Friend or foe? Egypt’s army keeps protesters guessing

Uncertainty underlined by a visit made by President Hosni Mubarak to generals, supposedly to ‘review’ security It began with a growing roar that the crowd felt before they saw them: two sharp, banking shapes sweeping so low over Cairo’s Tahrir Square that the engine flames were visible. It was a noise that made the demonstrators duck, a deafening wall of sound as two Egyptian air force F-16s buzzed the central Cairo square that has become the symbolic centre of opposition to the three-decades-long regime of President Hosni Mubarak. For the first time the army swamped the streets with tanks, a squadron of them trying to push into the square, stopped by an at first angry crowd who sat down in front of them, fearing the army – once seen as their allies – might try and retake the square. The jets and helicopters making the deafening low sweeps over the crowd were an apparent attempt to intimidate the tens of thousands who had gathered for the sixth day running. The assertion of authority by the military, who were initially welcomed by the protesters when armoured vehicles first appeared on the streets last Friday night, has become more complicated in the last 24 hours, with many saying they were becoming suspicious of where the army stood. That uncertainty was underlined by a visit made by Mubarak to army chiefs, supposedly to “review” security in the country after persistent attacks by protesters on the interior ministry, seat of his police state. What was abundantly clear was that after a night of gunfire and violence, where Cairo residents armed themselves against gangs of looters in their neighbourhoods, and thousands of prisoners escaped from the jails, Egypt awoke to the first indications that the army was moving to take control. “First we trusted them, and now we don’t trust them so much any more,” said Mohamed Ali, 67, who was standing in front of the tanks. Sherif Gaber, 43, the owner of a contracting company who had been in the square overnight, agreed. “They’re trying to frighten people. The army are supposed to be our saviour,” he said. “What are they doing here today?” “This terrorism,” said Ashraf Subayi, a 35-year-old physician. “Do you think something like this could happen in a European country? We will stay here, even if we have to die.” As the sun set, however, the crowds swelled and protests were reinvigorated. Mohamed ElBaradei – the Nobel peace laureate whom opposition movements want to lead a transitional government – addressed the crowd by megaphone, promising “change in the coming days” and demanding the unequivocal end of Mubarak’s regime. “You have taken back your rights. What has been done cannot be undone. We are entering a new era.” ElBaradei’s arrival in the square was largely met with approval by protesters, thousands of whom surged forward to try to hear his words. A few people were critical, yelling “This is our revolution, not yours” at the 68-year-old, but they were shouted down. “The people are escalating their demands, calling for Mubarak to be put on trial,” said Nour, the son of prominent Egyptian dissident Ayman Nour. “There’s a problem with some political figures and forces who are coming in late to these demonstrations, trying to ride the wave. But despite that, we’re very optimistic. This display of social solidarity we’re seeing – people cleaning the streets, feeding each other, protecting strangers they’ve never met – is unique, not only to Egypt but also the rest of the world.” The events in the square had followed a no less extraordinary period the night before, where at the interior ministry protesters had fought pitched battles with riot police and state central security officers, tossing fire bombs from roofs while police responded with live rounds. There were fatalities. But by morning there, too, the army was in control. At 4.30am, 20 officers were seen leaving the building and burning their uniforms and 20 police vehicles fled in convoy at 7am. Hassan Samir, 27, an antiques gallery owner whose apartment block overlooks the ministry, said: “They left at 7am in cars and vans, firing out of the windows. There had been snipers on the roof the night before. Since they left there has not been any more firing.” The consequences of the fighting were horribly visible in a nearby mosque, which had been turned into a makeshift aid station for the dead and wounded. It was little more than a narrow passage between two tall buildings, but it had been transformed into a hospital, with blood soaking through the prayer mats and the muezzin’s microphone, normally used to send out the call to prayer, pressed into use by an imam shouting instructions to the medics. Occasionally he prayed. “The police have been shooting at these people with live fire,” explained Dr Mona Mina, a paediatrician who had travelled across the city to answer an urgent call for medical assistance on Saturday night. “I came down four hours ago, and I’ve seen six deaths here today – mostly from penetration wounds, but one was from gas suffocation.” As she spoke, a commotion broke out in the doorway and a heavily bleeding child was carried in. On the white columns of the mosque, volunteers had taped IV drips and hung carpets to give a little privacy to the injured, while bystanders joined hands to stop those being treated on the floor from being jostled. A man in his early thirties lay in the middle of one group, screaming, his shirt pulled up to show a small, ugly puncture on the right side of his stomach below his rib cage. A surgeon, still wearing his suit, was pulling out a fragment of metal with a forceps. “See this,” the doctor said, holding it up. “Do you see this? They are shooting people with live rounds.” Another volunteer brought over a handful of .22 calibre shell casings. In a corner of the mosque, another man screamed as iodine was swabbed on to his knee, punctured by a piece of buckshot. A young woman, inconsolable, fell into a faint after being told that her husband had been killed. “Please don’t stay here,” a volunteer implored. “It is too dangerous.” With the police who had done the shooting gone and no more in sight, army vehicles set up checkpoints on the main roads, stopping vehicles crossing one of the key Nile bridges and searching pedestrians entering Tahrir Square. Egypt Middle East Protest Peter Beaumont Jack Shenker guardian.co.uk

Posted by on January 30, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry