Egypt protesters defy tanks and teargas to make the streets their own
• Reports of several killed in battles with authorities • Army sent in as police give up on Hosni Mubarak’s curfew Insurrectionary protests spread from the capital across Egypt today, convulsing the cities of Suez and Alexandria as protesters engaged in running battles with the police, setting fire to buildings and vehicles. Tonight the military moved into both cities as people defied a curfew imposed across the entire country. A number of people were reportedly killed, although no deaths have been confirmed. Eighty thousand people were said to be on the streets of Port Said, at the mouth of the Suez canal. There was fighting between protesters and the police, and a witness said a teenage girl had been killed. Echoes of the extraordinary protests were seen in Jordan, where thousands of people demanded political change in the capital, Amman. Trade unionists calling for political and economic reform joined a protest organised by an Islamic group. In the strategically important industrial Egyptian city of Suez, thousands of protesters demanding the end of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime overwhelmed police and set fire to a police station, Reuters reported. Police were forced to abandon eight trucks in the face of advancing demonstrators armed with stones and rocks. Tanks were reported to be on the streets after darkness fell. A witness told Reuters that dozens of protesters had climbed on at least five tanks to try to talk to soldiers, who opened fire. Molotov cocktails were thrown as hundreds of people remained on the streets despite the curfew, according to al-Jazeera. Protesters gained control of Suez’s central square by mid-afternoon, the TV station said. “The police have been quite comprehensively defeated by the power of the people,” said their reporter in the city, Jamal Elshayyal. Earlier, a 30-year-old protester, named by witnesses as Hamada Labib, was reportedly shot dead. At least one person was reported to have been killed in Alexandria. According to Rawya Rageh of al-Jazeera, a bloodstained body was carried aloft by protesters chanting: “There is no God but God.” As in Suez, police had lost the control of the city by mid-afternoon, the reporter said. But after dark Rageh reported that soldiers had arrived in armoured personnel carriers. She said she could hear the sound of gunfire. Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, sent a series of dispatches from Alexandria during the course of the day. Protesters left a mosque in the city calling for peaceful action, he said. “They were immediately attacked by police in an armoured car firing teargas. Fierce clashes started then, with exchanges of rock-throwing. About 200 police faced about 1,000 protesters. The clashes lasted for nearly two hours.” A larger crowd appeared from another direction, said Bouckaert. “Police tried to hold them back with teargas and rubber bullets, but they were finally overwhelmed. Then the police just gave up, at about the time of afternoon prayers. Protesters gave water to police and talked to them. It was all peaceful. Hundreds of protesters were praying in the street.” The centre of the city was packed “as far as we can see, people shouting slogans against Mubarak and his son Gamal … It is a very festive atmosphere. Women in veils, old men, children, I even saw a blind man being led. And there are no police anywhere.” The wave of protests also reached smaller cities in Egypt, the Egyptian Association for Change said, adding that offices of the ruling National Democratic party had been destroyed in Dumya/Daniette, 131 miles north-east of Cairo, and al-Mansoura, 90 miles north-east of the capital. The protesters included men, women and children, young and old, and from the middle classes as well as the urban poor. In Cairo, some waved from balconies or threw water bottles to the crowd, as well as onions, which can be used to protect against the effects of teargas. Horns blared in support from cars and motorbikes. Among the thousands who took part in the protests were doctors in white coats, students and professors, hotel workers and shopkeepers. “I’m here because I support it,” said Dr Muhamad Fakhri, a 52-year-old university professor outside the mosque where the march began. “I don’t support any of the opposition leaders. All I want is reform. I’m here because I can see Egyptian people have reached the moment when they must choose. Because people are crushed by the prices of food, because of unemployment, because people should have freedom and democracy. I came to express my opinion against what I believe this government is doing wrong.” A middle-aged employee of a large charity, who requested not to be identified, said: “The reason I am here is to join the revolution. I think the government will fall. I’m really hopeful.” The unrest in Egypt was fuelled by the overthrow two weeks ago of Tunisia’s president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Protests have continued there, and also spread to Yemen. Syria was reported to have imposed restrictions on internet access. Blogs and Twitter have played a key role in the organisation of protests in the Middle East over recent weeks. Despite Egypt’s limited internet penetration, Facebook has been “the main actor”, says Khalid al-Aman, a political analyst at Durham University. Egypt Middle East Protest Peter Beaumont Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk
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on January 28, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News.
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Egypt protesters defy tanks and teargas to make the streets their own
• Reports of several killed in battles with authorities • Army sent in as police give up on Hosni Mubarak’s curfew Insurrectionary protests spread from the capital across Egypt today, convulsing the cities of Suez and Alexandria as protesters engaged in running battles with the police, setting fire to buildings and vehicles. Tonight the military moved into both cities as people defied a curfew imposed across the entire country. A number of people were reportedly killed, although no deaths have been confirmed. Eighty thousand people were said to be on the streets of Port Said, at the mouth of the Suez canal. There was fighting between protesters and the police, and a witness said a teenage girl had been killed. Echoes of the extraordinary protests were seen in Jordan, where thousands of people demanded political change in the capital, Amman. Trade unionists calling for political and economic reform joined a protest organised by an Islamic group. In the strategically important industrial Egyptian city of Suez, thousands of protesters demanding the end of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime overwhelmed police and set fire to a police station, Reuters reported. Police were forced to abandon eight trucks in the face of advancing demonstrators armed with stones and rocks. Tanks were reported to be on the streets after darkness fell. A witness told Reuters that dozens of protesters had climbed on at least five tanks to try to talk to soldiers, who opened fire. Molotov cocktails were thrown as hundreds of people remained on the streets despite the curfew, according to al-Jazeera. Protesters gained control of Suez’s central square by mid-afternoon, the TV station said. “The police have been quite comprehensively defeated by the power of the people,” said their reporter in the city, Jamal Elshayyal. Earlier, a 30-year-old protester, named by witnesses as Hamada Labib, was reportedly shot dead. At least one person was reported to have been killed in Alexandria. According to Rawya Rageh of al-Jazeera, a bloodstained body was carried aloft by protesters chanting: “There is no God but God.” As in Suez, police had lost the control of the city by mid-afternoon, the reporter said. But after dark Rageh reported that soldiers had arrived in armoured personnel carriers. She said she could hear the sound of gunfire. Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, sent a series of dispatches from Alexandria during the course of the day. Protesters left a mosque in the city calling for peaceful action, he said. “They were immediately attacked by police in an armoured car firing teargas. Fierce clashes started then, with exchanges of rock-throwing. About 200 police faced about 1,000 protesters. The clashes lasted for nearly two hours.” A larger crowd appeared from another direction, said Bouckaert. “Police tried to hold them back with teargas and rubber bullets, but they were finally overwhelmed. Then the police just gave up, at about the time of afternoon prayers. Protesters gave water to police and talked to them. It was all peaceful. Hundreds of protesters were praying in the street.” The centre of the city was packed “as far as we can see, people shouting slogans against Mubarak and his son Gamal … It is a very festive atmosphere. Women in veils, old men, children, I even saw a blind man being led. And there are no police anywhere.” The wave of protests also reached smaller cities in Egypt, the Egyptian Association for Change said, adding that offices of the ruling National Democratic party had been destroyed in Dumya/Daniette, 131 miles north-east of Cairo, and al-Mansoura, 90 miles north-east of the capital. The protesters included men, women and children, young and old, and from the middle classes as well as the urban poor. In Cairo, some waved from balconies or threw water bottles to the crowd, as well as onions, which can be used to protect against the effects of teargas. Horns blared in support from cars and motorbikes. Among the thousands who took part in the protests were doctors in white coats, students and professors, hotel workers and shopkeepers. “I’m here because I support it,” said Dr Muhamad Fakhri, a 52-year-old university professor outside the mosque where the march began. “I don’t support any of the opposition leaders. All I want is reform. I’m here because I can see Egyptian people have reached the moment when they must choose. Because people are crushed by the prices of food, because of unemployment, because people should have freedom and democracy. I came to express my opinion against what I believe this government is doing wrong.” A middle-aged employee of a large charity, who requested not to be identified, said: “The reason I am here is to join the revolution. I think the government will fall. I’m really hopeful.” The unrest in Egypt was fuelled by the overthrow two weeks ago of Tunisia’s president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Protests have continued there, and also spread to Yemen. Syria was reported to have imposed restrictions on internet access. Blogs and Twitter have played a key role in the organisation of protests in the Middle East over recent weeks. Despite Egypt’s limited internet penetration, Facebook has been “the main actor”, says Khalid al-Aman, a political analyst at Durham University. Egypt Middle East Protest Peter Beaumont Harriet Sherwood guardian.co.uk
Posted by
on January 28, 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