Egyptians Awake

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss:

"In Egypt yesterday, thousands gathered in the Cairo square that was the heart of Egypt’s uprising to protest a proposed law that would ban protests — and to voice fears that their revolution may not have been much of a revolution, after all.

Six weeks after President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, protesters in Tahrir Square said they worry that some things have not changed. Exacerbating those worries was the decree this week by Egypt’s civilian Cabinet that will ban protests and strikes deemed harmful to the economy if the military approves it.

A host of other issues — the continued use of a three-decade-old emergency law that gives the government sweeping rights to detain people without trial; Mubarak’s apparent freedom; and a growing sense that his National Democratic Party and the Muslim Brotherhood will be the two dominant political forces in a democratic Egypt — led some people to say that their work is hardly finished.

“How can you decree a law banning protests?’’ said Aiza Kamel Abed, 50, a general manager at the Education Ministry....

The crowd in Tahrir Square was noticeably older than the hundreds of thousands who packed the area in late January and early February demanding the ouster of the president. Many of the young, mostly secular protesters who initiated the protests have been arguing about their next steps, and organized political groups have stepped up to fill the vacuum.

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"The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which is ruling the country, also said that Mubarak and his family are under house arrest. The statement apparently aimed to defuse rumors that Mubarak had left for Saudi Arabia for medical treatment....  

Related: Mubarak reportedly in Saudi Arabia

So now my newspaper is reporting rumors, huh?

Sad truth is they have been for a long, long time.

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