has reiterated the government stance that the people have been heard, that they should go home and that they should stop demonstrating.

Protesters should respect the curfew and "enable people to return to their jobs and their daily lives, and to allow schools and universities to reopen," he said in a statement.

People protesting against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak still are in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Some of them have set up sheet-metal barricades outside the Egyptian Museum to hold off some pro-Mubarak crowds, who on Wednesday engaged in bloody clashes with the protesters. The pro-Mubarak people, who dwindled in number Wednesday night into early Thursday morning, still are lobbing Molotov cocktails at the protesters.

The Health Ministry has said three people died and 639 were injured in Wednesday's clashes in Cairo. CNN reporters at the square early Thursday morning say medics have been tending to the wounded in makeshift triage areas, and ambulances were arriving every few minutes. The Egyptian military is at the square and the museum but generally have stood by during the clashes, CNN reporters have said.

[Update 2:54 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 7:54 p.m. ET Wednesday] The video below is a roundup, from CNN's correspondents in Cairo, of what happened during Wednesday's demonstrations and clashes between anti-Mubarak protesters and people supporting the president.

[Update 2:21 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 7:21 p.m. ET Wednesday] At least three fires are burning outside Cairo's Egyptian Museum as people supporting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak throw Molotov cocktails toward anti-Mubarak protesters, CNN's Anderson Cooper reports.

The number in the pro-Mubarak crowd has dwindled, and anti-Mubarak protesters - having slowly advanced behind tall sheets of metal - have controlled the area in front of the museum near Tahrir Square for the past few hours. Anti-Mubarak protesters have been banging on the metal into the night. Some of them are having to dodge Molotov cocktails thrown by the other side, Cooper said.

"Every time one of the Molotov cocktails thrown by the pro-Mubarak forces hits inside a crowd of people in the anti-Mubarak group, you can hear a cheer going up from the pro-Mubarak side," Cooper said.

Sustained automatic weapons fire also could be heard early Thursday around Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of nine days of protests calling for Mubarak's ouster.

[Update 2:15 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 7:15 p.m. ET Wednesday] Ambulances were arriving every few minutes early Thursday at a hospital about a 10-minute drive from Tahrir Square, scene of bloody mayhem in Cairo. Many of the wounded have injuries to the head. Others have stab wounds or were burned by Molotov cocktails.

[Update 1:15 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 6:15 p.m. ET Wednesday] A tree outside Cairo's Egyptian Museum appears to be on fire, and Molotov cocktails still ocassionally are being thrown between groups of protesters, CNN's Hala Gorani reports.

People protesting against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak earlier pushed back pro-Mubarak crowds from the street in front of the museum, near Tahrir Square. Though Molotov cocktails still are being thrown, the two sides don't appear to be in physical contact.

Latest blog updates...violence continues....

Live blog Feb 3 - Egypt protests | Al Jazeera Blogs

6:42 am The standoff on Tahrir Square continues, as five people are reported dead.

6:05 am Live pictures are coming in on AJE of people hurling Molotov cocktails from a flyover near Tahrir square.

5:52 am Phones not working well, internet still down in large parts of Egypt, our correspondent in Tahrir square says.

5:48 am People are doing fajr prayer in Tahrir square now.

5:35 am At least four people have been killed in violence against anti-government protesters, Al Arabiya quoted a medical source at the scene.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

All remaining U.S. citizens who wish to depart Egypt on a U.S. government-chartered flight "should report to airport immediately," the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs said via Twitter minutes ago.

"Further delay is not advisable," the tweet said.

---

that doesn't sound too good,

I hope they will march to the Presidential Palace and burn the place

Some recent Tweets...

Police ID of an attacker captured during assault on Tahrir. He was dressed as civilian! كارنيه شرطه لاØ[at]د البلطجيه المقبو... on Twitpic #jan25

"If we give up now, they will hunt us one by one" - Egyptian activist in Tahrir square speaking now on [at]AJEnglish #jan25 #egypt

Molotov cocktails thrown on the protesters from the 6th of October bridge, this is insane #Jan25

Egypt: Mubarak Reveals a Brutal Plan to Hold Power

By Tony Karon
Wednesday, Feb. 02, 2011

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Supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak shout slogans during a rally to show their allegiance for the embattled leader in Cairo on February 2, 2011.
Marco Longari / AFP / Getty Images

The "Berlin Wall" analogy that has been a staple of Western media discussion of the struggle for power in Egypt looked way off the mark on Wednesday as the regime unleashed a brutal strategy for remaining in power that might make "Prague Spring" a more apposite European analogy. The Berlin Wall's rupture saw East Germany's communist regime collapse; the democratic uprising in Czechoslovakia in 1968 was crushed by Russian tanks.

The Egyptian army, which had previously vowed not to use force against the protestors, stood by passively as thousands of pro-government thugs were bused in and bludgeoned their way into the peaceful anti-Mubarak crowd on Cairo's Tahrir Square. The violent chaos that raged for hours into the night left hundreds wounded and at least three dead. It made clear that earlier suggestions that the army was siding with the protestors were premature. (Were the army and the cops in cahoots all this time?)

The violent backlash by regime supporters on Wednesday also underscored Mubarak's determination to defy the demand by protestors — and implicitly by the Obama Administration — that he step down immediately. Instead, he intends to remain in charge until elections scheduled for September, supervising what he promised would be an "orderly" transition of power. And he and the top military men around him appear to have designed a strategy to keep hold of the reins until then. The opposition insist that he go immediately, but Wednesday's events raised the question of whether they have a winning strategy of their own.

Tuesday's "March of Millions" may have been the protest movement's crescendo, a massive show of strength of the street that prompted Mubarak to announce that he would not seek reelection, and would spend the next seven months presiding over a process of reforms and consultation in order to affect an orderly transfer of power. That was never going to be acceptable to many of the demonstrators on the streets, nor to the U.S. President Obama on Tuesday demanded that the transition begin "now," and when asked Wednesday what "now" meant, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said "yesterday." (See pictures of clashes on the streets of Cairo.)

But the Egyptian regime was contemptuous of Obama's demand, saying if the U.S. wants an orderly transition, as it insists it does, "We can't do that if we have a vacuum of power", as one Egyptian official told the New York Times. Mubarak's retirement announcement was designed for the army, as well as the many millions of Egyptians caught somewhere between the protesters and the hardcore supporters of the regime. His transition plan appears to have been embraced by the military — which, after all, has been the source of political power in Egypt since the 1952 coup that overturned the monarchy, and whose top echelon is unlikely to want to relinquish control of the transition process to forces unknown. The army on Wednesday issued a statement telling the protesters that their demands had been heard, and that it was now time to go home.

And if the army was willing to see Mubarak make a dignified exit while keeping the political reform process in friendly hands — most importantly, those of Vice President and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman — the regime's hardcore support base is even more determined not to see him ejected from office just yet. Many of the thugs attacking protesters turned out to have been policemen or their family members, but that in itself was a reminder that there are tens of thousands of Egyptians deeply invested in a brutal regime they have served as enforcers on the ground, and many are fearful enough of losing its protection that they're willing to spill Egyptian blood, as they always have been, to keep their paymasters in place.

Of greater concern to the protest movement may be the reality that there are millions of ordinary Egyptians to whom Mubarak's proposed graceful exit over seven months sounds reasonable, and who desperately want an end to the economic and security chaos that has disrupted their lives over the past week, and threatens to turn even more violent. Even among those who have supported the protests, not all are convinced of the wisdom of further confrontation. The regime will be hoping to divide opposition political leaders, hoping that some can be tempted to begin negotiations with the regime even while others insist on Mubarak's departure as a precondition. (See the American GOP's line on Egypt — and Obama.)

The democracy movement puts pressure on the regime to the extent that their presence on the streets and strike actions disrupt its functioning. But such action also disrupts the lives of many millions of ordinary people. By unleashing its thugs and creating a situation of violent chaos, the regime also creates a pretext for the military to simply clear everyone off the streets. Asking soldiers to fire on peaceful demonstrators could create a crisis within the ranks, but asking them to clear rival political camps off the street to put a stop to violent chaos (even if that chaos was deliberately instigated) may be a different prospect. The army is urging everyone to go home; sooner or later they will become more insistent in that demand. And as things stand, once the protestors are off the street the leverage of the opposition leaders diminishes.

So the regime appears to be calculating that time — as well as intervening to create violent chaos among demonstrators on the street — actually works in favor of their maintaining control for now. Sure, the U.S. is publicly urging him to start the political transition "yesterday," as White House press secretary Robert Gibbs put it on Wednesday, but Mubarak and Suleiman may have little incentive to pay Obama much heed right now. (Comment on this story.)

The regime's strategy is premised on the idea that it can make the protesters' current strategy — a massive show of strength through public marches, vowing to stay on the streets until Mubarak goes — work in its favor by turning the army and many ordinary citizens against further street action. If Mubarak's men are right, the dilemma facing the protest leadership will be finding plausible strategies for a more sustained challenge to Mubarak if he manages to tough out the current standoff on the streets.

See an eyewitness account of the violence in Tahrir Square.

Read more: Egypt: Mubarak Reveals a Brutal Plan to Hold Power - TIME

pro government ??

word on the street is plain cloths police .

it's clear that Murabak has no intention to leave, he can always renegade on his promises and nobody will blink, the US will just rollover like they always do

they need to keep the struggle,

^ and army units, probably...

New gunfire erupts in central Cairo - CNN.com

New gunfire erupts in central Cairo

By the CNN Wire Staff
February 3, 2011 -- Updated 0352 GMT (1152 HKT)

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Digging up bricks to use as weapons

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Several wounded people are taken into Cairo square after new gunfire
• The Egyptian army can't stay on the sidelines, a foreign policy expert says
• An expert says the regime is likely orchestrating the unrest, paying "rent-a-thugs"
• State television reports 3 dead, 600-plus wounded

Follow live blogging on "This Just In" and the latest tweets from CNN correspondents from the protests. Send your video, images to CNN iReport.

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Heavy gunfire reverberated in central Cairo before dawn Thursday as supporters and foes of embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak continued to face off at Tahrir Square, where chunks of concretes and Molotov cocktails were employed as weapons in the escalating crisis.

CNN personnel saw wounded people being carried into Tahrir Square, largely held by anti-regime demonstrators, through an entrance that leads to the nearby Egyptian Museum. Several ambulances entered and left the square shortly before 4 a.m. Thursday.

The source of the gunfire was not immediately known.

Voices were heard chanting a prayer after a day of violent street battles in central Cairo.
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Gallery: Opposing factions clash in Cairo streets

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Egyptian military fights fires

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Protesters hurt in Tahrir Square

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Protesters bloodied in Cairo

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CNN reporter's narrow escape

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Shots fired, vehicles overturned

Sustained automatic weapons fire, including from what sounded like a heavy machine gun, echoed around the square, the epicenter of nine days of protests calling for Mubarak's ouster.

Anti-government demonstrators hunkered down behind makeshift barricades in the square and outside the nearby national museum against the onslaught, which demonstrators said included plainclothes police officers.

"They're coming in with weapons. They're spreading violence," human rights activist Gigi Ibrahim told CNN on Wednesday. "We've had peaceful protests here since Friday and no violence here. Only today were we faced with this really violent reaction."

The pro-government protesters were not impeded by the army when they entered the square, CNN's Ben Wedeman said early Thursday. Anti-regime protesters are now unhappy with troops, whose commanders had promised Monday not to use force against peaceful demonstrations, for standing by, he said.

Small fires burned in the square early Thursday, some spreading to trees and walls.

Egypt's health ministry reported three people were killed and 639 were wounded in Wednesday's clashes, according to the state television network. Reported fatalities in the previous eight days of demonstrations ranged as high as 300, but CNN has not been able to independently confirm the death toll.

In one surreal moment, whip-wielding Mubarak supporters thundered through the crowd astride horses and camels, and at least one man was pulled off his mount and beaten. A Mubarak supporter who spoke to CNN said the riders were pyramid workers who were protesting the negative economic impact of the crisis.

"What you are seeing is the demonstration of the real Egyptian people who are trying to take back their country, trying to take back their street," said businessman Khaled Ahmed, who described himself as "pro-Egyptian."

But some observers said the pro-Mubarak push Wednesday was likely orchestrated by a regime bent on breaking up peaceful demonstrations.

"These are tactics that are well-known in Egypt," Michele Dunne, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told CNN's John King.

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CNN crew attacked in Cairo

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Crowds turn violent in Tahrir Square

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Cairo streets turn to 'utter chaos'
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Watson: 'Casualties' in Cairo square

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At a glance: Nations facing unrest

Robert Kagan of the Brookings Institution said the "rent-a-thugs" were likely sanctioned and paid by the government. This is meant to create an image of chaos so the government can move in to restore order, he said.

"Mubarak has -- now, certainly, with the violence today, but even before that -- lost the confidence of the overwhelming number of the Egyptian people," Kagan said.

As night fell, the sound of gunfire reverberated in Tahrir Square, the name of which means "liberation" in Arabic. People hurled verbal insults, Molotov cocktails, rocks and anything else they could find -- shards of metal, sticks, shoes -- at one another.

Desperate for more ammunition, they dismantled sidewalks and picked up chunks of cement to throw. They beat each other in what rapidly spiraled into utter mayhem.

Hundreds of injured people were treated by doctors and medical staff, who turned to volunteers for assistance.

CNN iReporter Hunter Moore, 26, helped treat the wounded. The U.S. schoolteacher said Tuesday's crowds at Tahrir Square were mostly peaceful. "It went downhill really, really quickly" on Wednesday, he told CNN.

It was unclear whether such confrontations were being repeated elsewhere. Other Cairo neighborhoods were calm, and rallies in Egypt's second-largest city, Alexandria, were largely peaceful.

Mubarak's opponents had stood shoulder to shoulder in Tahrir Square to call for his immediate resignation in a massive rally on Tuesday. The 82-year-old president's announcement that night that he would spend the remaining seven months of his current term working to ensure a "peaceful transition of power" failed to satisfy them, and they vowed to keep up the pressure on him to resign.

The crisis has paralyzed the Egyptian economy, as the government has closed banks, idled trains and shuttered schools. Markets are running short of basic food staples, and the situation is hurting the ability of ordinary citizens to join the demonstrations, opposition activist Ziad Aly told CNN.

"We can't get enough bread. We can't get enough food supplies," he said.

Vice President Omar Suleiman reiterated the government stance that the people have been heard, that they should go home and that they should stop demonstrating. Protesters should respect the curfew and "enable people to return to their jobs and their daily lives, and to allow schools and universities to reopen," he said in a statement.

The state-run television network, Nile TV, sought to portray the unrest as a "foreign conspiracy" fueled by international journalists, several of whom -- including CNN's Anderson Cooper -- were attacked during Wednesday's clashes.

Despite reports that shots had been fired, Nile TV's reporters denied any shooting had taken place or even that violence had broken out in Tahrir Square. The network also said that members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood were heading to the square "to throw balls of fire and to start acts of riots and violence."

When asked if that were true, Mohamed Morsy, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, said the action came from all segments of the Egyptian people, "not the Muslim Brotherhood only."

Morsy told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that the time for change is now, not when Mubarak's term ends.

"We need a new era, a new regime," Morsy said. "We have a constitution."

Asked whether Suleiman could lead the government until new elections, Morsy said the head of the country's supreme court should fulfill that role.

In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said an end to violence was "imperative."

"It is our hope that what we saw today, we won't see tomorrow or Friday or into the weekend," he said.

But Mubarak's government bluntly told outsiders to mind their own business.

"Our interactions within our country are Egyptian affairs and nothing more than that," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said. Egypt "will continue to be a beacon of moderation and stability in our region," he said, but its people must settle their differences without "intervention from the outside."

Though Mubarak's concessions were large and remarkable for a man who has held a tight grip on power for three decades, it was too little, too late for many Egyptians.

"He is unfortunately going to continue the agony for another six or seven months," opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei said Tuesday night.

However, Mubarak supporter Waleed Tawfik told CNN that not all Egyptians agree that Mubarak should step down immediately.

"Change will not happen overnight. There's not a magical button for change. Change will take time," he said.

The Egyptian army can't sit on the sidelines too much longer, or it could risk unraveling, said a foreign policy expert.

The army needs to pick a course of action by Friday, when more mass protests are expected after prayers, Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, told CNN's "Parker Spitzer."

The Egyptian crisis is among the aftershocks of the revolt in Tunisia that forced that nation's longtime strongman to flee to Saudi Arabia in mid-January. In Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh -- who has been in office for 32 years -- said Wednesday he will not run for president nor hand over power to his son once his current term ends in 2013.

CNN's Ben Wedeman, Frederik Pleitgen, Ivan Watson, Tommy Evans, Saad Abedine, Hala Gorani, Amir Ahmed, Jomana Karadsheh and Arwa Damon contributed to this report

Yep, looks like they've gone the Thai route, except the Egyptian army/police left their uniforms at home; disgraceful, and almost certainly backed by the US(West?)...

This response just empowers the extremists even further... :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bettyboo

disgraceful, and almost certainly backed by the US

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Interesting fantasy. How so?

^ Egypt has been used/controlled/heavily influenced by France/Britain/US for many many decades... I can understand why they want to control the ME and the Canal, and why Egypt is so strategically important, can't you?

As many posters have stated, the current regime in Egypt has massive financial incentives from the US; money, as usual, as everywhere, is king... US money is paying for those molotov cocktails being thrown into the crowds; just as it did/does in Iran, Irazq Afganistan, Israel, the list goes on...

^ So you jump to the conclusion that the thugs attacking the protesters are being manipulated by US controllers? Rubbish. I don't think you have to look too much further than Mubaraks own security apparatus.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nigelandjan

Thanks for all the info and updates SD I do appreciate it mate I only just got in from work thanks.

What a differance a day makes !! this time yesterday it was all looking so much better , then bang arab hotheads you can never trust them .

One of my mates is going to Sharm el sheik this saturday fkin numpty ,, told him to come to the carribean with us in April

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Sharm el Sheik is fine right now - there's about 1,000 Egyptian military near there to make sure it doesn't kick off.

Most of the Egyptians there work in what is quite a lucrative tourism industry, so the last they they want is it all kicking off, and if the mullahs take over and ban alcohol then you can forget the tourism industry; the place will simply be full of shitty wahabi saudis leaving the place like a complete tip.

Right, things are getting very bad there again, lots of journalists are reported to be missing....

Tweets...

RT [at]MarkMardell: BBC reporter handcuffed and blindfolded by Egyptian secret police BBC News - BBC reporter in Cairo was handcuffed and blindfolded

UPDATE jounalists missing & arrested: 3 from #aljazeera , 2 from [at]nytimes , 2 from Globe & Mail, 4 Israeli journalists(via Arabeya) #Egypt

[at]REUTERSFLASH: Al Arabiya reports #Mubarak supporters storm hotels in #Cairo, chase journalists

BBCWorld BBC Global News
Egyptian Health Minister says 8 people have died so far and 890 have been injured, including 9 in a critical condition, in Cairo clashes

AJELive AJELive
Heavy gunfire heard on the streets of #Cairo. Live blog coverage of the events here: Live blog Feb 3 - Egypt protests | Al Jazeera Blogs #tahrir #jan25

Journotopia Andrew Marshall
"The end is near. Egypt needs you. Be heroes." Arrested blogger [at]Sandmonkey's latest (last?) blog post: Egypt, right now: by Sandmonkey (who is now out of jail) | Lisa Goldman

nytimesworld NYTimes World
Attacks on journalists widespread in #egypt. “The crews have never been as scared as they are now,” Al Arabiya news director tells us.

AJEnglish Al Jazeera English
Media in the line of fire in Egypt: Domestic and foreign journalists have come under siege amid the turmoil in Egypt. Media in the line of fire in Egypt - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Live blog Feb 3 - Egypt protests

By Al Jazeera Staff in

• Middle East

on February 2nd, 2011.

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From our headquarters in Doha, we keep you updated on all things Egypt, with reporting from Al Jazeera staff in Cairo, Alexandria, and Suez.

(All times are local in Egypt, GMT+2)

4:57pm Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian vice-president says that they "will release all the detainees that have not committed any act of violence". He also says that "the whole constitution is subject to change".

4:30pm Al Jazeera correspondents report that clashes continue between pro-democracy protesters and the Mubarak loyalists who are reported to have continuously instigated confrontations.

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4:15pm Group of 'thugs' just crashed through a phalanx of pro-democracy supporters shielding behind sheet metal on 6th of October bridge - soon after prime ministers promises that violence will not be repeated. No sign of army still.

4:10pm Ahmad Shafiq, the Egyptian prime minister, apologized, and vowed that violence will not be repeated on the streets of Egypt. Says an investigation will be launched into the violence, but calls for Mubarak to step down are "unacceptable".

4:06pm The tanks that were guarding the over-pass are now gone and most of the soldiers have pulled back from the battle lines. Tense stand off now between pro-democracy protesters and the Mubarak loyalists.

3:59pm Pro-democracy protesters have pushed forward their barricades about 20 metres and have taken over the 6th of October bridge and are moving towards Ramsey street.

3:45pm The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, said that security forces went into two human rights groups, Hisham Mubarak and the Egyptian center for social and economic rights, detained their employees and arrested two employees at the one organisation.

3:38pm Al Jazeera's web producer took this video an hour ago - it shows army firing in the air to prevent pro-democracy protesters from moving forward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWWC4uB2Ry4

3:27pm Egyptian PM live on Al Jazeera now - visit out Facebook page to watch live stream: Al Jazeera English | Facebook

3:25pm PJ Crowley, US Assistant Secretary of State, tweets that there is a campaign against journalists:

There is a concerted campaign to intimidate international journalists in #Cairo and interfere with their reporting. We condemn such actions.

3:21pm Video taken last night in Tahrir Square by Al Jazeera's web producer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85VoVMUOx0k

3:12pm Security forces order all journalist and reporters in and around Tahrir Square, as well as hotels overlooking it, to leave the area now.

3:00pm Man with camera who was wearing a blue "PRESS" vest just being beaten on the street. The army had to step in and fire shots in the air to disperse the crowd, and the man was led away.

2:42pm Two Al Jazeera reporters have just been attacked on their way from airport to central Cairo - more updates soon.

2:38pm Shahira Amin resigned from Nile TV because of their coverage of the protests - she spoke live to Al Jazeera. She was the deputy head of the station.

2:12 pm Some fifty people are wounded in clashes near Tahrir square, our correspondent reports.

2:04 pm According to an eye witness in Abdelmonaem Ryad square next to Tharir square Mubarak loyalists are preparing firebombs to attack protesters in the area. one of our correspondents saw one person carrying a whole box of them and making his way towards that area. He was apprehended by people and delivered to the army.

1:55 pm The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates Egypt's internet clampdown cost economy $90 million over five days.

1:44 pm The army has cleared the pro-Mubarak crowd off of the overpass overlooking the pro-democracy barricades.

1:36 pm The Egyptian army has pushed supporters of president Mubarak away from pro-democracy protesters, continuing its drive to separate the opposing camps who have clashed in central Cairo.

1:22 pm Inspired by Egypt and Tunisia, thousands of opponents of Yemen's government and its supporters are demonstrating in the capital and other cities a day after Yemen's president pledged not to seek another term in office.

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1:17 pm Supporters and opponents of president Mubarak are pelting each other with rocks near Tahrir square. A witness said the violence, the worst since daybreak, is taking place in a side street leading to the square.

Members of the pro-democracy protest camp are carrying sacks of rocks to the front line to repel the Mubarak loyalists. The violence erupted when men claiming loyalty to Mubarak marched on the pro-democracy demonstrators in an effort to break up their protest camp.

1:10 pm A massive demonstration in the Egyptian city of Mansoura calls for Mubarak to step down, a Al Jazeera correspondent reports.

1:04 pm The latest from one of our web producers at Tahrir square:

The army has formed a human chain in front of the pro-democracy barricades -- keeping the pro-Mubarak group away. Nobody can leave the square from the south, west or east, because on the other side is the pro-Mubarak group -- many of them carrying weapons -- they occasionally run towards the barricades, obviously trying to threaten the people on the other side.

Aside from the human chain, the army has a slightly more visible presence than it did earlier this morning -- a few soldiers on the streets -- though they're still quite outnumbered.

Still no sign of organized pro-Mubarak gangs heading toward Tahrir, just small groups of young men.

12:29 pm Catherine Ashton, EU foreign policy chief, called on the Egyptian army to protect people, Reuters reported.

I have made clear that it is the responsibility of the army and law enforcement to protect its citizens.

12:22 pm Twenty-two Hezbollah detainees that were convicted of plotting attacks against ships in the Suez Canal and Egyptian tourist sites, were able to escape from their jail in Egypt, Al Rai newspaper reports.

12:05 pm Egypt's finance minister says the loss on Egypt's stock exchange following the crisis now exceeds the one during credit crunch.

12:00 pm Prominent pro-democracy activist Mohamed ElBaradei and the Muslim Brotherhood rejected a call by the prime minister for talks saying president Mubarak must leave office first. Prime minister Ahmed Shafiq invited opposition groups to talks. Some groups have agreed, including the liberal, nationalist Wafd party, which is a legal party. The Brotherhood is banned.

11:39 am Egypt's cabinet denies that it had a role in mobilising Mubarak loyalists against pro-democracy protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square and said it would investigate those behind violence. Cabinet spokesman Magdy Rady said:

To accuse the government of mobilising this is a real fiction. That would defeat our object of restoring the calm. We were surprised with all these actions.

11:35 am Egyptian soldiers separated pro-democracy supporters and Mubarak loyalists in central Cairo, deploying infantry to create a buffer zone in an attempt to halt violence between them.

A Reuters journalist at the scene says the opposing camps are separated by a distance of some 80 metres. It is the first time the army acts decisively to halt the violence.

11:21 am A first-hand account from the blogger Sandmonkey:

This protest is not one made or sustained by the Muslim Brotherhood; it's one that had people from all social classes and religious background in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood only showed up on Tuesday, and even then they were not the majority of people there by a long shot.

11:19 am The latest from one of our web producers on Tahrir square:

Talked with several soldiers manning barricades around Tahrir Square -- said they have orders not to allow anyone else in, and to separate the pro-Mubarak and pro-democracy groups.

11:05 am In Yemen, tens of thousands of people square off in street protests for and against the government in an opposition-led "Day of Rage". The protests come a day after Yemen's president Ali Abdullah Saleh offered to step down in 2013. By early morning, anti-government activists drew more than 20,000 in Sanaa, the capital.

10:58 am Egypt's vice president Omar Suleiman held dialogue with the country's political parties and national forces.

10:37 am Comments many thought unthinkable at the time seem to have come true. This is a Amnesty International statement from 19 April 2010:

Amnesty International on Monday condemned comments by an Egyptian MP and member of the ruling party who urged the police to shoot protesters that have been calling for political reform over the last several weeks.

10:30 am Al Jazeera footage from Tahrir square overnight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-t3Gk7kqaE

10:22 am Reports from doctors on ground in Tahrir square say seven people were killed overnight, our correspondent says.

10:15 am Demonstrators in Tahrir Square in central Cairo are seen beating and scuffling with opposing protesters as clashes between pro- and anti-Mubarak crowds continue into their second day.

10:13 am Robert Fisk: Blood and fear in Cairo's streets as Mubarak's men crack down on protests

10:11 am Sixty-two Egyptian human rights organisations warned against internal violence in Egypt due president Mubarak’s insistence to stay in office.

The organisations said in a statement that they suspected the seriousness of what was announced by Mubarak’s decisions because they coincided with the attack on demonstrators in Tahrir Square.

9: 44 am No negotiation will be held with any member of Mubarak’s regime unless Mubarak leaves, Egypt's Kifaya (Enough) opposition movement, told Al Jazeera.

9: 43 am Hamdy Kandil, spokesperson for the Egyptian National Association for Change led by ElBaradei, has told Al Jazeera that Mubarak will be personally responsible if another "massacre" takes place in Tahrir Square.

9:36 am Anti-government protesters say they were more determined than ever to topple president Mubarak after supporters loyal to him charged Tahrir Square last night, sparking violence that killed five people.

Hundreds of people have camped in Tahrir Square overnight despite the violence. Many protesters guarded barricades around the square against pro-Mubarak loyalists.

9:33 am The Egyptian Movement for Change calls on the army to protect innocent protesters.

9:06 am Anti-Mubarak crowds have changed their chant, now saying: We want the murderer Mubarak to be hanged or tried.

9:04 am Pro-Mubarak crowds are planning to go back to Tahrir square in larger numbers today, one of our web producers reports from Cairo.

8:55 am Egypt's health minister, Ahmed Samih Farid confirms five people were killed in violence in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Most of the casualties were the result of stone throwing and attacks with metal rods and sticks. At dawn today there were gunshots. The real casualties taken to hospital were 836, of which 86 are still in hospital and there are five dead

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8:42 am Egyptian state TV says five people were killed and more than 800 wounded overnight in Tahrir square.

8:35 am Anti-government activist Alaa Abdel Fattah in Cairo tells Al Jazeera:

I don't know what comes next, but if we are willing to die for it, I don't think we can be defeated.

8:08 am Anti-government protesters and supporters of president Mubarak continue to throw stones at each other as the sun rises above Cairo.

8:02 am According to Foreign Policy magazine, Al Jazeera "is seizing the message away from the bland propaganda of Arab autocrats".

7:46am The US State Department revised its warning to US nationals in Egypt:

REVISION: US citizens WISHING to depart Egypt on USG flight should proceed to airport asap AFTER the morning end of curfew.

7:37 am Hundreds of anti-government protesters are making their way to Tahrir Square for the 10th day of demonstrations against president Mubarak.

7:29 am Egyptian military units are detaining some protestors at Abdel Munim Riyad square in Cairo. Not clear what side the protestors come from.

7:24 am Check this out. Human rights activist Ramy Raoof is providing regular video updates from Cairo with his phone camera via the website Bambuster.com.

7:15 am The US calls on its nationals in Egypt to leave the country.

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Egypt PM 'sorry' for violence - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Egypt PM 'sorry' for violence

Ahmad Shafiq promises not to allow street violence again, after clashes in Cairo left seven dead and hundreds wounded.

Last Modified: 03 Feb 2011 14:00 GMT

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Tensions are escalating on the streets of Egypt as pro-and anti-government demonstrators clash [AFP]

Ahmad Shafiq, the Egyptian prime minister, has apologised for the violence in the capital's Tahrir Square, and vowed that it will not be allowed to recur.

He made the comments on Thursday, after violent clashes in central Cairo between pro-democracy protesters and loyalists of Hosni Mubarak, the president, claimed at least seven lives and injured more than 800.

He added that an investigation will be launched into the violence.

Shafiq told reporters in a news conference that calls for Mubarak to step down are "unacceptable".

He did, however, say that dialogue with all opposition groups will begin.

Asked if this includes the Muslim Brotherhood, banned from political activities in Egypt, Shafiq said: "No one will be excluded from the dialogue."

Egypt's cabinet meanwhile, has denied that it had a role in mobilising supporters of Mubarak against pro-democracy protesters in Tahrir Square.

'Fiction'

"To accuse the government of mobilising this is a real fiction. That would defeat our object of restoring the calm," Magdy Rady, a cabinet spokesman told Reuters news agency.

"We were surprised with all these actions. The government will take the measures it can to identify who was behind this and try to deal with this."

Rady also said that the army, sent to the streets after police lost control of protests, had not intervened because it could have been interpreted as taking sides.

"There is faction here and faction there, they [the army] cannot take a side. If they interfere in one side that will defeat their purpose. It would complicate matters more than helping it," Rady said.

Egypt has been in turmoil since last week with pro-democracy activists pressing on Mubarak to immediately step down.

Media in the line of fire in Egypt - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Media in the line of fire in Egypt

Domestic and foreign journalists have come under siege amid the turmoil in Egypt.

Al Jazeera's online producer Last Modified: 03 Feb 2011 13:34 GMT

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As the situation intensifies in Egypt, journalists are increasingly targeted [AFP]

Journalists in Egypt – domestic and foreign – are increasingly under siege, with Egyptian authorities detaining reporters and gangs of young men roaming the streets looking for anyone with camera equipment.

Some of the pressure has come from the government: Six Al Jazeera journalists were detained for several hours earlier this week, and while they were eventually released, their equipment remains with the police.

Two New York Times reporters were reportedly arrested – or "taken into protective custody", as the government termed it.

Spotters stand outside many hotels, watching balconies with high-powered binoculars. When they see balconies with camera equipment or photographers, they use radios to call in the details.

Egyptian police sources say that information from those spotters has been used to conduct several raids on journalists’ hotel rooms in recent days.

And the government has reportedly pressured several hotels not to extend the reservations of foreign journalists.

But most of the intimidation and violence has come from unofficial sources: Young men loiter outside the hotels where many reporters are staying, shouting at (and sometimes attacking) anyone with equipment.

Hotel lobbies are filled with journalists and camera crews wearing bandages, and many have been restricted to watching the events in Tahrir Square from their hotel balconies.

Egyptian state television has actively tried to foment the unrest by reporting that "Israeli spies" have infiltrated the city – which explains why many of the gangs who attack reporters shout "yehudi!" (“Jew!”).

The area around Tahrir Square has become a virtual no-go zone for camera crews, which were assaulted on Wednesday almost as soon as they entered the area controlled by supporters of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Several of them were mistaken for Al Jazeera crews, and were chased off by young men wielding sticks and chanting, "Jazeera! Jazeera!".

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper said his crew was also assaulted on Tuesday night after being mistaken for an Al Jazeera crew.

A reporter for the Al Arabiya network was kidnapped for several hours during Wednesday’s protest.

The violence has come exclusively from the Mubarak supporters: There have been no reports of pro-democracy demonstrators attacking or intimidating the media.

Egyptian journalists, too, have been the victims of angry mobs, all of them affiliated with the pro-Mubarak crowd. Sarah El Sirgany, an editor with the Daily News Egypt, tweeted that her brother was assaulted while trying to protect a group of reporters attacked by an angry mob.

An Al Jazeera reporter was held at knifepoint by a group of young men on Thursday morning. One man’s face was still bloodied from the previous night’s fighting.

Bloggers, too, have become targets: The popular Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey has reportedly been arrested (it’s unclear by who).

[at]SultanAlQassemi: Al Arabiya Breaking: Amnesty International confirms that some of its employees were arrested in Cairo

[at]lrozen: Bipartisan group of former US officials, scholars calls on U.S. to freeze military aid to Egypt. Egypt working group: Freeze U.S. military aid to Egypt - Laura Rozen - POLITICO.com

#egypt.. Protesters have brought in thousands more to tahrir.. Setting up barricades .. Seem readying for battle

BBCWorld BBC Global News
Heavy gunfire heard in Abdel Monem Riyad Square in downtown Cairo

Egypt vice president: President Mubarak's son Gamal won't seek presidency - state television PM apologizes for attack on Egypt protesters - World news - Mideast/N. Africa - msnbc.com

[at]iDeskCNN: Numerous news outlets -- including the BBC, ABC News and CNN -- reported members of their staffs had been attacked #jan25

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...#ixzz1Cv4NE9F1

After the Euphoria: Walking the Paranoid Streets of Cairo

By Rania Abouzeid / Cairo
Thursday, Feb. 03, 2011

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Military personnel try to calm pro-Mubarak supporters shouting at opposition demonstrators in Tahrir Square in Cairo February 3, 2011.
Suhaib Salem / Reuters

The giddiness that reigned over Cairo last week is gone. On Thursday, there is a palpable change in the streets of many areas of the capital, including the upper middle-class neighborhood of Mohandaseen. Most stores in the area remain shuttered. There are long lines at ATM machines. Traffic is sparse. A professionally printed plastic banner showing President Hosni Mubarak with the words "yes, yes to the president" hangs from a roundabout along the main street.

I was in Mohandaseen on Friday, Jan. 28, walking alongside thousands of men, women and children who braved wave upon wave of tear gas and police batons to demand democracy. The residents of the multi-storey buildings lining the main street cheered and clapped, encouraging the protesters below and participating in their witty chants. Later, when the anti-riot police fired tear gas into the crowds, many of these same residents provided water, tissues, vinegar, and other supplies to the choking, coughing masses below. (Read "The Fighting Rages On in Tahrir Square.")

But it is nearly a week since then. It is two days after the massive March of Millions that shook the regime and forced Mubarak to say he would not seek reelection. And it is a day after pro-regime thugs stormed into Tahrir Square, the focal point of the peaceful anti-government protests, sparking fierce clashes that continued well into Wednesday night and left at least five dead and well over 850 wounded.

Today, Mohandaseen, like many parts of Cairo, feels like so many other cowed Arab capitals, frightened into submission. Many people are too afraid to speak. "I'm sorry, I can't talk to you," a young 20-something woman who gives her name as Fatima tells me. She is at a local supermarket, buying water. "It's too dangerous, I'm too scared." Scared of what? I ask her. "I don't know who you are. You could be mukhabarat," she says, using the Arabic word for secret police. (Watch a video about the revolt in Egypt.)

Autocratic Arab regimes, especially when embattled, are brutally adept at stoking the currency that underpins their rule: fear. Egypt's is proving to be no different. It's a familiar formula. People can have either freedom or security, but rarely they are told, can they have both. The marchers wanted freedom. Egypt's government wants a return to the status quo — making it clear only it can assure security.

State TV has been broadcasting reports that the unrest is the work of Israelis, Palestinian members of Hamas and Lebanese Hizballah members, among others, conspiracies reinforced by low-level Mubarak party members interviewed on the station. An Arabic SMS message urging people to "kill the foreigners" has also been making the rounds.

"You're not safe here," Fatima tells me before scurrying away, convinced by my Lebanese Arabic that I was not a local secret police officer. "Please leave for your own good."

I walk toward an Egyptian teahouse along a side street. Half-a-dozen young men sit on green plastic chairs smoking water pipes. The scent of apple tobacco fills the air. Mohammad, 19, an engineering student, sips sweet tea out of a glass. "Every word these days can be dangerous," he says. "People are afraid, they don't believe that Mubarak will leave. It's a very difficult situation and I don't know what the solution is."

Three of his friends from high school listen intently, but none dare speak. "I'm not with anyone," Mohammad says, "but we're entering dangerous days." "Where is your ID?" one of his friends suddenly asks me. "We want to see it. Where are you really from? How do we know that you are a journalist?" (See TIME's exclusive pictures of the Egyptian unrest.)

"Please, we don't want to talk politics here" a mustachioed waiter, carrying several glasses of tea on an aluminum tray, tells the young men. "We don't want any trouble." He pulls me aside apologetically. "I'm sorry, but it's hard for us to speak at the moment."

I make my way back out into the neighborhood, past a church. I meet a middle-aged man, Youssef, who relaxes once he hears my non-Egyptian Arabic accent. "We're very scared, we don't know what will happen," he says. "As a Christian, I feel caught in the middle. Either way, we lose because we have no political power and now the Muslim Brotherhood is gaining strength. These are not good days for us." (Read "The Young Revolutionaries of Egypt.")

Young thuggish-looking men are stopping passersby in vehicles asking them for identification. At several of these makeshift checkpoints, they are joined, and directed by uniformed police officers. I get into a cab to head back to my hotel but am shortly stopped at a checkpoint. Half a dozen screaming men want to see my identification. I give them my Lebanese ID. It isn't enough. A policeman demands my passport, an Australian document, which he leafs through carefully, before interrogating me for 15 minutes.

There's an arrogance, a swagger, exhibited by these pro-Mubarak neighborhood groups that wasn't there just a few days ago. "We don't want you in Egypt," the officer says. His voice is full of menace. He stares at the red welt above my left eye, a chemical burn due to tear gas. "I hope that an Egyptian did that to you," he says. "It's a shame it isn't bigger. Now leave this place and our country. The only thing you need to know is that we are all with Mubarak," he says. "We don't want you here."

nytimesworld NYTimes World

Both Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya say they are currently unable to provide live images of Tahrir Square #egypt

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blo...uck-al-jazeera

Footage of reported army truck strikes protesters8:28 p.m. EET / 12:28 p.m. EST

Al Jazeera links to

footage








on YouTube that seems to show a police truck racing through a crowded street and running over protesters. Warning: the footage is graphic.

Live blog Feb 3 - Egypt protests | Al Jazeera Blogs

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From our headquarters in Doha, we keep you updated on all things Egypt, with reporting from Al Jazeera staff in Cairo, Alexandria, and Suez.

(All times are local in Egypt, GMT+2)

7:44pm Call to free Al Jazeera journalists - Three Al Jazeera journalists have been detained by Egyptian security forces and another is reported missing.

7:22pm Vice president Suleiman to Egyptian TV, (not naming Qatar or Al Jazeera):

I blame some sister countries that have unfriendly TV stations, which incite youth against us.

7:00pm Vice president Suleiman speaking on Al Jazeera now - click here to watch live: Al Jazeera English: Live Stream - Watch Now - Al Jazeera English

The military started to separate the two groups when they entered tahrir Square and they are now separating them.

6:53pm Tomorrow's demonstrations against the Israeli Separation Wall in the occupied West Bank villages of Bil'in, Ni'lin, Nabi Saleh and Al-Ma'sara will be in solidarity with the Egyptian people. Those demonstrations usually take place after Friday prayers.

6:50pm Keith Ellison, a US member of Congress, calls Mubarak a dictator in his latest tweet:

Mubarak's repression is revealing true colors of dictatorship. Violence. Abuse. Silencing media. Showing what Egyptians have known for yrs.

6:42pm Picture of the barricades that were set up today by pro-democracy demonstrators in Cairo. (Source)

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6:40pm Clashes between Lebanese military and protesters who staged a solidarity protest in Beirut, after they tried to storm the Egyptian embassy while chanting "Mubarak must go".

6:29pm When discussing the Mubarak government's accountability, Human Rights Watch spokesman Joe Stork tells Al Jazeera: "I wouldn't focus so much on the army per se - but on the responsibility of the government...It's not clear that when the military forces fired [earlier today] they were firing at the protesters. They may have been firing to provide cover. The army's role has been very ambiguous and very passive but reflects the criminal negligence of the government."

6:24pm An Al Jazeera correspondent just Tweeted: Small clash breaking out on 6th of October bridge; a handful of pro-Mubarak thugs are throwing rocks. #jan25 #egypt

6:22pm We're seeing wire reports of significant anti-Mubarak demonstrations at the Egyptian embassy in Beirut late this afternoon. More than 100 protesters clashed with Lebanese police after trying to break through a security cordon and enter the building. No arrests or injuries were reported, but police were using batons and rifle butts to push away the crowds. Army troops were then brought in to reinforce the police lines. Many of the protesters were holding up portraits of the late Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser.

6:16pm One of Al Jazeera's correspondents near Tahrir Square says:

People are hurling petrol bombs down at the crowds below, and you can see small fires breaking out...It's difficult to determine who is who and which supporters belong to which group. We were also hearing a string of gunshots and seeing flares fired into the air - we assume by the military.

6:11pm Egypt's Health Ministry says that 13 people were killed and 1,200 injured in last night's clashes between pro- and anti-government demonstrators.

5:56pm A Greek journalist was stabbed while covering the events in Tahrir Square.

5:51pm Hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy protesters continue to defy the curfew in Alexandri and are calling for Mubarak to step down. People are chanting: "Erhal, Erhal" ("Leave, Leave"). There are a mixture of people, men, woman old and young in the crowd.

5:42pm Al Jazeera continues to bring you the latest from Cairo, Alexandria and the rest of Egypt. To watch live, please visit Al Jazeera English: Live Stream - Watch Now - Al Jazeera English

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5:38pm Video shot by Al Jazeera online producer when pro-democracy protesters completely broke through the Mubarak loyalists. However, the regime loyalists have now regained their position as night fell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N-BeWlvhsw

5:32pm Al Jazeera shows dramatic picture of a police vehicle running over protesters.

5:31pm Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian vice president, has said that president Mubarak and his son Gamal will not run for presidency.

5:30pm Video clip from Al Jazeera English showing the latest violence in the battle for Egypt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUxXPrhiDks

5:24pm Egypt bans ex-ministers from travel - Three former ministers and a prominent businessman also have their bank accounts frozen.

5:19pm Media in the line of fire in Egypt - Al Jazeera's online producer reports on how domestic and foreign journalists have come under siege amid the turmoil in Egypt.

5:16pm Egypt's Central Bank has imposed restrictions on the amount of cash that people are allowed to withdraw.

5:12pm Three Al Jazeera journalists have been arrested. Many others are in their hotel and say that there is a strong military presence outside.

5:08pm A few pro-democracy protesters have been injured by shooting in Tahrir Square. Still not clear who fired. More updates to follow.

BlogPost - Egypt news day 10: Army steps in; journalists arrested and more live updates

Suleiman denies any government role in violence

7:14 p.m. EET / 12:14 p.m. EST

Newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman went on Egyptian state television to deny any government role in Wednesday's violence. He said the protests have been fueled by foreigners, the Muslim Brotherhood, and businessmen. He also said that he has invited the Muslim Brotherhood to speak, elections would be held in August or September, and he would not seek the presidency.

Earlier on Thursday, Ahmed Shafiq, the new Egyptian prime minister, went on state television and pushed back against President Obama's Tuesday statement that a transition to a representative government "must begin now." According to Dubai-based news channel Al Arabiya, Shafiq said:

'Now' should not be given as an order to Egypt. President Mubarak should leave the presidency in an honorable way. He is leaving anyway within the coming few months, so there is no means for the 'now' orders.

just on the tv news now -
' British' Egyptian filth....
how many passports did we hand out ?