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Chaos in Cairo as Mubarak backers, opponents clash
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Chaos in Cairo as Mubarak backers, opponents clash
Several thousand supporters of President Hosni Mubarak, including
some riding horses and camels and wielding whips, attacked
anti-government protesters Wednesday as Egypt's upheaval took a
dangerous new turn. In scenes of chaos and pitched fighting, the two
sides pelted each other with stones, and protesters dragged attackers
off their horses.
The turmoil was the first significant violence
between supporters of the two camps in more than a week of
anti-government protests. It erupted after Mubarak went on national
television the night before and rejected demands he step down
immediately and said he would serve out the remaining seven months of
his term.
A military spokesman appeared on state TV Wednesday
and asked the protesters to disperse so life in Egypt could get back to
normal. The announcement could mark a major turn in the attitude of the
army, which for the past two days has allowed protests to swell,
reaching their largest size yet on Tuesday when a quarter-million
peacefully packed into Cairo's central Tahrir Square.
Nearly 10,000 protesters massed again in Tahrir on
Wednesday morning, rejecting Mubarak's speech as too little too late and
renewing their demands he leave immediately.
In the early afternoon Wednesday, around 3,000
Mubarak supporters break through a human chain of anti-government
protesters trying to defend thousands gathered in Tahrir, according to
an Associated Press reporter at the scene.
Chaos erupted as they tore down banners denouncing
the president. Fistfights broke out as they advanced across the massive
square in the heart of the capital. The anti-government protesters
grabbed Mubarak posters from the hands of the supporters and ripped
them.
From there it escalated into outright street battles.
The two sides tore up stones from the street and from a nearby
construction site and began hurling stones, chunks of concrete and
sticks at each, chasing each other as the protesters' human chains moved
back to try to shield the larger mass of demonstrators at the plaza's
center.
At one point, a small contingent of pro-Mubarak
forces on horseback and camels rushed into the anti-Mubarak crowds,
swinging whips and sticks to beat people. Protesters retaliated,
dragging some from their mounts, throwing them to the ground and beating
their faces bloody. The horses and camels likely were the ones used by
touts giving rides for tourists.
AP/Ben Curtis
Gunfire rang out as some soldiers fired in the air in
an attempt to control the crowd. But fighting was unabated. A
front-line formed on a street next to the Egyptian Museum — the famed
treasury of pharaonic antiquities and mummies — as protesters and
government backers, some of whom brandished machetes, hurled projectiles
at each other from either side of several abandoned military trucks.
Protesters were seen running with their shirts or
faces bloodied. Men and women in the crowd were weeping. Scores of
wounded were carried to a makeshift clinic at a mosque near the square
and on other side streets. Doctors in white coats rushed about with bags
of cotton, mercurochrome and bandages. One man with blood coming out of
his eye stumbled into a side-street clinic.
The army troops who have been guarding the square had
been keeping the two sides apart earlier in the day, but when the
clashes erupted they largely did not intervene. Most took shelter behind
or inside the armored vehicles and tanks stationed at the entrances to
Tahrir.
Some anti-Mubarak protesters argued with soldiers,
begging them to help. "Why don't you protect us?" some shouted, while
soldiers replied they did not have orders to do so and told people to go
home.
Many protesters — who for days have showered the
military with love for its neutral stance — now accused the troops had
intentionally allowed the attackers into the square. "Hosni has opened
the door for these thugs to attack us," one man with a loudspeaker
shouted to the crowds during the fighting.
"These are paid thugs," another protester,
52-year-old Emad Nafa, said of the attackers. "The army is neglectful.
They let them in."
The new tensions began to emerge immediately
following Mubarak's speech Tuesday night. Later in the night, clashes
erupted between pro- and anti-government demonstrators in the
Mediterranean city of Alexandria, while in Cairo groups of Mubarak
supporters took to the streets, some carrying knives and sticks.
Gatherings of Mubarak supporters have also taken a
harsher tone against journalists and foreigners. Two Associated Press
correspondents and several other journalists were roughed up during
various such gatherings. State TV reported Tuesday night that foreigners
were caught distributing anti-Mubarak leaflets, apparently trying to
depict the movement as foreign-fueled.
The violence could represent a dangerous new chapter
in the nearly 10 days of upheaval that has shaken Egypt, which has
already taken a series of dramatic and unpredictable twists.
After years of tight state control, protesters
emboldened by unrest in Tunisia took to the streets on Jan. 25 and
mounted a once-unimaginable series of demonstrations across this nation
of 80 million. Initially, police cracked down hard with brutal and
deadly clashes on the demonstrators. Then police withdrew completely
from the streets for the day, opening a wave of looting, armed robberies
and arson — largely separate from the protests themselves — that
stunned Egyptians.
But since Sunday, the army moved in to take control and the situation
became more peaceful. The military announced it would not stop protests.
As a result, the demonstrations swelled dramatically, protesters gained
momentum and enthusiasm and many believed Mubarak's immediate fall was
at hand. The United States put intense pressure on Mubarak to bring his
rule to an end while ensuring a stable handover.
Wednesday's events could mean the regime has had enough, and that it and
the military aim to ensure the end of the unrest after the 82-year-old
Mubarak made the concession of announcing he would not run for a new
six-year term in September elections.
As if to show the crisis was ending, the government began to reinstate
Internet service after days of an unprecedented cutoff, and state TV
announced the easing of a nighttime curfew, which now runs from 5 p.m.
to 7 a.m. instead of 3 p.m. to 8 a.m.
Mubarak supporters were on the street in significant numbers for the
first time on Wednesday. Across the Nile River from the chaos in Tahrir
Square, around 20,000 pro-government demonstrators held a rally in front
of Mustafa Mahmoud Mosque in the upper-class neighborhood of
Mohandiseen.
They waved Egyptian flags, their faces painted with the
black-white-and-red national colors, and carried a large printed banner
with Mubarak's face as police officers surrounded the area and directed
traffic. They cheered as a military helicopter swooped overhead.
Many said they came after seeing a notice on state television to attend
the protest. Some appeared to be the sort of young toughs that the
opposition accuses the regime of paying to be its fist in the streets.
But the large majority were middle-class families, some of whom said
Mubarak's concessions were enough and that they feared continued
instability and shortages of food and other supplies if protests
continue.
"I want the people in Tahrir Square to understand that Mubarak gave his
word that he will give them the country to them through elections,
peacefully, now they have no reason for demonstrations," said Ali
Mahmoud, 52, who identified himself as middle-class worker from
Menoufia, a Nile Delta province north of Cairo.
The movement against Mubarak, meanwhile, was working to prevent any
slipping in its ranks after the speech and resist any sentiment that the
concession may have been enough.
"We recognize deceit when we see it," said protester Nasser Saad
Abdel-Latif. "No one will lose their energy ... We won't go until he
goes."
One protest organizer said the regime was going all out to pressure people to stop protesting.
"Starting with the emotional speech of Mubarak, to the closure of banks,
the shortage of food and commodities and deployment of thugs to
intimidate people, these are all means to put pressure on the people,"
said Ahmed Abdel-Hamid, a representative of the Revolutionary Committee,
one of several youth groups that organized the protests.
The movement is fueled by deep frustration with an autocratic regime
blamed for ignoring the needs of the poor and allowing corruption and
official abuse to run rampant. Tuesday's massive rally in Tahrir showed a
large cross-section of Egyptian society.
In his 10-minute speech Tuesday night, Mubarak hit on one of the themes
that has been his evocative for some Egyptians in justifying his rule
during his nearly three decades in power — that he can keep stability.
Now he was promising to do so as he heads out the door.
The president, who almost never admits to reversing himself under
pressure, insisted that even if the protests demanding his ouster had
not broken out, he would not have sought a sixth term in September.
Somber but firm — without an air of defeat — he said he would serve out
the rest of his term working "to accomplish the necessary steps for the
peaceful transfer of power." He said he will carry out amendments to
rules on presidential elections.
He vowed he would not flee the country. "This is my dear homeland," he
said. "I have lived in it, I fought for it and defended its soil,
sovereignty and interests. On its soil I will die. History will judge me
and all of us."
The step came after heavy pressure from his top ally, the United States.
Soon after Mubarak's address, President Barack Obama said at the White
House that he had spoken with Mubarak and "he recognizes that the status
quo is not sustainable and a change must take place." Obama said he
told Mubarak that an orderly transition must be meaningful and peaceful,
must begin now and must include opposition parties.
Earlier, a visiting Obama envoy — former ambassador to Egypt Frank
Wisner, who is a friend of the Egyptian president — met with Mubarak and
made clear to him that it is the U.S. "view that his tenure as
president is coming to a close," according to an administration
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of
the ongoing diplomacy.
some riding horses and camels and wielding whips, attacked
anti-government protesters Wednesday as Egypt's upheaval took a
dangerous new turn. In scenes of chaos and pitched fighting, the two
sides pelted each other with stones, and protesters dragged attackers
off their horses.
The turmoil was the first significant violence
between supporters of the two camps in more than a week of
anti-government protests. It erupted after Mubarak went on national
television the night before and rejected demands he step down
immediately and said he would serve out the remaining seven months of
his term.
A military spokesman appeared on state TV Wednesday
and asked the protesters to disperse so life in Egypt could get back to
normal. The announcement could mark a major turn in the attitude of the
army, which for the past two days has allowed protests to swell,
reaching their largest size yet on Tuesday when a quarter-million
peacefully packed into Cairo's central Tahrir Square.
Nearly 10,000 protesters massed again in Tahrir on
Wednesday morning, rejecting Mubarak's speech as too little too late and
renewing their demands he leave immediately.
In the early afternoon Wednesday, around 3,000
Mubarak supporters break through a human chain of anti-government
protesters trying to defend thousands gathered in Tahrir, according to
an Associated Press reporter at the scene.
Chaos erupted as they tore down banners denouncing
the president. Fistfights broke out as they advanced across the massive
square in the heart of the capital. The anti-government protesters
grabbed Mubarak posters from the hands of the supporters and ripped
them.
From there it escalated into outright street battles.
The two sides tore up stones from the street and from a nearby
construction site and began hurling stones, chunks of concrete and
sticks at each, chasing each other as the protesters' human chains moved
back to try to shield the larger mass of demonstrators at the plaza's
center.
At one point, a small contingent of pro-Mubarak
forces on horseback and camels rushed into the anti-Mubarak crowds,
swinging whips and sticks to beat people. Protesters retaliated,
dragging some from their mounts, throwing them to the ground and beating
their faces bloody. The horses and camels likely were the ones used by
touts giving rides for tourists.
AP/Ben Curtis
Gunfire rang out as some soldiers fired in the air in
an attempt to control the crowd. But fighting was unabated. A
front-line formed on a street next to the Egyptian Museum — the famed
treasury of pharaonic antiquities and mummies — as protesters and
government backers, some of whom brandished machetes, hurled projectiles
at each other from either side of several abandoned military trucks.
Protesters were seen running with their shirts or
faces bloodied. Men and women in the crowd were weeping. Scores of
wounded were carried to a makeshift clinic at a mosque near the square
and on other side streets. Doctors in white coats rushed about with bags
of cotton, mercurochrome and bandages. One man with blood coming out of
his eye stumbled into a side-street clinic.
The army troops who have been guarding the square had
been keeping the two sides apart earlier in the day, but when the
clashes erupted they largely did not intervene. Most took shelter behind
or inside the armored vehicles and tanks stationed at the entrances to
Tahrir.
Some anti-Mubarak protesters argued with soldiers,
begging them to help. "Why don't you protect us?" some shouted, while
soldiers replied they did not have orders to do so and told people to go
home.
Many protesters — who for days have showered the
military with love for its neutral stance — now accused the troops had
intentionally allowed the attackers into the square. "Hosni has opened
the door for these thugs to attack us," one man with a loudspeaker
shouted to the crowds during the fighting.
"These are paid thugs," another protester,
52-year-old Emad Nafa, said of the attackers. "The army is neglectful.
They let them in."
The new tensions began to emerge immediately
following Mubarak's speech Tuesday night. Later in the night, clashes
erupted between pro- and anti-government demonstrators in the
Mediterranean city of Alexandria, while in Cairo groups of Mubarak
supporters took to the streets, some carrying knives and sticks.
Gatherings of Mubarak supporters have also taken a
harsher tone against journalists and foreigners. Two Associated Press
correspondents and several other journalists were roughed up during
various such gatherings. State TV reported Tuesday night that foreigners
were caught distributing anti-Mubarak leaflets, apparently trying to
depict the movement as foreign-fueled.
The violence could represent a dangerous new chapter
in the nearly 10 days of upheaval that has shaken Egypt, which has
already taken a series of dramatic and unpredictable twists.
After years of tight state control, protesters
emboldened by unrest in Tunisia took to the streets on Jan. 25 and
mounted a once-unimaginable series of demonstrations across this nation
of 80 million. Initially, police cracked down hard with brutal and
deadly clashes on the demonstrators. Then police withdrew completely
from the streets for the day, opening a wave of looting, armed robberies
and arson — largely separate from the protests themselves — that
stunned Egyptians.
But since Sunday, the army moved in to take control and the situation
became more peaceful. The military announced it would not stop protests.
As a result, the demonstrations swelled dramatically, protesters gained
momentum and enthusiasm and many believed Mubarak's immediate fall was
at hand. The United States put intense pressure on Mubarak to bring his
rule to an end while ensuring a stable handover.
Wednesday's events could mean the regime has had enough, and that it and
the military aim to ensure the end of the unrest after the 82-year-old
Mubarak made the concession of announcing he would not run for a new
six-year term in September elections.
As if to show the crisis was ending, the government began to reinstate
Internet service after days of an unprecedented cutoff, and state TV
announced the easing of a nighttime curfew, which now runs from 5 p.m.
to 7 a.m. instead of 3 p.m. to 8 a.m.
Mubarak supporters were on the street in significant numbers for the
first time on Wednesday. Across the Nile River from the chaos in Tahrir
Square, around 20,000 pro-government demonstrators held a rally in front
of Mustafa Mahmoud Mosque in the upper-class neighborhood of
Mohandiseen.
They waved Egyptian flags, their faces painted with the
black-white-and-red national colors, and carried a large printed banner
with Mubarak's face as police officers surrounded the area and directed
traffic. They cheered as a military helicopter swooped overhead.
Many said they came after seeing a notice on state television to attend
the protest. Some appeared to be the sort of young toughs that the
opposition accuses the regime of paying to be its fist in the streets.
But the large majority were middle-class families, some of whom said
Mubarak's concessions were enough and that they feared continued
instability and shortages of food and other supplies if protests
continue.
"I want the people in Tahrir Square to understand that Mubarak gave his
word that he will give them the country to them through elections,
peacefully, now they have no reason for demonstrations," said Ali
Mahmoud, 52, who identified himself as middle-class worker from
Menoufia, a Nile Delta province north of Cairo.
The movement against Mubarak, meanwhile, was working to prevent any
slipping in its ranks after the speech and resist any sentiment that the
concession may have been enough.
"We recognize deceit when we see it," said protester Nasser Saad
Abdel-Latif. "No one will lose their energy ... We won't go until he
goes."
One protest organizer said the regime was going all out to pressure people to stop protesting.
"Starting with the emotional speech of Mubarak, to the closure of banks,
the shortage of food and commodities and deployment of thugs to
intimidate people, these are all means to put pressure on the people,"
said Ahmed Abdel-Hamid, a representative of the Revolutionary Committee,
one of several youth groups that organized the protests.
The movement is fueled by deep frustration with an autocratic regime
blamed for ignoring the needs of the poor and allowing corruption and
official abuse to run rampant. Tuesday's massive rally in Tahrir showed a
large cross-section of Egyptian society.
In his 10-minute speech Tuesday night, Mubarak hit on one of the themes
that has been his evocative for some Egyptians in justifying his rule
during his nearly three decades in power — that he can keep stability.
Now he was promising to do so as he heads out the door.
The president, who almost never admits to reversing himself under
pressure, insisted that even if the protests demanding his ouster had
not broken out, he would not have sought a sixth term in September.
Somber but firm — without an air of defeat — he said he would serve out
the rest of his term working "to accomplish the necessary steps for the
peaceful transfer of power." He said he will carry out amendments to
rules on presidential elections.
He vowed he would not flee the country. "This is my dear homeland," he
said. "I have lived in it, I fought for it and defended its soil,
sovereignty and interests. On its soil I will die. History will judge me
and all of us."
The step came after heavy pressure from his top ally, the United States.
Soon after Mubarak's address, President Barack Obama said at the White
House that he had spoken with Mubarak and "he recognizes that the status
quo is not sustainable and a change must take place." Obama said he
told Mubarak that an orderly transition must be meaningful and peaceful,
must begin now and must include opposition parties.
Earlier, a visiting Obama envoy — former ambassador to Egypt Frank
Wisner, who is a friend of the Egyptian president — met with Mubarak and
made clear to him that it is the U.S. "view that his tenure as
president is coming to a close," according to an administration
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of
the ongoing diplomacy.
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