Live updates and discussion from the Egyptian uprising which began on 25 January 2011.
From the Egyptian Chronicles blog...
http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/01/jan25-is-getting-serious.html
Quote:
The January 25th protest is getting serious attention more and more. More Facebook pages and groups are calling for the #25 Jan and more political groups are going to participate in the huge event "They are about 17 groups".Many are praying that it be the start of a new thing in Egypt. Now if you are interested in following the protest on twitter to know its updates then follow this hash tag (#Jan25)Surprisingly “Salafist movement for reform” aka “HAFS” has announced that it will participate in the event , this is the first time a Salafist movement participates in something like this considering the Salafist believes and teachings. I have my fear and my suspicion which I will keep it to myself. I know that this particular movement has its political believes still ....
The Mahalla workers will participate too , you may remember how they made their own day on the 6th April from couple of years ago.
Another huge surprise or even change in this protest is its location in Cairo and Giza, it is no longer Down town or Nile corniche but rather at the famous Gamaat Al Doul street in Mohendessin , the heart of the middle class in Giza !! The other places are : Cairo university in Giza , Dawaran Shubra and Dawaran Al Mataria in Cairo.
The NDP will participate too , of course in pro-regime protests of love …etc. May be this will be a showdown between the regime and the opposition , the real opposition in Egypt on who has got the word in the street. There are rumors that the MOI will launch its thugs to create chaos and violence , all what I know for sure is that the police will not enjoy their holiday because they will have to work. Personally I think the regime will let that day pass peacefully in order not to push the people in to another degree of anger , the world is now watching the Arab countries post-Tunisian revolution in an anticipation.
The Egyptians in London are going to protest next Sunday January 23, 2011 at 1 PM in front of the Egyptian embassy in London , if you are there and interested in joining them then here is the Egyptian embassy address : 26 South Street, Westminster, London W1K 1DW. There will be also insh Allah a protest in Bologna , Italy. It will be held on the 23rd of January at 12 PM at Piazza del Nettuno. Also on Sunday there will be a protest held at 1 PM in front of the Egyptian mission to the UN HQ in New York at at 304 East 44th Street. Now it will not be the last capital in the world that will witness a protest in front of the Egyptian embassy or mission on that coming Sunday because there will be a protest in our embassy in Madrid at 1 PM too.
Our great Tunisian brothers are going to protest in solidarity with the Egyptian people in front of the Egyptian embassy next January 25, 2011. Also our dear Jordanian brothers are going to protest inn front of the Egyptian embassy next January 25 ,2011. Our brothers in Yemen sent a solidarity email to the admin of “We are all Khaled Said” page.
Just like El General in Tunisia the Egyptian rap singers and bands are making songs for the #Jan25 just like this one by rapper Ahmed Rock.There are lots of video clips on YouTube made by activists to encourage the people to participate in the protest of #Jan25.
Can comment on articles and discussions
Comments
I've never seen such a hopeless press conference as the current White House press briefing. The structure of regimes in the Middle East that the US has supported since the Iranian Revolution is collapsing before our eyes and these clowns don't even know what to say, and yet are prepared to have a press conference to broadcast that fact to the world. The following tweet reported on the Guardian stream just about sums it up:
not with a bang, but a whimper...
Video from earlier today
The CEMB thread is also worth following
...and I've got back in and I'm struggling to make sense of the days events all over again.
Re the effect of the internet shutdown - I caught part of a phone interview this afternoon on BBC news with a random office worker in Cairo. He said he turned up at the office this morning and was sent home as without the internet there was no work to do. So he went to Friday prayers and then joined the protests.
From the Guardian live updates:
From the liveblog:
More from the liveblog
So Mubarak basically said "I'm gonna fire all my underlings and crack protester skulls."
So that was Mubarak addressing the nation. He's sacked the cabinet (big whup) but is intent on ploughing on. They don't call him the rhinocerous for nothing. But this changes bugger all, essentially.
From the Guardian live updates
There are at least two possibilities for the outcome I see here.
1. The protesters win. The streets don't quiet down for months as whoever gets to Mubarak first tries to figure out how to form a new government. Either there will be a new dictator who won't last long, or a bourgeois "democracy" will be put in place that tries to accommodate the other parties in an uneasy compromise.
2. Mubarak wins and becomes even more dictatorial. His regime collapses within 10 years. We've seen that pattern in Yugoslavia, after the Croatian Spring.
Weapons seized from ransacked police stations in Suez and elsewhere. Masses stoning army convoys in Cairo. Price of Oil approaching $100 pb. Dow Jones down by nearly 200 points. Ha ha.
From the liveblog
On twitter - a tip for the next domino to fall?
Obama gave a speech on the Egyptian thing a few seconds ago. He basically said "We will work with Mubarak against dictatorship," a statement as ridiculous as it is typical of Obama. So you're going to work with a dictator...against dictatorship? Al Jazeera says that Obama's supposed "phone conversation" with Mubarak didn't happen until AFTER he mentioned it in the speech, since the Press Secretary was asked about whether they had been in phone contact before the speech and he kind of sidestepped the question.
Also on twitter
Rafah is on the border with Gaza. This point was made on the angryarab blog earlier in the day:
Photos
From the liveblog
On twitter in the last hour or so
Egypt's security and armed forces: The deciding factor (BBC)
From the liveblog
As night falls in Egypt families begin looking for missing loved ones
Found this account here interesting, even though she puts it in terms of reclaiming "our country":
Thing that gets me about all these very moving spine tingling events is the incredible pace of them - who would have thought this could happen on Tuesday morning?
a few MSM notes:
- NBC's man in cairo points out that the tear gas canisters being fired are labelled 'made in USA' and that this has not gone unnoticed; the muslim brotherhood is getting on board and this is a source of fear among the demonstrators; ex-defense sec'y cohen and current v.p. biden both spoke in support of mubarak
- ITN's man (via PBS here in the states) thinks there's 'too much leadership' among the demonstrators and there's no-one to treat with mubarak, though el baradei is a reformer, hence 'reasonable'
This little item just caught my eye:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2011/01/201112991712140318.html
China has blocked the word "Egypt'' from the country's wildly popular Twitter-like service, while coverage of the political turmoil has been tightly restricted in state media.
China's ruling Communist Party is sensitive to any potential source of social unrest.
A search for "Egypt'' on the Sina microblogging service brings up a message saying, "According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, the search results are not shown".
The service has more than 50 million users.
News on the Egypt protests has been limited to a few paragraphs and photos buried inside major news websites, but China Central Television had a report on its midday broadcast.
China's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment Saturday on the events in Egypt.
Source: Associated Press
AJ just reported that salt workers in Suez have gone on strike 'until Mubarak resigns'.
According to latest French national news, Mubarak's 10-storey ruling party HQ in Cairo is on fire, a supermarket in the 'banlieux' (working class outskirts) of Cairo has been looted, and there are no cops on the streets!!! (prelude to the army preparing a massacre, a coup, a mutiny or.......what???)
It sounds like the cops got completely routed in some areas (although not Cairo) yesterday. I could imagine them staying at home and licking wounds today, but no cops at all sounds a bit ominous of something.
Riot cop getting a kiss from a protester http://twitpic.com/3uhaj1
There's no context (apart from the 'just doing their job' caption), so hard to tell if this was just a photo-op or fraternisation and part of the trend of riot police quitting.
I didn't catch where but the BBC reported at 11 o'clock today that a steel works had been on strike for two days and voted today on an indefinite strike.
Al Jazeera's Liveblog for today
the more interesting parts: