CAIRO — Hundreds of thousands left mosques and staged protests across the Arab world yesterday, some trying to shake off autocratic rulers and others pressuring embattled leaders to carry out sweeping reforms.
Huge crowds turned out in Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, and Jordan, but with very different goals.
In Egypt, tens of thousands jammed Cairo’s Tahrir Square to keep pressure on military rulers to carry out reforms.
Demonstrators said they are worried the army is not moving quickly enough on reforms, including repealing emergency laws, releasing political prisoners, and removing members of Mubarak’s regime from power.
Related: Former Mubarak officials arrested
Thousands chanted that they will not leave until Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, one of the Mubarak-era holdovers, is removed from office. Some waved flags of Libya to show support for the uprising next door....
Related: Getting tougher, Egyptian troops beat protesters
CUT QUOTE:
"The military apologized Saturday and said the situation "wasn't intentional." In a statement, the ruling military council promised such confrontations would not happen again."
I'm really having a hard time believing what I'm reading.
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Also see: Egyptian panel seeks more open elections, term limits
Muslim Brotherhood faces internal discord in Egypt
Egypt seizes all Mubarak family funds
Mubarak reportedly in Saudi Arabia
Remember that for later.
"Egyptian prime minister quits post; Had been given job by Mubarak" by Hamza Hendawi, Associated Press / March 4, 2011
CAIRO — The prime minister appointed by ousted President Hosni Mubarak has resigned, Egypt’s military rulers said yesterday, meeting a key demand of the opposition protest movement....
A military that listens to its people! Wow!
Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading pro-democracy activist and Noble Peace Prize laureate, welcomed Shafiq’s departure and thanked the military for “listening to the people.’’
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"New prime minister embraced by protesters in Egypt" by Liz Sly and William Wan, Washington Post / March 5, 2011
CAIRO — Egypt’s newly appointed prime minister was greeted by cheering crowds of protesters in Tahrir Square yesterday as the government reportedly set a March 19 date for a referendum on amendments to the constitution.
It was unclear whether the latest moves would be enough to appease the crowds thronging the square, the epicenter of the recent Egyptian uprising.
Oh, the PEACEFUL PROTESTERS must be "appeased," huh?
Many protesters said they planned to keep holding weekly demonstrations until their demands for sweeping changes to the political system are met. Small groups of activists have remained in the square almost continually since President Hosni Mubarak was forced to resign Feb. 11, and there have been major demonstrations every Friday.
It's the WAY THINGS GET DONE!! It's called FOLLOWING THROUGH!
But the reception given to Essam Sharaf a day after he was named prime minister by the military council now running Egypt suggested that the tensions that emerged after Mubarak’s ouster may start to ease.
What tensions? Mubarak's exit brought everyone together.
Sharaf was carried aloft on the shoulders of the crowd after he made a dramatic appearance in the square, delivering a short speech in which he promised to meet all the protesters’ demands.
We shall see if he delivers.
Sharaf served briefly in Mubarak’s Cabinet in 2004 but resigned within a year. The resignation, as well as his appearance at an anti-Mubarak rally shortly before the president stepped down, had endeared him to the protest movement....
If the Egyptians are happy then so am I.
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Related: Egyptian military shows entrepreneurial side with US funds (By Aram Roston and David Rohde, New York Times)
Yeah, Egypt is now an enemy.
"Hundreds of protesters staged a rally outside the Interior Ministry in Cairo, which houses offices the hated State Security agency, before it was violently broken up (AP)."
The military said that wouldn't happen again.
"The new Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, a US-educated civil engineer, is expected to help steer the country through reforms and toward free elections."
Now I'm suspicious of Sharaf!
And WHO would want to SPOIL the MOOD, huh?
"Egyptian killed in fighting between Christians, Muslims; Violence follows protests over church" March 9, 2011
CAIRO — Thousands of Christians and Muslims clashed yesterday, with one Christian man killed and scores wounded as anger rose over the burning of a church in a Cairo suburb.
Why NOW ALL of a SUDDEN -- after they BOTH CAME TOGETHER during the PROTESTS?
Related: Cryptic Attack on Coptic Church
Yeah, and it is ONE REASON I am NO LONGER BUYING the MUSLIM vs. CHRISTIAN crapola from the Zionist War Press of AmeriKa. WHO benefits?
It was the second burst of sectarian fighting in as many days and the latest in a string of violent protests over a variety of topics as simmering unrest continues nearly a month after mass protests led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.
The violence erupted after Coptic Christians held protests in several locations in Cairo against perceived persecution by the country’s Muslim majority.
The Christians have been angered by last week’s burning by a Muslim mob of a church in a Cairo suburb. Egypt’s military rulers have since pledged to rebuild the church, and Prime Minister Essam Sharaf met Monday with the protesters outside the TV building.
But the protesters said they wanted more steps to improve the status of Christians.
About 2,000 of them cut off a main road running on the eastern side of the city and pelted motorists with rocks. Another crowd of about 1,000 protested outside the TV building in downtown Cairo.
Christians being violent? I'm ashamed.
The group, which included a gathering of garbage collectors, who are predominantly Christian, demanded equal rights and better quality of life. The clashes broke out when they were confronted by Muslims, witnesses said.
What witnesses?
Related: Egypt's Garbage Dump
Ah, the good old days under Mubarak, huh?
At least one Christian man was killed and about 100 others wounded in the fighting, according to an Egyptian hospital official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the information.
Elsewhere in Cairo, a protest by hundreds of Egyptian women demanding equal rights and an end to sexual harassment turned violent yesterday when crowds of men heckled and shoved the demonstrators, telling them to go home where they belong.
But no cruise missiles into their living rooms?
I'm not trying to make light of sexual harassment; however, given the agenda-pushing, war-promoting, Muslim-hating spin machine called the paper why should I take their word for it?
Also yesterday, an Egyptian court rejected an appeal by Mubarak and his family against a top prosecutor’s move to seize funds that could total in the billions of dollars.
The decision clears the way for a criminal investigation and a possible trial of Egypt’s former leader.
Mubarak, his wife, two sons, and their wives have also been banned from travel abroad.
Then why did the AmeriKan media tell me he was in Saudi Arabia?
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"Clashes between Muslims and Christians left 13 dead and 140 wounded, deepening a sense of chaos as the police and ruling military struggled to maintain order barely a month after a popular uprising ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.
It SADDENS ME to see each group FALL into the TRAP!
The battles went on for hours in Cairo as both sides fought with guns, knives, and clubs.
Army troops fired in the air to try to disperse the crowds to no avail.
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At least the Army is trying:
"Four top security officials were jailed on charges they had ordered police to shoot and kill protesters during the country’s 18-day uprising that ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak, the government said yesterday.
I think Yemen and Bahrain could learn a lesson there!
Rights activists welcomed the move as a step toward ending the culture of impunity in Egypt’s massive security forces.
Just keeping the people happy.
Officials put the number of protesters killed during the uprising at 365, but human rights activists and others have said the figure is much higher.
The four jailed officials are Cairo’s former security chief, the head of the State Security agency, and the heads of General Security and riot police.
What, no names?
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"Egypt eliminates despised state security unit" by Zeina Karam, Associated Press / March 16, 2011
CAIRO — Egypt’s interior minister yesterday dissolved the country’s widely hated state security agency, accused of torture and other human rights abuses in the suppression of dissent against the nearly 30-year rule of ousted president Hosni Mubarak.
AmeriKa sent some guys there for that very purpose.
Major General Mansour el-Essawy, the new interior minister and a former Cairo security chief, said in a statement that a new agency in charge of keeping national security and combatting terrorism will be formed.
Dismantling the State Security Investigations agency was a major demand of the protest movement that led an 18-day uprising to oust Mubarak. Since he stepped down Feb. 11, Egyptians have stormed the agency’s main headquarters and other offices, seizing documents to keep them from being destroyed to hide evidence of human rights abuses.
Many protest leaders have said despite the fall of Mubarak and his government, the agency remained active in protecting the old regime and trying to sabotage the democratic transition.
Now you know WHO is responsible for the VIOLENCE!
Islam Lotfi, a leading youth activist, called the agency’s elimination an excellent move but one that should be followed by other steps to restore the Egyptian people’s sense of trust and security.
Isn't that what governments are supposed to do for their people?
“We want to see public trials for all those accused of torturing or abusing Egyptians, and the Interior Ministry should compensate all those who suffered at the hands of this agency,’’ he said. He said the Interior Ministry should ensure that all state security documents are preserved.
I SECOND THAT MOTION for AmeriKa!
Visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, meanwhile, was pressing Egypt’s transitional leaders to follow through on pledges for democratic reform and, in particular, to ensure respect for human rights....
Was she blasted, or is this just the standard U.S. hypocrisy leaking from her lips?
Figuring what to do with Egypt’s tainted security agencies has been one of the most contentious issues facing the military rulers who took charge after Mubarak was forced out.
“As much as we are happy that State Security is now dissolved, National Security, the new entity, must be under real judicial supervision,’’ tweeted Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who worked on a Facebook page that rallied hundreds of thousands of Egyptians behind the protests.
In a sign of ongoing chaos, 30 suspects in a detention center in the Nile Delta city of Belbeis escaped yesterday, assisted by relatives and armed men.
Escaped or were let out?
Remember, Mubarak released thousands of prisoners to take it to protesters before he resigned.
Some 25,000 prisoners, escaped from prisons during the popular uprising. About 13,000 have been recaptured or surrendered voluntarily.
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Related:
"Egypt's Interior Ministry burns as police protest" by Diaa Hadid Associated Press / March 22, 2011
CAIRO—Fire swept the upper floors of Egypt's Interior Ministry building on Tuesday as policemen protested outside to demand higher pay. A security official accused demonstrators of starting the blaze in downtown Cairo....
The security official said protesters lit the fire in the building housing in the ministry's personnel department. It then spread to an adjacent communications building.
One protester who arrived to see fires burning in the two buildings said it couldn't have been started by the crowd because they had no way of entering the heavily guarded compound. He accused workers inside of burning security files and starting the blaze....
Yeah, who would want to get rid of those?
About 15 central security trucks cordoned off the complex to prevent demonstrators from storming it. It remained unclear how the fire started.
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Time to vote:
"1st post-Mubarak vote to set pace of Egypt’s shift; Clears path for new president, Parliament" by Mariam Fam, Bloomberg News / March 18, 2011
CAIRO — Backers of the amendments such as the Muslim Brotherhood, banned under Mubarak, say they will help end turmoil that is hurting the economy. Egypt’s stock market has been shut for nearly seven weeks, tourists have stayed away, and factory output has been hit by strikes.
Those against the amendments instead advocate delaying elections and rewriting the constitution from scratch. They say rushing the transition will weaken democracy without bringing stability and will benefit the former ruling party and established forces such as the Brotherhood at the expense of activists who led the popular uprising....
The Muslim Brotherhood endorsed the amendments because they will free the army for duties like guarding national security, and clear the way for reviving the economy, said Khayrat el-Shater, a leading member.
“We want the transitional rule to end quickly so that we can project an image of stability and encourage foreign and local investments to help the economic development that we desperately need,’’ he told reporters in Cairo....
How radical!!!
Elections may produce a Parliament “dominated by the National Democratic Party and the Muslim Brotherhood’’ if the amendments are approved, said Ziad Elelaimy, a member of the Alliance of the Youths’ Revolution, a coalition of protesting groups campaigning for a ‘no’ vote.
“They are able to organize themselves and prepare for quick elections,’’ he said. “The groups behind the revolution haven’t yet organized themselves.’’
Then they are the good guys.
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Related: Egypt votes in major test of democracy
Egyptians in Mass. share in historic vote
Egyptian voters approve changes to constitution
I truly wish them the best.
Egypt is inspiring!
