Ocean Seal
26th January 2011, 21:40
CAIRO The Egyptian government intensified efforts to crush protests on Wednesday, decreeing a new ban on public gatherings and sending police equipped with clubs, tear gas and armored carriers against small groups that defiantly gathered in Cairo to oppose the 30- year rule of President Hosni Mubarak (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/hosni_mubarak/index.html?inline=nyt-per).
The Associated Press, citing unnamed Egyptian security officials, reported that 860 protesters had been arrested since major protests began Tuesday morning, roughly two-thirds of them in Cairo. Many others were in Alexandria. Nadeem Mansour, a human rights advocate at the Hisham Mubarak Law Center in Cairo, said the bulk of the arrests took place overnight.
In contrast to the thousands who marched through Cairo on Tuesday and occupied a central square for hours, the Wednesday gatherings were relatively small. In front of Cairos press and lawyers syndicate buildings, more than 100 people shouted slogans, outnumbered by a force of security officers. Youre protecting thieves, they chanted. Police officers began striking the protesters with bamboo sticks.
In contrast to the thousands who marched through Cairo on Tuesday and occupied a central square for hours, the Wednesday gatherings were relatively small. In front of Cairos press and lawyers syndicate buildings, more than 100 people shouted slogans, outnumbered by a force of security officers. Youre protecting thieves, they chanted. Police officers began striking the protesters with bamboo sticks.
There were signs that the crackdown was being carefully calibrated, with security forces wielding their cudgels and sometimes throwing rocks, rather than opening fire.
Later in the afternoon, young protesters fought with police officers in downtown neighborhoods in clashes that spilled onto the streets of the working class neighborhood of Boulaq. Residents there joined forces with the protesters, prompting security officers to fire concussion grenades and tear gas. After hundreds of young men ran two armored troop carriers out of the neighborhood in reverse, at top speed the protest wended its way past the Ramses Hilton, an upscale tourist hotel, as guards shut the gates.
As the protesters stopped traffic on the riverside Corniche, for at least the third time in two days, dozens of the Interior Ministrys feared plainclothes officers ran at the crowd, laying about them with sticks.
The Associated Press, quoting witnesses, said that riot police armed with batons attacked about 100 protesters in the central Egyptian city of Asyut, arresting nearly half.
The governments effort to ban protests showed the extent to which it had been rattled by the scale of Tuesdays demonstrations, among the largest in decades here, and focused on the central Tahrir Square. No provocative movements or protest gatherings or organizing marches or demonstrations will be allowed, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The United States ambassador in Cairo called on the Egyptian government to allow peaceful public demonstrations, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/hillary_rodham_clinton/index.html?inline=nyt-per) reiterated that call in blunt remarks to reporters.
We urge the Egyptian authorities not to prevent peaceful protests or block communications including on social media sites, she said, Reuters reported. Mrs. Clintons remarks came a day after she called the government in Egypt (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/egypt/index.html?inline=nyt-geo) stable.
During protests on Tuesday and again on Wednesday, many reported trouble accessing Facebook (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/facebook_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org) and Twitter (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/twitter/index.html?inline=nyt-org), the social networking sites that helped organize and spread news of the protests. Twitter confirmed that its site had been blocked in Egypt on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Adding to the governments challenges, the countrys benchmark stock index fell more than 6 percent when markets reopened early Wednesday, Reuters reported. They had been closed Tuesday for the national holiday honoring the police, a day the protesters co-opted.
That first day of protests, fueled in part by the toppling of the authoritarian government in Tunisia, began small but grew, with protesters occupying Tahrir Liberation Square. Security forces, normally quick to crack down on public dissent, were slow to suppress the demonstrations, allowing them to swell.
That shifted early Wednesday. Police officers firing rubber bullets and tear-gas grenades succeeded in driving groups of demonstrators from the square as a sit-in grew into a confrontation involving thousands of people.
Plainclothes officers beat several demonstrators and protesters set fire to a police car.
Cairo braced for broader protests Wednesday, but as of midday, Tahrir Square was clogged with normal traffic. Dozens of security officers in armored personnel carriers stood by.
Elsewhere in the city, troop carriers were also stationed in front of government buildings and in working-class neighborhoods.
The Tuesday protests were scattered across the country, occurring in Alexandria, Suez and other cities besides Cairo. There were reports of at least four deaths, including three protesters, and many injuries.
Also I don't know if you've all seen this, but the footage from the protests is fairly intense. The protestors attacked and managed to hold off a police water tank for a good while. And this article raises an interesting point. Is Egypt stable? Or is it just neo-liberal propaganda amidst the collapse of several regional governments?
The Associated Press, citing unnamed Egyptian security officials, reported that 860 protesters had been arrested since major protests began Tuesday morning, roughly two-thirds of them in Cairo. Many others were in Alexandria. Nadeem Mansour, a human rights advocate at the Hisham Mubarak Law Center in Cairo, said the bulk of the arrests took place overnight.
In contrast to the thousands who marched through Cairo on Tuesday and occupied a central square for hours, the Wednesday gatherings were relatively small. In front of Cairos press and lawyers syndicate buildings, more than 100 people shouted slogans, outnumbered by a force of security officers. Youre protecting thieves, they chanted. Police officers began striking the protesters with bamboo sticks.
In contrast to the thousands who marched through Cairo on Tuesday and occupied a central square for hours, the Wednesday gatherings were relatively small. In front of Cairos press and lawyers syndicate buildings, more than 100 people shouted slogans, outnumbered by a force of security officers. Youre protecting thieves, they chanted. Police officers began striking the protesters with bamboo sticks.
There were signs that the crackdown was being carefully calibrated, with security forces wielding their cudgels and sometimes throwing rocks, rather than opening fire.
Later in the afternoon, young protesters fought with police officers in downtown neighborhoods in clashes that spilled onto the streets of the working class neighborhood of Boulaq. Residents there joined forces with the protesters, prompting security officers to fire concussion grenades and tear gas. After hundreds of young men ran two armored troop carriers out of the neighborhood in reverse, at top speed the protest wended its way past the Ramses Hilton, an upscale tourist hotel, as guards shut the gates.
As the protesters stopped traffic on the riverside Corniche, for at least the third time in two days, dozens of the Interior Ministrys feared plainclothes officers ran at the crowd, laying about them with sticks.
The Associated Press, quoting witnesses, said that riot police armed with batons attacked about 100 protesters in the central Egyptian city of Asyut, arresting nearly half.
The governments effort to ban protests showed the extent to which it had been rattled by the scale of Tuesdays demonstrations, among the largest in decades here, and focused on the central Tahrir Square. No provocative movements or protest gatherings or organizing marches or demonstrations will be allowed, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The United States ambassador in Cairo called on the Egyptian government to allow peaceful public demonstrations, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/hillary_rodham_clinton/index.html?inline=nyt-per) reiterated that call in blunt remarks to reporters.
We urge the Egyptian authorities not to prevent peaceful protests or block communications including on social media sites, she said, Reuters reported. Mrs. Clintons remarks came a day after she called the government in Egypt (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/egypt/index.html?inline=nyt-geo) stable.
During protests on Tuesday and again on Wednesday, many reported trouble accessing Facebook (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/facebook_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org) and Twitter (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/twitter/index.html?inline=nyt-org), the social networking sites that helped organize and spread news of the protests. Twitter confirmed that its site had been blocked in Egypt on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Adding to the governments challenges, the countrys benchmark stock index fell more than 6 percent when markets reopened early Wednesday, Reuters reported. They had been closed Tuesday for the national holiday honoring the police, a day the protesters co-opted.
That first day of protests, fueled in part by the toppling of the authoritarian government in Tunisia, began small but grew, with protesters occupying Tahrir Liberation Square. Security forces, normally quick to crack down on public dissent, were slow to suppress the demonstrations, allowing them to swell.
That shifted early Wednesday. Police officers firing rubber bullets and tear-gas grenades succeeded in driving groups of demonstrators from the square as a sit-in grew into a confrontation involving thousands of people.
Plainclothes officers beat several demonstrators and protesters set fire to a police car.
Cairo braced for broader protests Wednesday, but as of midday, Tahrir Square was clogged with normal traffic. Dozens of security officers in armored personnel carriers stood by.
Elsewhere in the city, troop carriers were also stationed in front of government buildings and in working-class neighborhoods.
The Tuesday protests were scattered across the country, occurring in Alexandria, Suez and other cities besides Cairo. There were reports of at least four deaths, including three protesters, and many injuries.
Also I don't know if you've all seen this, but the footage from the protests is fairly intense. The protestors attacked and managed to hold off a police water tank for a good while. And this article raises an interesting point. Is Egypt stable? Or is it just neo-liberal propaganda amidst the collapse of several regional governments?