That's about it for tonight. Here's a summary of the day's events. We'll have more on major developments on the guardian.co.uk homepage.
• Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters have clashed with police in Cairo and other cities in the largest demonstration in Egypt in a generation. Demonstrators want an end to the authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak's near 30 years of power.
• Three people have been killed in the protests. Reports say two protesters were killed in Suez, while a police officer died after being hit by a rock in Cairo. An Egyptian official said one protester died of respiratory problems after inhaling tear gas, while another was hit by a rock.
• Waves of protesters filled Cairo's central Tahrir Square, vowing to remain in place until the government fell, however police used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear the area at around 1am. Protesters fled to side streets and bridges across the river Nile, some pledging to continue protesting on Wednesday.
• The Egyptian government has reportedly blocked Twitter – which protester used to coordinate movements – and shut down mobile phone and internet networks. Elsewhere unconfirmed reports suggest Mubarak's son, Gamal Mubarak – who is unpopular in Egypt – has fled to the UK with other family members.
Tim Marshall, who is reporting in Egypt for Sky News, tweets:
@ITwitius Cairo Protestors split up and chased towards bridges and side streets. Sirens everywhere. Occasional tear gas still being fired.
My colleague Jack Shenker is still on the ground in Cairo, but reports that his phone access has been blocked, as has internet access in many areas. Here's his latest file from the Egyptian capital:
As midnight approaches in Cairo thousands of protesters are still occupying the Tahrir Square, vowing to remain in place until the government falls. News has reached Egyptians here of deaths in Suez and the capital, as well as unconfirmed reports that Gamal Mubarak – the president's wildly unpopular son and presumed heir apparent – has fled to London, and they appear more determined than ever to hold their ground. "We will stay here all night, all week if necessary," said Youssef Hisham, a 25 year old filmmaker. "There are too many people on the streets for the police to charge – if they did, it would be a massacre. I came here today not as the representative of any political party, but simply in the name of Egypt. We have liberated the heart of the country, and Mubarak now knows that his people want him gone." As fresh waves of protesters broke through police cordons to join the throng in Tahrir, a festival atmosphere took hold – groups were cheered as they arrived carrying blankets and food, and demonstrators pooled money together to buy water and other supplies. "The atmosphere is simply amazing – everyone is so friendly, there's no anger, no harassment, just solidarity and remarkable energy," added Hisham. Drums were banged and fires started as night moved in; having established their lines, hundreds of security forces stayed put and kept their distance, although alarmingly police snipers were seen to be taking up position on nearby buildings. "They are waiting for numbers to dwindle, and then they will switch off the street lights and charge," warned Ahmed Salah, a veteran activist. "We must hold Tahrir through the night and tomorrow, so that every corner of Egypt can take us as an inspiration and rise up in revolt," claimed Salah. "It's a matter of life and death now – what happens over the next 24 hours will be vital to the history of this country. It's a very emotional moment for me." Pamphlets widely distributed amongst protesters declared that 'the spark of intifada' had been launched in Egypt. "We have started an uprising with the will of the people, the people who have suffered for thirty years under oppression, injustice and poverty," read the Arabic-language texts. "Egyptians have proven today that they are capable of taking freedom by force and destroying despotism." They went on to call for the immediate removal of President Mubarak and his government, and urged Egyptians nationwide to begin a wave of strikes, sit-ins and demonstrations across the country until these demands were met. "Long live the struggle of the Egyptian people," the pamphlets ended.
The We are all Khaled Said Facebook group which I linked to earlier is reporting that the two civilians killed are Suliman Saber Ali and Mustafa Reda.
This is unconfirmed as yet.
An Egyptian interior ministry official has confirmed reports that two protesters and one policeman have been killed in demonstrations in Cairo and Suez.
The unnamed official, speaking to AP, said the two protesters were killed in Suez. The official said one of them had respiratory problems and died as a result of tear gas inhalation, while the other was killed by a rock thrown during the protest.
The policeman died during the protest in Cairo after being hit on the head by a rock, the official said.
Reuters is reporting that three people have been killed during protests in Egypt – two in Suez and one in Cairo.
State television also said a security officer died in central Cairo in a square where thousands of protesters had gathered and clashed with police. A medical source in a Suez hospital said the two bodies had arrived there. Sources blamed rubber bullets. An Interior Ministry official in Cairo said he had no information about the deaths in Suez but was checking. The sources said more than 60 people in Suez suffered the effects of inhaling teargas.
The video journalist Mohamed Abdelfattah has posted some distressing tweets – using the Twitter for Blackberry app – from the scene of the protests, where he says he has been arrested. Here's some of his posts – all filed within minutes of each other and presented here in chronological order.
There are reports that Twitter has been blocked in Egypt in a bid to quell the demonstrations. The protests have been organised in part throught Twitter and Facebook, but TechCrunch says the Twitter website and mobile site have been blocked in the country.
Demonstrators are still able to use third party applications – like Tweetdeck and Hootsuite – however, the US technology website reports. Facebook is still working in Egypt, however, with the group We Are all Khaled Said posting updates every fifteen minutes or so.
Khaled Said was an Egyptian activist who died in 2010, allegedly at the hands of police. One of the recent updates on the group reported that restaurants in Tahrir square – where thousands of protesters are gathered as night falls – are giving away free food to protesters.
Ben Wedeman, CNN's man in Cairo is tweeting away from Egpyt. Here's his latest:
@bencnn 6 troop carriers deployed next to #Egypt TV building in Maspiro, more police on the way. #jan25
Hi all, Adam Gabbatt here taking over from Paul. Here's a summary of the events so far today.
• Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters have clashed with police in Cairo in the largest demonstration in Egypt in a generation. Demonstrators want an end to the authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak's near 30 years of power.
• Police have responded with batons, water cannons and tear gas in a bid to quell the crowd. The demonstration, said to be inspired by the uprising in Tunisia, began peacefully before clashes occurred.
• As night falls in Egypt protests have also broken out in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. Roads are also being blocked by demonstrators in the Sinai Peninsula, and large rallies are being reported across the Nile Delta and the Suez Canal region.
• US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said Mubarak's government is stable despite the demonstrations. Mubarak is an important US partner in the Middle East.
My colleague Jack Shenker in Cairo sends this:
Central Cairo was the scene of violent clashes tonight, as the biggest anti-government demonstrations in a generation swept across Egypt, bringing tens of thousands onto the streets.
Shouting "down with the regime" and "Mubarak, your plane is waiting," protesters demanded the end of President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year dictatorship and said they were fighting back against decades of poverty, oppression and police torture. The protests had been declared illegal by the authorities and were met with a fierce police response, as tear gas and water cannon were fired into the crowd and rocks were hurled into the air by both demonstrators and security forces.
"We have never seen anything like this before – it is the first day of the Egyptian revolution," said Karim Rizk, one of those who joined multiple rallies in the capital. Apparently taken by surprise at the size of protests, police initially stood back and allowed demonstrators to occupy public squares and march through the streets, an unprecedented move in a country where political gatherings are strictly outlawed and demonstrations are normally quickly shut down by security forces. "We have taken back our streets today from the regime and they won't recover from the blow," claimed Rizk.
Today's protests were called by a coalition of online activists, who had declared 25 January a "day of revolt" against the ruling elite and encouraged Egyptians to follow in the footsteps of Tunisia, where mass demonstrations forced President Ben Ali to flee earlier this month. As evening fell thousands of protesters from separate demonstrations converged on Tahrir Square, Cairo's central plaza, and begun an occupation that continued into the night. Demonstrators waved Egyptian and Tunisian flags, hauled down a billboard for the ruling NDP party and chanted "depart Mubarak" at the 82-year-old leader, who will face presidential elections later this year.
Reuters has rounded up a number of comments from those protesting in Egypt:
Ahmed Wagdy, 20, medical student in Cairo:
Enough is enough! We want change. Enough of this man ruling all these years. We don't want inherited rule. This is a state not a kingdom.
Ayman Nour, defeated 2005 presidential candidate, at a protest:
The Egyptian people are great! I see resolve in the march. The Tunisian model is inspiring to all Arab states.
Unnamed protesters:
Tunisia, Tunisia.
Down, down, Hosni Mubarak.
Mubarak, you have destroyed our country. Get out and leave it.
What does Mubarak want? He wants us to kiss his feet? No Mubarak, we will not - tomorrow we'll hit you with our shoes.
George Ishak, founder of the opposition Kefaya movement:
Today is different from any other day. Everyone will be here.
Abdo, 50, engineer:
We have a right to express our opinions. The point is to do it without damage. You think that the police officers don't want to be down here? Just watch, soon they will [join us].
Tobar, owner of a sportswear shop that had to close down:
We are protesting against all the laws that have led to the worst living conditions, covering health to education. All we want is to work, that's all.
Protesters in Mahalla el Kubra, site of 2008 riots:
Tell the police, tell the army, we cannot find a loaf of bread.
Oh Gamal [Mubarak] and your dad, Mahalla hates you.
Protesters' chant in Alexandria:
Revolution, revolution, like a volcano, against Mubarak the coward.
Demonstrators in Ismailia, on the Suez Canal:
Where are you freedom?
Saeed Refaat, 25, at Cairo protest:
This is the march to freedom I have been waiting for all my life.
Police officer speaking on phone in Cairo near demonstrators:
We have orders not to clash with them.
Mohamed M on a Facebook group that led calls for protests:
I will go to the streets on the 25th of January because this country is my country and I vow an oath that I am ready and willing to die for its sake.
Issandr el Amrani, blogging on Arabist.net
In my book, if you get a tenth of the 80,000 people or so who support the initiative online, it will be a success.
A commuter in Cairo:
It's useless. No matter what they do nothing will change and if they arrest them [protesters] it's the end of them.
Here are the full quotes from Hillary Clinton regarding Egypt:
We support the fundamental right of expression and assembly for all people and we urge that all parties exercise restraint and refrain from violence. Our assessment is that the Egyptian government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people.
Meanwhile, in Tunisia, my colleague Peter Beaumont reports the first real divisions over the direction of the jasmine revolution, with the first significant demonstration in favour of the interim government (see picture below). From Tunis, Peter reports:
Confusingly they are also chanting the same word – "degage" (get out) – the anti-government demonstrators are using, but they mean the unions.
These demonstrators in Habib Bourguiba seem to be reflecting the line of the army's chief of staff yesterday – which is that they support the revolution and the ouster of President Ben Ali but don't want a vacuum and chaos.
There were some fist fights when both sides met today and you can see that this is the emerging faultline. Meanwhile in the Casbah at the prime minister's office, the anti-government protesters are settling in for the long haul with tents and mattresses.
Hillary Clinton (left), the US secretary of state, has urged all sides in Egypt to exercise restraint in the wake of today's protests. She said she believed the Egyptian government was stable and looking for ways to respond to its people's aspirations.
In the comments, orlandobeetle draws attention to this video which shows dramatic footage, apparently from Cairo today, of a man standing in front of a police truck and being hit with a water cannon.
The situation in Egypt seems to be escalating quite dramatically, but unrest has continued in Lebanon, too.
Protesters burned tyres and blocked roads after Najib Mikati, who is backed by Hezbollah, was named as prime minister. Hezbollah, then in opposition, ousted prime minister Saad Hariri earlier this month because he would not renounce support for a tribunal investigating who killed his father, the former PM Rafiq Hariri; Hezbollah members are likely to be implicated.
Mikati is to start talks on forming a new government on Thursday, and today appealed to the country's political factions to overcome their divisions. Twenty people were injured in protests in Tripoli, called by Sunni Muslims loyal to Hariri. His premiership will be seen as shifting the balance of power in the country towards Syria and Iran.
Reuters reports:
Hezbollah's enhanced political strength will set off alarm bells in Washington and across the region, especially in Israel which in 2006 fought a five-week war in a failed attempt to destroy the Iran-backed movement's formidable military capacity. Israeli officials have since threatened regularly to respond to Hezbollah's arsenal of rockets in Lebanon, upgraded with help from Syria and Iran.
Speaking at the presidential palace after receiving his nomination as prime minister from the presidnet, Michel Suleiman, Mikati said:
All Lebanese leaders should cooperate together to face the current challenges. I reiterate my position ... that my hand is extended to all factions to take part and end division … through dialogue.
Sayyad Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, urged Mikati to form a "national partnership government". He said:
We have supported the nomination of ... Mikati and we call on him to form a national partnership government. The Lebanese have a chance to close ranks.
Nasrallah claimed Mikati, a Sunni who was last prime minister in 2005, was not the Shia group's candidate, but said it had backed him as a compromise figure.
The biggest Lebanese protests took place in Tripoli, in the north of the country, where 20 people were treated for injuries and protesters set fire to a satellite truck used by Al-Jazeera. Protesters chanted "Sunni blood is boiling" and urged Mikati to withdraw his nomination. In Beirut, protesters blocked a road with burning tyres and overturned rubbish containers. A security source said shots were fired in the air and the army intervened, but no one was hurt.
Hariri appealed for calm and said he rejected demonstrations of violence:
You are angry but you are responsible people. I understand your feelings. This anger should not lead us to what disagrees with our values ... our belief that democracy is our refuge.
His Future Movement says it will not serve in any government dominated by Hezbollah.
Lebanon's power-sharing political system calls for the post of prime minister to be held by a Sunni – and Mikati is Sunni – but Hariri supporters said any figure who accepted the nomination from the Shia Hezbollah to form a new government would be considered a traitor.
The Associated Press news agency has filed a report on thousands of protesters, some throwing rocks and climbing on top of an armoured police truck, clashing with riot police in the centre of Cairo. Police responded with water cannon, batons and tear gas, as we have reported. Demonstrators were shouting "Down with Mubarak," a reference to Hosni Mubarak, the president, and "demanding an end to Egypt's grinding poverty, corruption, unemployment and police abuses".
The news agency reports:
Protesters emerged stumbling from white clouds of tear gas, coughing and covering their faces with scarves. Some had blood streaming down their faces. One man fainted. Police dragged some away and beat a journalist, smashing her glasses and seizing her camera.
At one point, the protesters seemed to gain the upper hand, forcing a line of riot police to flee under a barrage of rocks. One demonstrator climbed into a fire engine and drove it away.
AP has interviewed some Egyptian protesters. Eid Attallah, a driver aged 50 said:
I want my 3-year-old child to grow up with dignity and to find a job just like the president.
He said he had heard about the planned protests from friends but didn't expect them to be so big.
Sayid Abdelfatah, a 38-year-old civil servant who marched with an Egyptian flag, said:
We are fed up; this is just enough. Tunisia's revolution inspired me but I really never thought we would find such people ready to do the same here.
Lamia Rayan, 24, said: "We want to see change just like in Tunisia."
Radwa Qabbani, 26, said:
I am not protesting the police. They are citizens like me. I am protesting corruption, unemployment and high prices. We are just asking for the smallest dreams.
According to AP, nearly half of Egypt's 80 million people live under or just above the poverty line set by the United Nations at $2 (£1.27) a day. "Poor quality education, healthcare and high unemployment have left large numbers of Egyptians deprived of basic needs," the agency writes.
There were also thousands of protesters in Alexandria, in the north of the country, the agency reports.
Like the Tunisian protests, the calls for the rallies in Egypt went out on Facebook and Twitter, with 90,000 saying they would attend. Organisers used the site to give minute-by-minute instructions on where demonstrators should go in an attempt to outmanoeuvre the police. By late afternoon, access to Twitter appeared to have been blocked.
In another parallel with Tunisia, the protests drew energy in large part from the death of one person: a young Egyptian man named Khaled Said whose family and witnesses say was beaten to death by a pair of policemen in Alexandria last year.
His case has become a rallying point for Egypt's opposition. Two policemen are on trial in connection with his death.
Tunisia's protests – which led to the ousting of the president – were also sparked by the death of one man, a poor Tunisian vegetable seller who set himself in fire to protest against corruption.
Sally Sami (aka Salamander) tweets the following from Cairo:
Jack Shenker has just sent me this dramatic update from Egypt. He calls central Cairo a "war zone".
Downtown Cairo is a war zone tonight – as reports come in of massive occupations by protesters in towns across Egypt, the centre of the capital is awash with running street battles. Along with hundreds of others I've just been teargassed outside the parliament building, where some youths were smashing up the pavement to obtain rocks to throw at police.
We've withdrawn back to the main square now were thousands more demonstrators are waiting and a huge billboard advertising the ruling NDP party has just been torn down. Security forces are continuing to use sound bombs and teargas to disperse the crowd, but so far to no avail.
On Al-Jazeera, correspondent Rawya Rageh in Cairo is saying there is "clear anger and frustration being let out" on the streets of Egypt. This has been building up in Egypt for years, she says. Previous calls for protests have yielded "meagre results" – today's demonstrations are "unprecedented" for this "highly apathetic populace". Rageh adds: "Economic hardships have reached a choking limit for Egyptians."
Armed forces in #Egypt have abandoned shock-sticks for more potent weapons, crowds are massing. Pictures of leader burned. #jan25
Pictures of Husni Mubarak have been torn down in public. 100+ arrested. 3 Major news channels prevented from covering #Egypt #jan25
@KanchanGupta things getting serious over there. Twitter blocked, data services on phones getting cut off sporadically. Tear gas, arrests.
Al-Jazeera is calling the Egyptian protests "a day of wrath against poverty".
Jack Shenker has checked in from Cairo. He says the internet, Twitter and phone calls were all blocked there, but they are returning intermittently now. Here is his latest update on the protests there:
As darkness begins to fall, the thousands who have occupied Cairo's central square are pouring forward towards the parliament building, prompting running battles with armed police. The air is filled with teargas and some youths are hurling rocks at the police lines; many of the rocks are being thrown back by security officers.
A few moments ago a huge charge from demonstrators sent the riot police running, but they have now regrouped and are launching fresh assaults on the front wave of protesters, who are currently picking up the metal barricades installed by police and using them to set up barricades themselves. Large explosions are shaking the square, though it's not clear where they're coming from.
Martin Chulov, the Guardian's Iraq correspondent, reports that there were high hopes last week in cyberspace that Egypt's demonstrations would be replicated in Syria today. But according to our people in Damascus, he says, there is "not a peep of protest" there.
My colleagues on the Guardian's video desk have sent this video of Egyptian protesters demonstrating against Hosni Mubarak, the president.
Hi, Paul Owen here, taking over from Haroon Siddique. Here's a summary of key events so far:
• Governments in Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon are all facing protests on a significant day in the Middle East.
• In Egypt, thousands of anti-government protesters are demanding the end of Hosni Mubarak's nearly 30 years as president. Police have responded with tear gas, batons and water cannon. The "day of revolution" is the largest demonstration Egypt has seen for years.
• In Lebanon, Saad Hariri, the current caretaker prime minister whose supporters are rioting partly in his name, urged people to demonstrate without violence. He was unable to muster the numbers to stay in power and it seems almost certain Najib Miqati, the choice of Hezbollah, will take his place. Hezbollah, then in opposition, ousted Hariri because he would not renounce support for a tribunal investigating who killed his father, the former PM Rafiq Hariri; Hezbollah members are likely to be implicated.
• In Tunisia, the interim government – formed after the president, Zine Al-Abidene Ben Ali, was ousted earlier this month – is looking shaky. At issue is the presence in the new government of allies of the old president – including the interim prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi. Protesters taking to the streets today want them out. Army chief Rachid Ammar said his forces would "protect the revolution" but warned that "a power vacuum could lead to dictatorship".
Some confirmation from @geof24 below the line that Twitter has been blocked in Egypt.
I confirm that Twitter is down in Egypt. I can't get it on Etisalat, my internet provider. Not surprising, as a number of posters have put up photos and video feeds that won't have met with the government's approval and will have encouraged others into the street.
I'm going to hand the blog over now to my colleague Paul Owen.
If the United States and its allies wish to exploit the Tunisian example to widen processes of democratic change in the Arab world, they will need to adapt as well. Tunisia holds lessons both for Arab autocrats and for Western promoters of democracy. Which lessons turn out to be decisive will depend, if only in part, on whether democracy promoters demonstrate the same flexibility and responsiveness shown by Arab regimes.
Not everyone in the RCD is a corrupt thug, and the opposition parties are too small and too inexperienced to manage the challenges that face Tunisia -- including the challenges involved in organizing credible elections. Moreover, dissolving the RCD will not necessarily make it go away. Its cadres could organise yet another incarnation of the party that has ruled the country since independence.
Instead, the opposition needs to concentrate on preventing an overhauled RCD from dominating the first elections so thoroughly that the party returns to unchecked power. Institutional reform prior to the elections can help. If the interim government can solidify its credibility, it can pursue constitutional changes that establish meaningful checks on executive power before anyone gets elected who might try to thwart them. The interim government can also reform electoral laws that limited the number of opposition seats and forced the parties to fight over them.
I've seen discussion below the line on whether Lebanon should be included in this blog, along with Egypt and Tunisia. You might be interested in reading this analysis piece by Martin Chulov, which addresses the common theme running through the protests:
All of today's protests – both on the streets and in cyberspace – share a broad common theme: that people in this part of the world have been denied a democratic voice for too long. They also share a realisation that nepotism in government, scelrosis of institutions and lack of accountability need not be a given.
Here's the latest Associated Press take on the Egypt protests:
Thousands of anti-government protesters, some hurling rocks and climbing atop an armored police truck, clashed with riot police today in the center of Cairo in a Tunisia-inspired demonstration to demand the end of Hosni Mubarak's nearly 30 years in power.
Police responded with blasts from a water cannon and set upon crowds with batons and acrid clouds of tear gas to clear demonstrators crying out "Down with Mubarak" and demanding an end to the country's grinding poverty.
Tuesday's demonstration, the largest Egypt has seen for years, began peacefully, with police showing unusual restraint in what appeared to be a concerted government effort not to provoke a Tunisia-like mass revolt.
As the crowds in downtown Cairo's main Tahrir square continued to build, however, security personnel changed tactics and the protest turned violent.
Demonstrators attacked the police water canon truck, opening the driver's door and ordering the man out of the vehicle. Some hurled rocks and dragged metal barricades. Officers beat back protesters with batons as they tried to break cordons to join the main group of demonstrators downtown.
To the north, in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, thousands of protesters also marched in what was dubbed a "Day of Rage" against Mubarak and lack of political freedoms under his rule.
In another parallel with the Tunisia protests, the calls for rallies went out on Facebook and Twitter, with 90,000 saying they would attend.
The protests coincided with a national holiday honoring Egypt's much-feared police. Demonstrators in Cairo sang the national anthem and carried banners denouncing Mubarak and the widespread fraud that plagues the country's elections. The organisers said the protests were a "day of revolution against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment."
Mothers carrying babies marched and chanted, "Revolution until Victory!" while young men parked their cars on the main street and waved signs reading "OUT!" inspired by the Tunisian protestations of "DEGAGE!" this week. Men were seen spraying graffiti reading "Down with Hosni Mubarak."
"We want to see change just like in Tunisia," said Lamia Rayan, 24, one of the protesters. The noisy crowd was joined by cars driving alongside and honking their horns. People cried "Long Live a Free Tunisia," and waving Tunisian and Egyptian flags while police initially stood on the crowd's periphery.
I've just recorded some dramatic audio of Jack Shenker in Tahrir Square in Cairo where he is in the midst of clashes involving hundreds of young men and riot police. Young men wearing scarves over their mouths are throwing stones and bricks while the police are firing tear gas at the demonstrators and using water cannon. Shenker had to run from a police charge during the recording. He says people are wondering around with blood on their faces.
The Guardian's Martin Chulov says Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah has been speaking live, urging calm while the Lebanese Army battles a Sunni group near Tripoli, after a candidate, who he approved, was sworn in today as Lebanon's PM, replacing the ousted Saad Hariri. He said:
We understand the anger because of all the psychological and social tensions.
Riot police are advancing down Qasr Al Ainy skirmishing sporadically with protwsyors [protesters] and firing a water cannon #egypt #jan25
A few minutes earlier he tweeted:
Protestor down on the pavement in Qasr Al Ainy carried from the crowd unclear if he is conscious #egypt #jan25
The Guardian has video of Hariri's appeal for calm in Lebanon and of the protests by Sunni Muslims.
One man says:
We want to send urgent ... advice to Najib Makati and ask him to withdraw his candidacy [for prime minister].
Another update from Cairo from Jack Shenker:
Reports spreading of protesters attacking the council of ministers building downtown, while several thousands are marching towards Mubarak's presidential palace in Heliopolis. In Dar El Salaam, a densely-populated neighbourhood in southern Cairo, demonstrators claim they have taken over the police station.
There's a feeling of intense excitement on the streets here in Shubra, northern Cairo, as the police continue to stand back and allow protesters to pass - but some of the security forces are wearing bullet proof vests, and some fear this is the calm before the storm. One former television news presenter told me she hadn't seen anything like this since 1977, when an uprising over bread prices almost brought down the government of President Sadat. But demonstrations remain cut off from each other and it's still too early to say how this will play out.
Video has emerged of protesters chanting: "Down, down Hosni Mubarak."
My Arabic-speaking colleague Mona Mahmmod, tells me the demonstrators shown were also singing the Egyptian national anthem, Bilady, Bilady, Bilady by Sayed Darwish, which she says was used as a liberation song to oppose British occupation before being adopted as the national anthem on independence.
The lyrics include:
My country, my country, my country. You have my love and my heart.
Some more from Jack Shenker in Cairo where the crowds seem to be growing, leaving police confused as to how to respond:
Remarkable scenes in Cairo as thousands and thousands are marching with apparent freedom on the streets after years of seeing every anti-government protest immediately shut down by police. Riot troops are following close behind but seem uncertain as to what to do - three major demonstrations are now ongoing in different parts of the Egyptian capital, all of whom have broken through police cordons, but there seems to be little coordination between protest leaders about what to do next.
I'm downtown outside the offices of the government newspapers where hundreds are chanting "Mubarak, your plane is waiting" and appealing for passers-by to join them, many of whom are taking up the offer.
Ahmed Ashraf, a 26 year old bank analyst, told me this was his first protest, and that he had been inspired by events in Tunisia. "We are the ones controlling the streets today, not the regime," he said. "I feel so free - things can't stay the same after this."
The Guardian's Martin Chulov has provided more on Hariri's appeal for calm in Lebanon:
Saad Hariri, whose supporters are rioting partly in his name today has urged people to demonstrate without violence. "We will defend Lebanon's sovereignty together," he said in a live TV address. "You are responsible for Lebanon's safety despite your anger. I understand your feelings of anger, but we should keep to democracy to express our opinions."
Beirut seems to be largely in lockdown today. But that seems mostly precautionary. So far there has been a lot of civil disobedience, burning tyres and throwing rocks, but not the outright violence of May 2008. Things can very quickly change here though. Even on a good day, Beirut is only 48 hours away from anarchy.
Najib Miqati, the man almost certain to be Lebanon's PM, after Hariri was unable to muster the numbers in consultations yesterday, has claimed victory on al-Arabiya, saying he will dedicate his new cabinet to the memory of Saad's slain father, Rafiq Hariri.
Hariri senior's legacy is what this flashpoint is all about. The Hezbollah opposition ousted Hariri jnr because he would not renounce support for a tribunal investigating who killed his dad almost six years ago. Hezbollah members are likely to be implicated and they want a candidate as PM who will marginalise the tribunal.
After Hariri's call for calm (12.04pm), Reuters is now reporting that Lebanon president Michel Suleiman has just appointed Hezbollah's choice, Najib Mikati, to succeed Hariri as prime minister. Mikati reportedly said he will begin discussions on Thursday to form a new government and urged all Lebanese factions to overcome their differences. How that news will affect the mood of protesters remains to be seen.
In Lebanon, former - and interim - prime minister Hariri has called for calm and told his supporters to go back home and raise the Lebanon flag.
My call for you is a national call. You are angry but you are responsible people. I understand your feelings. This anger should not lead us to what disagrees with our values ... our belief that democracy is our refuge.
Protesters in Cairo have broken through police ranks and are heading towards the Nile, Jack Shenker, who is covering the Egypt protests for the Guardian, reports. Some have been beaten by police but the demonstrators remain defiant chanting at the police, most of whom are from very poor neighbourhoods, to join them. Many have sat down in the face of the amassed police ranks. Shenker told me that what started as a protest with three specific aims is now seen by many as an opportunity to bring down the Mubarak regime.
You can listen to Jack Shenker's report from Cairo below.
The Guardian's Ghaith Abdul-Ahad is in Beirut in the neighbourhood of Cola, which straddles a Sunni neighbourhood loyal to the former - and currently interim - prime minister Hariri and a Shia neighbourhood. He says demonstrations have been low key and the army has not intervened heavy-handedly but a significant incident could cause the situation to explode.
It is mainly street gangs. Hundreds of Sunni kids are burning tyres, trash containers, throwing rocks. There are lots of army officers, 10 Humvees, separating Sunnis from Shia neighbourhoods. The main line of the protesters is that this is an Iranian Hezbollah conspiracy. Some are carrying guns but most are throwing rocks, carrying sticks, moving about on small mopeds. The streets are calm but it's Beirut and it only takes one Sunni to be beaten up or one Shia to be killed for that to change.
The Guardian's Peter Beaumont writes that tension is rising in Tunisia where it appears the interim government is "untenable":
A sense of crisis is building again in Tunisia where the interim government, as it's now constituted, looks increasingly untenable. The issue is the presence of key allies of the autocratic former President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali who hold key posts in the cabinet including the defence and interior ministries. These are the people – along with interim Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi – who the protesters still taking to the streets want out.
Overnight the already strong sense of a government that is untenable has become ever more evident. There's been reports of negotiations going on late into the night last night that would see either an imminent major cabinet reshuffle or the appointment of a "council of wise man' - including unions, the bar council and representatives from the long banned Ennahda Islamist movement - to over see the government until elections. Perhaps both.
The sense of the alarm growing in Tunisia's old guard was supplied yesterday by army chief Rachid Ammar who addressed the demonstrators who have been camped out on the prime minister's doorstep at The Casbah in Tunis. While he said the army "would protect the revolution" he also warned that a "power vacuum could lead to dictatorship".
And you can read that two ways. Either he's saying that the army won't let the old regime loyalists undermine the Jasmine revolution, or that the army won't allow a situation where Tunisia is without a government. In any case it is confirmation of how important a role the army has played behind the scenes in Tunisia's recent upheaval. And is playing still.
There have been shots fired (in the air) and tyre-burning in Lebanon the Associated Press reports:
Thousands of Sunnis waved flags and burned tires Tuesday in a "day of rage" to protest gains by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which is on the brink of controlling Lebanon's next government. In the northern city of Tripoli, protesters torched a truck belonging to Al-Jazeera, but the station said none of its crew was injured.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah considered a terrorist organisation by Washington secured support in parliament Monday to name its own candidate, former premier Najib Mikati, for the next prime minister. The militant group's Western-backed opponents maintain that having an Iranian proxy in control of Lebanon's government would be disastrous and lead to international isolation.
Hezbollah's Sunni rivals held protests in different parts of Lebanon, including Tripoli, the capital Beirut and the main highway linking the capital with the southern port city of Sidon. A senior military official said several armed men fired in the air in west Beirut, but the army intervened and dispersed them. For the most part the gatherings were localized and not hugely disruptive.
The largest gathering was in Tripoli, where thousands of people converged at a major square calling on Mikati not to accept the post and shouting slogans backing caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Mikati urged calm Tuesday and said he wanted to represent all of Lebanon. "This is a democratic process," he told reporters. "I want to rescue my country."
It is a big day in the Middle East, where at least three governments are facing sizeable street protests.
• In Egypt, thousands of demonstrators are taking to the streets for a "day of revolution", demanding political reform, including a new term limit on the presidency that would bring to an end the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak. Today is traditionally a national holiday to celebrate the achievements of the police force but an unlikely alliance of youth activists, political Islamists, industrial workers and hardcore football fans are coming together to demand change.
• In Tunisia, there is unfinished business with respect to the Jasmine revolution which forced President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee into exile. Protesters are still fighting for the removal of his key allies who hold key posts in the cabinet including the defence and interior ministries. Many demonstrators have been camped in The Casbah in Tunis on the doorstep of interim Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi who they want out. The army chief has promised he "would protect the revolution" but also warned that a "power vacuum could lead to dictatorship".
• In Lebanon, thousands of Sunnis are taking part in a "day of rage" to show their opposition to the prospect of a new government under the control of Hezbollah. The Shia group, which caused the government led by Saad Hariri to fall just under two weeks ago by withdrawing its support, has now won backing in parliament for its own candidate, Syrian-backed businessman Najib Miqati, to succeed Hariri as prime minister. Under Lebanon's power-sharing system, the role is supposed to be reserved Sunnis. (5pm update: Miqati is a Sunni, but Sunni protesters object to his being backed by the Shia Hezbollah.)
• Anti-government demonstrations resume in Egypt • 860 protesters rounded up since yesterday • EU criticises government; US will not go that far • Read a summary of today's key events
It's approaching 4am in Suez and becoming increasingly difficult to ascertain exactly what is going on in the city. Some reports are suggesting the military has a presence in the city, but others deny it.
Fires have reportedly been started at the Police Headquarters in the city – earlier I posted a video purporting to show the blaze being put out – and at a chemical factory, and there are reports of restrictions to telephone and internet services, although some networks, including Vodafone, appear to now be working.
We're unable to confirm some of the reports coming from Suez, and it looks as if it will take daylight to reveal what is actually happening in the city. This blog is closing now, but we'll have more on tonight's events tomorrow morning – check back for updates.
Hope all in Egypt are safe and well.
Layth Hanball emails with a translation of the Arabic description of the video posted at 1.21am: "Please share the video people, and there are more on the way"
Layth says the highest rated comment (you can see them if you view the video on Youtube) is from popular songs sung during 20th century wars in Egypt:
Mum, if I died don't cry, I would die so my country can live, be happy mother and be proud of me, and remember me on the day of victory, and teach my young siblings to sacrifice like me
The second most popular comment reads simply:
God be with you
CNN reporting that two newspaper website have been shut down:
The Committee to Protect Journalists also said Wednesday that Egyptian authorities have shut down the websites of two popular independent newspapers, Al-Dustour and El-Badil.
I don't read Arabic so can't make out the uploader's description or the comments beneath the video. If you can shed any light email adam.gabbatt@guardian.co.uk
A confusing picture coming out of Suez. Reports that the police headquarters and a chemical factory having been set on fire, with some suggesting the army has moved into the city to quell protesters, however some tweets disputing this:
@theydontneedme_ The army is not any where near the action in #suez like some say. #jan25
@mShady Vodafone mobile network is back in #Suez #Jan25 #25Jan
However @theydontneedme has tweeted saying she has been at home for an hour, so things could have changed. @mShady's tweet – alerted to me by @Oxenstierna_IRL, monitoring events from Scotland – is backed up by others from Egypt saying Vodafone was the only network to remain working throughout the telephone block.
The We are all Khaled Said opposition protest group is updating its Facebook page constantly. Here's its latest post on Suez.
Urgent News: Suez is completely cut off. Police has been evacuated. Protesters there are very angry. The army is being brought in according to reports. Some sad speculations say that a massive crackdown will take place in Suez on protesters which could end up with a REAL Massacre. Suez now is Egypt's Sidi Bouzid.
Alarming reports are coming in from Suez, where protests continued today. Three protesters were killed in the city yesterday.
Reports say all landlines, mobile phone networks and web access has been cut off.
This picture purportedly shows Al Arbeen Police Headquarters on fire in the city, while hundreds of people are tweeting concerns on Twitter.
This video apparently shows efforts to put out the blaze:
Some social network users now suggesting the Egyptian Army has moved in on the city. All calls to landlines and mobile phones are reportedly failing.
A summary of what's happened so far today in Egypt:
• Police have fought with thousands of Egyptians who defied a government ban to protest against President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year-old rule. Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas, dragging away demonstrators.
• A protester and a police officer have been killed in central Cairo. There is confusion as to whether they died in the protests or as the result of a car crash. Clashes continued in other cities around Egypt – in Suez protesters torched a government building.
• The scenes were unprecedented in the country, one of the United States' closest Middle East allies, and follow the overthrow two weeks ago of another long-serving Arab strongman, Tunisian leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, in a popular revolt.
• Activists had called on people to rally again after a "Day of Wrath" on Tuesday of anti-government rallies across Egypt in which three protesters and one policeman were killed. There are calls to continue smaller scale protests through Thursday ahead of national protests on Friday.
Some confusion over the two people who have died in Cairo, with Reuters reporting that both died in a car crash, rather than in clashes between protesters and police.
Earlier reports quoted a security official as saying a protester and a policeman were killed during the protests, however Reuters quotes a second official giving a different account.
The official said a policeman and a woman bystander died after being hit by a car near the centre of Cairo. Another man was injured. The official said that the crash was not linked to anti-government protests across the city. "An investigation is under way," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity as is normal in Egypt.
Two people have died in Cairo, the Associated Press news agency is reporting, as violence continues tonight, where night has fallen. AP says:
Security officials say one protester and one policeman have been killed in an anti-government protest in central Cairo, bringing to six the number of people killed in two days of demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak's regime.
The policeman and the protester were killed by rocks thrown by both sides in a clash in a poor neighborhood in the center of the capital.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information to journalists.
Peter Beaumont reports from Cairo, where demonstrators are playing "cat and mouse" with police.
Riot police and plain clothes officers armed with staves and bars broke up a demonstration outside one of Cairo's biggest tourist hotels, the Ramses Hilton, on the banks of the river Nile.
Tonight groups of demonstrators and police are still playing a violent game of cat and mouse through the city centre's streets – with protesters quickly re-grouping after being broken up.
The sound of police sirens and detonating tear gas canisters could be heard across the city, in the biggest protests against the regime of 82-year-old president Hosni Mubarak in three decades.
Protests took place across Egypt, with gatherings broken up by police outside a number of locations in the capital, including Cairo's supreme court, Nasser metro station and on Ramses Street.
Police continued to round up scores of people, including photographers and reporters covering the demonstrations. The latest clashes occurred on a day when officials announced that 860 people had been rounded up following mass protests against Mubarak on Tuesday, when at least four people died.
The crackdown by authorities brought harsh words from European leaders, who expressed concern and said the events underlined the need for democratisation and respect for human and civil rights.
That's all for the live blog today. You can read Peter's full story here, while any major developments will be on guardian.co.uk.
William Hague, the foreign secretary, has today called on the authorities and protesters in Egypt to show restraint and avoid violence. He urged the Egyptian authorities to "listen to the concerns" of demonstrators. Hague said:
We deeply regret the loss of life in the Egyptian protests. All parties should show restraint and avoid violence.
It is important that the government listens to the concerns of those demonstrating and respects rights of freedom of assembly and expression.
Openness, transparency and political freedom are important tenets of stability. We urge the government and demonstrators to seek a peaceful way forward.
The Foreign Office has also today updated its travel advice, counselling UK citizens to avoid political gatherings and demonstrations. Hague said the advice would be kept under constant review.
Hilary Clinton, The US secretary of state, has made her most blunt comments to date urging Mubarak to undertake reforms. This comes after anger from some that she failed to condemn the Egyptian government yesterday. Today she told reporters:
We urge the Egyptian authorities not to prevent peaceful protests or block communications including on social media sites.
We believe strongly that the Egyptian government has an important opportunity at this moment in time to implement political, economic and social reforms to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people.
Peter Beaumont also reports that Twitter seemed to be working when he arrived at 4pm, but he cannot access Facebook. The Guardian's website is working fine.
The US has expanded on its position on Egypt a little. The White House said today it was keeping a close watch on the protests there and said that the US backed Egyptians' "universal rights" of assembly and speech, according to the Reuters news agency.
Asked whether the US still supported Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Egypt remained a "close and important ally". Gibbs said:
We are monitoring closely the situation in Egypt. We continue to believe first and foremost that all of the parties should refrain from violence.
We are supportive of the universal rights of assembly [and] speech. Again, we would stress quite clearly for all involved that expressions should be free from violence. This is an important time for the government to demonstrate its responsibilities to the people of Egypt in recognising those universal rights.
In Cairo, Peter Beaumont reports that there are demonstrators around the Ramses Hilton hotel by the Nile in the city centre, a hotel full of tourists. A police car passing one group has had its windows stoned out as it was driving, Peter reports.
But it seems after yesterday police are not taking any chances today. There are a lot of riot police in uniform but also a large number of police in plain clothes armed with sticks and some with metal bars who have been charging into groups of protesters.
Here is some more detail about European reaction to the crackdown. Guido Westerwelle, the German foreign minister, said he was "very concerned" and called on all concerned to show restraint:
The situation in Egypt must not escalate. The current situation in Egypt ... underlines the necessity of democratisation, of respect for human and civil rights. We are seeing in the last few weeks that a country's stability is not endangered by granting civil rights; it is through the refusal of civil and human rights that societies become unstable.
The office of Lady Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, said Egyptian authorities should listen to their people, deal with their problems and respect their right to demonstrate, urging the "Egyptian authorities to respect and to protect the right of Egyptian citizens to manifest their political aspirations".
As reported earlier, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state said only that "the Egyptian Government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people".
Here is an afternoon summary:
• There has been a second day of protests in Egypt against the government of Hosni Mubarak. The demonstrators want Mubarak to stand down as president and want the government to provide some solution to the country's economic problems, including serious poverty, rising prices and high unemployment.
• Police have rounded up 860 protesters since yesterday, the Associated Press is reporting. Again they used tear gas and beatings on the demonstrators. Facebook, Twitter and mobile phones have been sporadically blocked.
• European leaders have criticised Egypt, but Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, did not condemn the Cairo government, a key US ally in the Middle East.
• Anonymous, the group that conducted cyber-attacks in support of WikiLeaks, has threatened to do the same to the Egyptian government if it does not stop censoring the media.
The Associated Press is reporting that 860 protesters have been "rounded up" by police since yesterday. In a report on today's anti-government demonstrations, which took place in defiance of an official ban, police used tear gas and beat protesters to disperse them. The demonstrators are demanding that Hosni Mubarak stands down as president and the government provides some solution to Egypt's economic problems, including serious poverty, rising prices and high unemployment.
The news agency reports:
After nightfall today, more than 2,000 demonstrators were marching on a major downtown boulevard along the Nile when dozens of riot police with helmets and shields charged the crowd. It was a scene repeated throughout the day wherever demonstrators tried to gather.
The crackdown by authorities brought harsh words from European leaders, who expressed concern and said the events underline the need for democratisation and respect for human and civil rights. However, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton did not criticise Egypt's government – a key US ally in the Middle East – but only said the country was stable and Egyptians have the right to protest while urging all parties to avoid violence.
Activists used social networking sites to call for fresh demonstrations Wednesday. But Facebook, a key tool used to organize protests, appeared to be at least partially blocked in the afternoon. On Tuesday, Twitter and cell phones appeared to be sporadically blocked as well.
The interior ministry warned today that police would not tolerate any gatherings, and thousands were out on the streets poised to crack down quickly on any new signs of unrest after clashes yesterday that killed three demonstrators and one police officer.
Early today, thousands of policemen in riot gear and backed by armored vehicles took up posts in Cairo on bridges across the Nile, at major intersections and squares as well as outside key installations such as the state TV building and the headquarters of Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party.
Police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of several hundred activists on a main commercial thoroughfare in central Cairo, chasing them through side streets as both sides pelted each other with rocks with hundreds of onlookers watching anxiously.
Earlier, dozens gathered outside the Journalists' Union in downtown Cairo and renewed the chants heard against Mubarak throughout Tuesday's much larger protests. "Mubarak is leaving, leaving. Oh Egyptian people, be brave and join us," they chanted. As police charged the crowd, beating them with sticks, they chanted "peaceful, peaceful."
In the city of Suez east of Cairo, an angry crowd of about 1,000 people gathered outside the city's morgue demanding to take possession and bury the body of one of three protesters who died in clashes on Tuesday.
In the southern city of Assiut, eyewitnesses said riot police set upon some 100 activists staging an anti-government protest Wednesday, beating them up with batons and arresting nearly half of them.
"Down, down Hosni Mubarak," chanted the crowd. "Oh, people, join us or you will be next."
Security officials said up to 200 protesters were detained early today. More were likely to be detained as authorities review police videotapes of the protests, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
My colleague Peter Beaumont has just arrived in Cario and sends the following:
Quite dangerous. Just seen police car have its windows bricked out, now plainclothes cops piling in with iron bars.
According to my colleague Sam Jones, Vodafone has also had a problem with its customers being blocked from using Twitter in Egypt yesterday, although the company thought it had been resolved. For more click here.
The Associated Press news agency has just filed a story from the Hague saying that Dutch police stopped a man setting himself on fire in front of the Egyptian embassy there.
Police say the 52-year-old was carrying a banner, had soaked himself in flammable liquid and was trying to spark a lighter when they blinded him with pepper spray and wrestled him to the ground.
In a statement Wednesday, police said the man of Egyptian ancestry has been taken into custody and his motives are unknown.
The incident occurred while Egypt's government is facing widespread protests.
Several people in Egypt have set themselves alight recently, replicating the actions of a Tunisian vegetable seller. His self-immolation sparked protests that brought down Tunisia's government.
We can confirm that Twitter was blocked in Egypt around 8am PT today. It is impacting both Twitter.com & applications. (1/2)
Re Egypt block: We believe that the open exchange of info & views benefits societies & helps govts better connect w/ their people. (2/2)
@abdu we will make small statements here, but prefer to let our users speak for Twitter - esp those who understand situations better than us
@abdu we mean that we prefer users in Egypt (or elsewhere) to speak for how Twitter is being used (or not) instead of us.
@abdu we mean that we prefer users in Egypt (or elsewhere) to speak for how Twitter is being used (or not) instead of us.
My colleagues on the video desk have sent this mobile phone footage of protesters throwing missiles at police and tearing down pictures of the president and his son.
In the comments, akadono makes some interesting points about western support for Arab dictatorships:
Citizens of western countries should definitely expect their governments not to actively support dictatorial regimes.
There is a question though with Egypt if the popular anger with Mubarak is strictly because he runs an undemocratic regime, or whether it is his policies that are unpopular. Under Nasser, Egypt was a one-party state that clamped down on Islamist opposition. Nasser is often held up as a heroic figure in the Arab world, but having crowds on the streets chanting your name does not equal democracy. Outlets and protection for dissenting opinions also define democracy.
In that sense Egypt has moved from a popular (?) dictatorship feared by the west under Nasser, to an unpopular dictatorship on good terms with the west under Mubarak. Is the fault of the US then that it has supported an unpopular regime, rather than a dictatorial one?
Saddam's Iraq famously moved from being softly pro-Soviet in the 70s, through US backing in the 80s, to US opposition after 1991 - and all the while the people of Iraq were subject to the same style of dictatorship. People like George Galloway made the opposite journey - opposing Saddam when he was doing deals with Rumsfeld, and offering excuses for him when Rumsfeld was planning to oust him.
The US has provided backing to theocratic states such as Saudi Arabia, and much more secular ones such as Tunisia. Oil rich and oil poor.
I hope you see why I've been slightly cynical about anger at the west for supporting Arab dictatorships. Often the anger seems to be more that they have not been supporting the right kind of Arab dictatorships.
In the comments, GeorgeWeyman points out his attempts to set up a Twitter translation service to enable Arabic speakers to read English tweets and vice versa. Click here to have a look.
The Reuters news agency has just filed a line saying that the Egyptian authorities have arrested 500 demonstrators. It attributes this to an interior ministry source.
Mostafa Mourad has tweeted about which websites have been blocked in Egypt.
(4.05pm correction: I mistakenly thought this tweet was saying CNN, Fox, the Washington Post and the Guardian were blocked too – apologies.)
Hi, Paul Owen here, taking over from Haroon Siddique.
The group Anonymous, best known for its cyber-attacks on PayPal and MasterCard in support of WikiLeaks, has issued a threat to the Egyptian government to "attack your government websites" and "make sure the international media sees the horrid reality you impose upon your people" if Cairo does not "offer free access to uncensored media in your entire country". You can read the full message here.
Here's the latest take from Reuters on the fresh clashes:
Police used riot trucks on Wednesday to break up a crowd of as many as 3,000 people who had gathered outside a Cairo court complex, one of the places where demonstrations had started on Tuesday. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the morgue in Suez demanding the release of one of the three bodies, witnesses said. Protesters said he was killed by several gunshots and demanded an autopsy. "The government has killed my son," the Suez protesters outside the morgue chanted. "Oh Habib, tell your master, your hands are soiled with our blood," they said, referring to Interior Minister Habib al-Adli.
Hundreds of protesters also gathered outside Cairo's journalists' syndicate, where the authorities allow regular protests. Police beat some with batons when they tried to break a cordon. Protesters on buildings threw stones at police below. The state news agency said 90 people were arrested while trying to gather in Tahrir square in central Cairo, the focus of the biggest demonstrations. A judicial source said 64 people were detained in Alexandria.
I'm going to hand the blog to my colleague Paul Owen now.
Lots of people tweeting about police firing teargas at protesters.
Smoke from Galaa street. Area of the press syndicate looks like a war zone, with broken bricks covering the ground. More info soon. #Jan25
If you're wondering why Jack Shenker, reporting from Cairo for the Guardian, has been relatively quiet today, he was arrested and beaten by the police in the early hours of the morning. He was taken in the back of a police van where he used his dictaphone to record some remarkable audio describing what was happening around him and to interview other arrestees. The whole article and audio can be found by clicking on this link.
Here's a taste:
In the distance, riot police could be seen advancing from Tahrir. I called the news desk to report that violence was spreading; while I was on the phone the police began to charge, sending me and several hundred protestors running. A short distance away I stopped, believing it safe; a number of ordinarily dressed young men were running in my direction and I assumed them to be protestors also fleeing the police charge behind them. Yet as two of them reached me I was punched by both simultaneously and thrown to the ground, before being hauled back up by the scruff of the neck and dragged towards the police lines.
The men were burly and wore leather jackets – up close I could see they were amin dowla, plain-clothes officers from Egypt's notorious state security service. All attempts I made to tell them in Arabic and English that I was an international journalist were met with more punches and slaps; around me I could make out other isolated protestors also being hauled along, receiving the same treatment.
We were being dragged towards a security building on the edge of the square, just two streets away from my apartment, and as I approached the doorway of the building other security officers took flying kicks and punches at me. I spotted a high-ranking uniformed officer and shouted at him that I was a British journalist. He responded by walking over and punching me twice, saying in Arabic, "Fuck you and fuck Britain".
An update from Jack Shenker, reporting from the Guardian, in Cairo:
Things are kicking off again in downtown Cairo as protesters attempting to rally are met with fierce police resistance. Security forces are repeating yesterday's tactics, using sound bombs and tear gas to disperse crowds; protesters that can get access to twitter are calling desperately for help. There are reports of hundreds of beatings and arrests, with many fearful that violence will intensify as darkness begins to fall.
"The group Anonymous, known for staging web attacks on PayPal and MasterCard in support of Wikileaks, has called for volunteers to stage a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against web sites run by the Egyptian government", the International Business Times reports:
The group has asked, via the IRC chat rooms, that users access a web-based version of a program called Low Orbit Ion Cannon or download it, according to reports from netcraft.com, which publishes news on online security. The software stages DDoS attacks and was originally written as a stress-testing application. The sites slated for attack, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Ministry of the Interior appear to be up and running, so if a DDoS attack was staged it hasn't been effective.
I've been asked to point out that such attacks are illegal!
The main demonstrations in Cairo at the moment seem to be outside the journalists' and lawyers' headquarters respectively:
Twitter had already been blocked in Egypt, forcing people to use alternative IP addresses. Now Facebook, which hosts the popular opposition movement pages We are all Khaled Said and the April 6 Youth Movement, has also reportedly been blocked.
The Egyptian consulate in Britain was more forthcoming than the UK Home Office (see 12.38pm) on the reports that Gamal Mubarak (son of Hosni) and his family have fled to London amid the protests, my colleague Sam Jones tells me. A spokesman said to him:
We deny it. I assume he is in Cairo, but he's not in London. That's the truth of the matter.
The spokesman, who said the reports had originated on the US-based website, Akhbar Al-Arab, would not comment on whether Gamal Mubarak had any plans to flee Egypt.
From what we can gather it seems that the protests have been on a fairly small scale so far.
Reuters has these details:
Brief attempts by protesters to gather again on Wednesday outside a court complex in Cairo and in the industrial city of Mahallah el-Kubra were quickly broken up. In Tahrir square, police questioned and moved on anyone who appeared to loiter.
And from the Associated Press
In the southern city of Assiut, eyewitnesses said riot police set upon some 100 activists staging an anti-government protest Wednesday, beating them up with batons and arresting nearly half of them...Thousands of policemen in riot gear and backed by armored vehicles took up posts on bridges across the Nile, at major intersections and squares as well as outside key installations like the state TV building and the headquarters of Mubarak's ruling National democratic Party in central Cairo.
@sandmonkey has been consistently tweeting from the protests. Here are some of the latest:
Everyone in cairo. Head to lawyers syndicate at abdel khale2 sarwat. GO NOW! #jan25
Midan el sa3a is confirmed as well, but the are a small crowd and need ur help. if u r at nasr city, go #jan25
Ok, here is the confirmed reports: 6 october 7osary is on, but the secuirty forces there is cracking down on protesters. #jan25
My colleague Sam Jones tells me the Home Office has declined to comment on reports that Gamal Mubarak and his family have fled to Britain (see 9.25am). A spokeswoman told the Guardian:
We do not comment on individual journeys to and from the UK
Thanks @geof24 for posting this comment below the line:
I've seen groups of youths making their way along Ramsis Street in Ghamra towards Downtown Cairo looking to join the protests indicated on the We are All Khaled Said page. The school in which I teach is sending students home early. Attendance is only about 60% after yesterday's events.
The We are Khaled Said group, named in tribute to a man allegedly killed by two Egyptian plainclothes police officers after he posted a video online showing them dividing up the spoils of a drug haul, is calling for protests after Friday prayers. Of today's protests it's latest update says:
14 protesters arrested in Monoufya. Many families can't find their sons since last night arrests. Police is literally randomly arresting young people in Tahrir square. Several arrests and attacks on protesters in 6 October. Egyptian police will soon be having problem finding spaces in civil prisons and military prisons.... That will not silent us. This will bring more people to join us.
In a brief diversion from Egypt, Interpol has a warrant for the arrest of the former Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. From Reuters:
Tunisia has asked Interpol to help arrest ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, his wife Leila Trabelsi and other members of the family who fled the country during an uprising, the justice minister said on Wednesday. Lazhar Karoui Chebbi told a news conference that Tunisia wanted to try Ben Ali and his clan for "possessing of (expropriated) property and transferring foreign currency abroad". He named seven members of Ben Ali's family in Tunisian custody but said that Imed Trabelsi, a nephew of Leila Trabelsi, and Sakher al-Materi, Ben Ali's son-in-law, had fled abroad. He said the name of Leila's brother Belhassan Trabelsi had also been presented to Interpol. Chebbi said six members of Ben Ali's presidential guard in custody, including Ali Seriati, would be tried for "conspiring against state security and inciting people against each other with weapons". He said no legal action was in the works so far against Ben Ali's Interior Minister Rafik Belhaj Kacem who led efforts to crush the uprising when it broke in late December. Ben Ali fired him a few days before he fled.
Some fascinating comments on Egypt from Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to Britain and the United States. Remember Saudi took in Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali when he fled and many Egyptians hope that Mubarak will follow him there (see 11.36am). Faisal, from a country that is not exactly a shining example of democracy itself, does not appear to show much support for Mubarak, suggesting it is for the Egyptian leader to submit to the will of the people. He told Reuters Insider television:
In Egypt, I really can't say where this is going to go. Whether they can catch up as leaders to what the population is aiming (for) is still to be seen.
He added:
I think developments in Tunis took everybody by surprise. Each country has its own criteria and its own dynamics. I think we will have to wait a day or two until things clear up to wait and see how these demonstrations (in Egypt) are going to go.
Reuters reports the start of small-scale protests today:
Dozens of Egyptian protesters gathered in central Cairo on Wednesday, a day after unprecedented demonstrations that called for an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30 years in office, a security source said. The source said protesters gathered outside a court complex in the centre of the capital, a place where some of Tuesday's protests also began. Security remains tight across the city and the Interior Ministry said it would not let protests resume.
Professor Juan Cole, an expert on US and Middle East politics from the University of Michigan has blogged on the significance of yesterday's protests and says the reaction of the military in Egypt is crucial, and could be very different than in Tunisia:
One question is whether these demonstrations are food riots as in 1977 or whether now they want more, i.e. political reform. (Political reformers certainly backed the protests, but these groups, such as al-Ghad (Tomorrow) and supporters of former IAEA head Muhammad Elbaradei, are small and previous calls by them for masses to come out have gone largely unheeded. The Muslim Brotherhood did not actively back the demonstrations, though it allowed individual members to participate. These crowds were mainly newbies without strong political affiliation). A second is whether the army and security forces will stand unified behind the Mubarak regime, as they have in the past. In Tunisia, the army refused to fire on demonstrators on behalf of Ben Ali. But Mubarak is a former air force general, who came out of the military to rule the country, as part of a military regime established in 1952. A caution: Egypt is not Tunisia.
Details from Twitter of more people planning to defy the orders by the Egyptian interior ministry not to protest.
Everyone: there will be a protest in 6th of October city at 2 pm in Medan Alhasry intersection #jan25 #egypt
This video shows amazing footage from yesterday of a Tiananmen Square-style protest, a solitary man in Egypt blocking the path of a police lorry spraying water cannon. It's one of the most powerful images I've seen so far of yesterday's protests.
Protesters are calling for a return to Tahrir this afternoon, where very strong security is in place ready to shut down any sign of protest. There's a massive police presence on the streets throughout the city, and reports of small groups of young men being rounded up by state security officers at random locations across downtown. Twitter remains blocked for most people - the restriction has been confirmed by Twitter itself - and phone and internet services are still intermittent, although my home net seems to be working fine at the moment. The Egyptian authorities have put out statements blaming the Muslim Brotherhood for last night's unrest, and claim they allowed Egyptians "to voice their demands and exercise their freedom of expression". All protests today are officially banned. The stock market has taken a huge tumble - 21 billion Egyptian pounds (£0.2bn) within the first 15 minutes of trading.
Above is a picture of al-Sayed Badawi, the president of the Wafd party (the most established of Egypt's legal opposition parties) appearing on al-Jazeera and making the following demands: 1. A new national unity government 2. The dissolution of parliament 3. New elections under a proportional representation system My gut reaction: this is either a significant break with the Wafd's behavior for over 30 years, or he is making this announcement on behalf of the regime. Why the conspiracy theory? Because he doesn't mention the question of the presidency, a chief demand of the protestors. Perhaps he should be given the benefit of the doubt. Meanwhile, the National Association for Change has made its own demands, including asking Mubarak to step down and Gamal to be disqualified from the presidency, as well as the dissolution of the parliament. Other groups have other demands, including a new minimum wage and the firing of the interior minister. These people should be coordinating — and remember they are not the ones who protested tonight.
Reuters says a fourth person has died as result of yesterday's protests. There were reports elsewhere earlier that four people had died but other news organisations referred to three deaths. Reuters writes:
A fourth Egyptian died in hospital on Wednesday as a result of protests the previous day that were staged to call for an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule, a medical source said. Gharib Abdelaziz Abdellatif, 45, died in Suez, east of Cairo, the source said. Two other protesters died in Suez on Tuesday due to rubber bullets. A police officer was killed on Tuesday in Cairo as a result of a stone hitting his head
Egypt's interior ministry has warned of zero tolerance for protests today. From the Associated Press:
Riot police deployed across the Egyptian capital on Wednesday in anticipation of fresh anti-government protests a day after thousands demonstrated nationwide to demand an end to President Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian rule of nearly 30 years. The Interior Ministry said in a statement that police would not tolerate any gatherings, marches or protests Wednesday, suggesting that security forces would immediately resort to force to at the first sign of protesters gathering. Thousands of policemen in riot gear and backed by armored vehicles could be seen on bridges across the Nile, at major intersections and squares as well as outside key installations like the state TV building and the headquarters of Mubarak's ruling National democratic Party in central Cairo.
As the Egyptian stock market plummets (see 9.42am), so does the country's currency. From Reuters:
Egypt's pound fell on Wednesday to its lowest level against the US dollar since January 2005 after the biggest anti-government protests of President Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule. The pound fell as low as 5.830 against the US currency after closing at 5.816 on Monday before the protests in Cairo and several other cities across the country. "At the opening there was exaggerated buying of the dollar based on yesterday's protest," said a Cairo-based trader who asked not to be named. "But that's only in the beginning. I think people now are calmer." Cairo's streets returned to normal on Wednesday after unprecedented demonstrations demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule, as protest leaders asked followers to regroup for a second day of action. The benchmark Egyptian stock index (.EGX30) saw its biggest drop since last May. "The Egyptian pound is at the mercy of the news for now and it's only chance to strengthen is if the euro continues to stay at a high level," said another Cairo trader.
Egypt's stock market is tumbling in the midst of the protests. From the Associated Press:
Egypt's stock market has tumbled over 4% a day after massive anti-government protests engulfed the capital and other cities, leaving three people dead. The benchmark EGX30 index was down 4.63 percent, to 6,411.94 points by 10.45 am local time Tuesday. Its year-to-date losses stand so far at over 10%.
There was anger yesterday at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's pronouncement that "the Egyptian Government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people". That anger could be amplified by the fact that US president Barack Obama did not refer to the protests in Egypt, a US ally, in his state of the union address last night, while expressing solidarity with the Tunisian people, although he did express general support for democracy. He said:
Tonight, let us be clear: the United States of America stands with the people of Tunisia, and supports the democratic aspirations of all people.
There are unconfirmed reports that President Hosni Mubarak's son, Gamal, fled to London yesterday with his wife and daughter. Gamal was considered to be the president's choice as his successor. The Times of India carries the story, based on a report on the US-based Arabic website Akhbar al-Arab.
From what's coming out of Twitter from people who were out on the streets yesterday, it seems likely protests will restart in the afternoon. It's currently 11.16am in Egypt.
On the south end of the square, a military tank rolled into the crowd. At the top of the tank an officer manned a fire hose that hammered down onto the protesters. But no one moved. The fire tank had not advanced more than 30 yards before a young Egyptian sprinted up the front of the vehicle and scaled up the side. He proceeded to climb up to the top of the tank, inciting ovations from the crowd. When he reached the top of the tank, the officer manning the hose dropped the nozzle and jumped on the back of the protester. The two men toppled off the vehicle and onto the ground, where the man was taken away by other officers. The moment they fell to the ground, the front 200 protesters dropped to their knees in unison and began to pray while the rest of the crowd looked into the faces of Egyptians staring at the scene from high above in their apartment windows. "Who will be the next hero?" they chanted as they looked up. Then they burst into a new chant: "Come join us, come join us!"
This video gives a sense of the incredible scenes in Tahrir Square last night before police violently dispersed the crowds.
Egyptian protesters who took to the streets in their tens of thousands to demand an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule are regrouping and preparing for fresh demonstrations. Violent clashes in the early hours of the morning in Cairo's central plaza, Tahrir Square, and reports suggest four people died in yesterday's protests, but opponents to the Mubarak regime appear undeterred. It remains unclear as to how the scale of the protests will compare to yesterday (which was a national holiday) but the mood last night was defiant. Protesters had vowed to occupy Tahrir Square until the regime fell but were dispersed by security forces using tear gas, water cannon and firing on demonstrators, according to eyewitness accounts. Security forces have said they will not permit protesters to reassemble today.
Opponents of Hosni Mubarak regime gather in Cairo prior to resumption of demonstrations, communications suggest
Egyptian protesters demanding an end to the 30-year reign of the president, Hosni Mubarak, were today preparing to take to the streets again and resume their demonstrations.
Calm returned to the streets of Cairo after violent clashes in Tahrir Square that lasted into the early hours of the morning.
But communications on Twitter – which people continue to use despite the Egyptian authorities blocking the official website – suggested opponents of the Mubarak regime were gathering prior to a return to the square, in the centre of the city.
However, it was unclear how many people were planning to join the protests after the unprecedented scenes yesterday.
Last night, the US urged the Egyptian authorities to show restraint, asking them "to respond to any protests peacefully".
"The Egyptian government has an important opportunity to be responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people, and pursue political, economic and social reforms that can improve their lives and help Egypt prosper," the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said.
Egyptian security forces said protesters would not be permitted to reassemble, raising the prospect of further clashes.
Four people died, including Ahmed Aziz, a police officer, who was hit on the head by stones, according to reports based on information from security and medical sources. Two protesters were killed in Suez, east of Cairo, as other demonstrations took place around the country.
Protesters waved Egyptian and Tunisian flags, hauled down a billboard for the ruling NDP party and chanted: "Depart, Mubarak." The 82-year-old leader faces elections later this year.
"This is the first day of the Egyptian revolution," Karim Rizk, who was at one of the Cairo rallies yesterday, said.
Protests against decades of poverty, oppression and police torture had been declared illegal by the authorities and were met with a fierce response. Teargas and water cannons were fired into the crowd, and rocks thrown by demonstrators and security forces.
"We have taken back our streets today from the regime, and they won't recover from the blow," Rizk said.
Protests also broke out in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, where posters of Mubarak and his son, Gamal, were destroyed. Roads were also blocked in the Sinai peninsula, and large rallies were reported across the Nile delta and the Suez canal region.
The protests were called by a coalition of online activists, who promised that 25 January would be a "day of revolt".
Apparently taken by surprise at the size of the crowds, police initially stood back and allowed demonstrators to occupy public squares and march through the streets – unprecedented in a country where political gatherings are outlawed and demonstrations normally shut down quickly.
But as the marches grew, the government moved to isolate them. Access to the internet, phone and social media networks was blocked, spreading confusion among protesters and temporarily sealing the largest Arab country off from the rest of the world. Access was later restored, although services remained intermittent.
As night fell, thousands of demonstrators stood their ground for what they vowed would be an all-night sit-in in Tahrir Square, metres from parliament and other government buildings.
Security forces moved in, arresting people, chasing others into side streets and filling the square with clouds of teargas. Protesters collapsed on the ground with breathing problems.
The sound of what appeared to be automatic weapons could be heard as riot police and plainclothes officers chased several hundred protesters who scrambled on to the main road along the Nile in central Cairo. Some 20 officers were seen beating one protester with truncheons.
"It got broken up ugly with everything, shooting, water cannon and [police] running with the sticks," Gigi Ibrahim, who was among the last protesters to leave the square, said. "It was a field of teargas. The square emptied out so fast."
Ibrahim said she was hit in the back with something that felt like a rock. "Some people were hit in their faces," she said.
Some protesters turned violent amid the crackdown, knocking down an empty white police booth and dragging it for several yards before setting it on fire while chanting that they wanted to oust the regime. A police truck was overturned and set ablaze.
Protesters also set fire to a barricade and blocked traffic on a major bridge over the Nile.
Police at the bridge fired teargas and protesters mounted a charge, forcing officers to retreat, although they quickly regrouped. Two protesters suffered head injuries and were taken away in ambulances.
Protesters demanding an end to Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian 30-year-rule are planning more protests after a second day of clashes. Here is a summary of significant developments:
• Political reform campaigner Mohamed ElBaradei, who lives in Vienna, is expected to return to the country today. He said he is going back to Cairo "and back onto the streets because, really, there is no choice".
• The US has indicated a possible toughening in its stance towards its ally Mubarak. Hillary Clinton still did not criticise his government directly but said "it's possible for there to be reforms and that is what we are urging and calling for".
• A massive demonstration is being planned for after Friday prayers tomorrow and more protests are being organised for today. The Egyptian government has warned that protesters will be prosecuted.
• The UK foreign secretary, William Hague, has today urged the Egyptian government to "to respond positively to legitimate demands for reform" and criticised censorship of social media in the country.
• Protests took place across Egypt yesterday, with gatherings broken up by police outside a number of locations in the capital, including the supreme court, Nasser metro station and on Ramses Street. Officers fired teargas cannisters and beat people with staves and bars. Two people died in uncertain circumstances, bringing the death toll from the protests to six. Officials said 860 people had been rounded up.
ElBaradei, who was awarded the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize along with the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, which he headed at the time, told the Daily Beast:
The young people of Egypt have lost patience, and what you've seen in the streets these last few days has all been organized by them. I have been out of Egypt because that is the only way I can be heard. I have been totally cut off from the local media when I am there. But I am going back to Cairo, and back onto the streets because, really, there is no choice. You go out there with this massive number of people, and you hope things will not turn ugly, but so far, the regime does not seem to have gotten that message. Each day it gets harder to work with Mubarak's government, even for a transition, and for many of the people you talk to in Egypt, that is no longer an option. They think he has been there 30 years, he is 83 years old, and it is time for a change. For them, the only option is a new beginning. How long this can go on, I don't know. In Egypt, as in Tunisia, there are other forces than just the president and the people. The army has been quite neutral so far, and I would expect it to remain that way. The soldiers and officers are part of the Egyptian people. They know the frustrations. They want to protect the nation. But this week the Egyptian people broke the barrier of fear, and once that is broken, there is no stopping them.
This twitpic of ElBaradei is being adopted by some people as their profile picture on Twitter to illustrate their support for him.
Ashraf Naguib, a member of the ruling National Democratic party, has just had some interesting things to say on Al Jazeera, speaking in a private capacity. Here's a selection
The National Democratic Party needs to listen to them [the protesters] because the people have spoken. ... We need to come out and make significant changes to what's happening in this country ... Political change has to come but what's going to happen? Who's going to be there?
Israel obviously has an interest in keeping Mubarak, an ally, in power and a former Israeli ambassador to Egypt says he expects the Egyptian government to succeed in its attepts to put down the protests, the Associated Press reports:
Former envoy Gideon Ben-Ami predicts events in Egypt will not follow the same trajectory as the recent popular uprising in Tunisia, where the longtime dictator was ousted and fled the country. Ben-Ami says the Egyptian security and intelligence services "know how to resolutely take care of things when they feel under an existential threat as they already have begun to do".
There is an interesting article in today's Financial Times on how the target of the protests is not just the president but also his son Gamal Mubarak. It says the unrest signals the end of tawrith (inherited rule). It gives several examples. Zein al-Abidine Ben Ali was suspected of putting forward his wife as president of Tunisia and in the Yemen, where there are protests today, Ali Abdullah Saleh was forded to deny any intention of succession, despite the fact he has been grooming his son Ahmed, making him head of the army's special forces and the country's Republican Guard. In Libya, Muammer Gaddafi "appears to be grooming not one but two sons, setting them up against each other in a race to succeed him" writes the FT's Middle East editor Roula Khalaf. The article is behind a paywall but here is a taste:
Even if the ageing Mr Mubarak finds a way to withstand the pressure for radical political reform, analysts say that the protests have dealt a fatal blow to the campaign to install his 47-year-old son, a former banker who is supported by the young guard in the ruling National Democratic party. As Egyptians demonstrate a willingness to make their voices heard on the streets, any attempt to force a Mubarak succession in this September's presidential election would probably trigger a much wider revolt. "The idea of tawrith is taking a huge hit after Tunisia, and after the Tuesday events in Cairo," said Amr Hamzawy, political analyst at the Carnegie Middle East Centre. "It is difficult to imagine that the ruling establishment will still pass a tawrith scenario."
More problems for the Egyptian stock exchange today. From Reuters:
Egypt's stock exchange said it halted trading until 1130 am (0930 GMT) on Thursday after the benchmark index slid more than 6% for a second day following the biggest anti-government protests in decades.The EGX30 index (.EGX30) was down 6.2% before the suspension, adding to a 6.1% fall on Wednesday.
In the comments section @nighthood has raised concerns about the situation in Suez where the internet, mobile phones and landlines were down amid reports of clashes. We have not managed to find out any further information but anyone who can shine a light on the situation please get in touch.
A rallying call on Twitter from @ashrafkhalil:
#Jan25 thought #2: the central security guys must be exhausted by now. This is more than what they trained for and protestors know it!
This video footage from Suez (see 9.20am post) last night shows what is said to be the police station on fire.
The accompanying text says:
The burning building is the police Head Quarters. This was done in response to several killings by the police of Protesters. I have footage of 1 death as soon as I can get a name for him I will put the video up on line. More unconfirmed deaths have been reported over the last few hours.
Jack Shenker, reporting in Cairo for the Guardian, has sent this update:
There is a sense of calm before the storm in Cairo today, as protesters prepare for an all-out surge tomorrow following the afternoon prayers in mosques and churches around the country. A heavy security presence remains in place across the capital, whilst hundreds of those arrested since this uprising began will begin being interrogated today; activists are appealing for lawyers to come forward and help with their cases. Meanwhile violence continues in other parts of the country, particularly Suez where anti-government demonstrators set fire to the local headquarters of the ruling NDP party and continue to clash with security forces. Many eyes today will be on Mohamed ElBaradei, the former UN nuclear weapons chief who has emerged as a dissident rival to President Mubarak and whose return to Egypt is imminent. Many of those who have taken to the streets in the last two days are angry that ElBaradei only offered lukewarm support for these protests before they began; now, some say, he is trying to crash the party late. But with his international name recognition there is a feeling that the security forces will be wary about attacking ElBaradei on the ground – some are now hoping he will join rallies in Cairo, offering protesters a bit of much-needed protection from the charges of the riot police.
Thousands of Yemenis today took to the streets of the capital, Sana'a, to demand a change of government, inspired by the unrest that ousted the Tunisian leader and spread to Egypt this week. "The people want a change in president," protesters chanted at Sana'a University in one of a series of demonstrations across the city – the largest in a wave of anti-government protests. President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key ally of the US in a battle against the resurgent Yemeni arm of al-Qaida, has ruled the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state for more than 30 years. At least 10,000 protesters gathered at Sana'a University, with around 6,000 more elsewhere in Sana'a. The demonstrations were organised by Yemen's opposition coalition, Reuters witnesses said. Police watched, but no clashes were reported. Protesters said they were demanding improvements in living conditions as well as political change. One banner read: "Enough playing around, enough corruption, look at the gap between poverty and wealth."
Clearly, in so many of these countries people do have legitimate grievances, which are economic and political. While every country is different, and we shouldn't try to dictate what they should do, in general I do think it's important in this situation to respond positively to legitimate demands for reform, to move towards openness, transparency and greater political freedom. That would be my advice to Egyptian leaders.
In case you missed US secretary of state Hillary Clinton's comments last night, they have caused a bit of a stir in that they have been interpreted by some as a more aggressive approach towards Mubarak, a key ally of the US. But she did not directly criticising him and it might just be a sign that the US is hedging its bets in the event that he is ousted. She said:
I do think it's possible for there to be reforms and that is what we are urging and calling for. It is something that I think everyone knows must be on the agenda of the government as they not just respond to the protests but as they look beyond as to what needs to be done.
Thanks to @orlandobeetle in the comments section provided a link to US state deparment spokesman PJ Crowley on Al Jazeera failing to answer what "reform" the US is actually supporting. On more than one occasion he refers to the "stability" Egypt provides and its contribution to the Middle East peace process.
Egypt's general prosecutor has charged 40 protesters with trying to "overthrow the regime", al-Arabiya television reported today.
The Egyptian stock exchange has fallen further, down 9.93% to 5,728.49 points. Ahmed Hanafi, a broker with Guthour Trading, told the Associated Press:
It's clear today that the inability to control the situation in the streets yesterday is panicking investors. The drop we saw yesterday is being repeated. At this rate, it's going to continue to fall hard.
Just had confirmed that Mubarak is still in Sharm El Sheikh, not taking advice from his own government to step down or leave the country
A couple of links sent to me from the Guardian's Peter Beaumont is in Cairo, both relating to the arrest of journalists. The first is from the Associated Press:
Egyptian police released early Thursday an Associated Press Television News cameraman and his assistant who were arrested the previous day while filming clashes between security forces and protesters in Cairo. APTN's Haridi Hussein Haridi, 54, and his assistant Haitham Badry, 23, were taken into custody around 1am Wednesday during the biggest anti-government protests Egypt has seen in years.
"We call on Cairo to bring to an immediate end all forms of violence against the media, release all detained journalists, and lift online censorship," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. Egyptian authorities have blocked access to at least two websites of local online newspapers: Al-Dustour and El-Badil, local journalists told CPJ. The government has also blocked domestic access to social networking sites Twitter and Facebook, as well as Bambuser, a video-streaming website, according to multiple news reports, although sources on the ground tell CPJ that access to Facebook is intermittent. "It is an attempt to black out information and to stop the use of social media and communication to block those who are demanding democracy," Gamal Eid, executive director of the Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, told CPJ.
Reuters reports protesters have set fire to a police post in Suez today. I posted video footage of what was said to be a police station on fire at 9.30am. Reuters says:
Egyptians torched a police post in the eastern city of Suez early on Thursday morning over the killing of protesters in anti-government demonstrations earlier in the week, a Reuters witness said. Protesters in Suez had on Wednesday set a government building and another police post on fire, as well as trying to burn down a local office of Egypt's ruling party. Those fires were all put out before they engulfed the buildings. The Reuters witness said police fled the post that was burned on Thursday before the protesters hurled petrol bombs. Dozens more protesters gathered in front of the second police post later on Thursday morning demanding the release of their relatives who were detained in protests. Demonstrations demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, in power since 1981, have raged since Tuesday across several cities, including Cairo and Suez. Officials say hundreds of people have been arrested. All three protesters killed in demonstrations to date were in Suez. A policeman was killed in Cairo.
@gamelaid, a lawyer and executive director for the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, has tweeted that some army units in Suez are refusing to support the crackdown against the people.
URGENT Suez: reports that some army units refused to support the police to confront the demonstrators, and the acceptance of other units, and did not intervene until now
Details of an ElBaradiei interview with Reuters are being flashed on the wires. • He said he won't lead street protests and sees his role as managing change politically. • He has called on Mubarak to "retire". • ElBaradei has also said he expects a major demonstration in Egypt tomorrow.
More details as I get them.
More from Reuters on ElBaradei, who they interviewed shortly before he was due to leave Vienna from Cairo. He said:
He [Mubarak] has served the country for 30 years and it is about time for him to retire. Tomorrow is going to be, I think, a major demonstration all over Egypt and I will be there with them.
I'm a bit confused as the earlier Reuters post (11.40am) said ElBaradei had said he would not lead the street protests. Perhaps he is saying he will be joining them but not leading them? He might fear being seen as hijacking the protests for his own political purposes. No doubt some of the protesters support him but it is not for him that most of them have been risking life and limb to demonstrate.
In an article he wrote for the Daily Beast (8.29am), he wrote:
I am going back to Cairo, and back onto the streets
Surprising new protest in Mansheyya square in alexandria #alex #jan25 #egypt
A Reuters report on the clashes in Ismailia:
Around 600 protesters clashed with police in demonstrations across the Egyptian eastern city of Ismailia on today, witnesses said. They said the police dispersed the crowds using tear gas. Demonstrations demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, in power since 1981, have raged since Tuesday in several Egyptian cities, with the biggest clashes in Cairo and Suez.
Bahrain's ruler has responded to the unrest engulfing Arab states by proposing an Arab summit, a suggestion he has put to Hosni Mubarak, who he has expressed support for, AP reports:
Bahrain's king is calling for an Arab summit to discuss efforts to calm the region amid widening protests inspired by the toppling of Tunisia's iron-rule regime. The state-run Bahrain News Agency says King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa urged the emergency Arab meeting in a telephone call with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The agency's report said Thursday that the king pledged support for Mubarak, a key Western ally who has faced ongoing street protests demanding an end to his nearly 30-year rule. Major anti-government demonstrations also have broken out in Yemen. Bahrain is among the most volatile nations in the Gulf. Last year, majority Shiites staged widespread riots after a security crackdown by Sunni rulers.
I just spoke to Dr Amon Aran, lecturer in International Politics of the Middle East at City University, in London. He claimed that the prospects for political change in Egypt are "limited" by two factors: • the strength and loyalties of the national security apparatus • the lack of political leadership. Aran said ElBaradei does not have the necessary level of support in the country.
Listen to the interview below:
Violence seems to be returning to the streets of Egypt.
From Reuters:
Egyptian police fired rubber bullets, water cannon and tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators in the eastern city of Suez, on a third day of protests calling for an end to President Hosni Mubarak's rule, a witness said. Demonstrators early on Thursday morning torched a police post, after setting fire to another police post and a government building a day earlier. All three protesters killed in demonstrations in Egypt so far died in Suez. A policeman was killed in Cairo.
NOW: Brutal violence between protesters and the central security forces in #Ismailia #Egypt #Jan25 via @holom10
The lawyers syndicate in Cairo, scene of clashes yesterday, is apparently surrounded by police. See this picture.
Al Jazeera is reporting that the Egyptian cabinet is planning to meet to discuss the protests. Amazing that they haven't already to be honest.
Meanwhile, an Israeli cabinet minister says he expects the Egyptian government, a key ally, to weather the protests roiling the country and remain in power, reports the Associated Press.
The minister told reporters Thursday that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is strong enough to overcome the unrest because of his deep-rooted security forces. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the Israeli government has not formally commented on the matter. Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, is a key ally.
The Guardian's Jerusalem correspondent, Harriet Sherwood, has sent me more on Israel's comments on the situation in Egypt. Perhaps unsurprisingly Mubarak's close ally is raising the prospect of an Islamist takeover, presumably a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood which has had a limited role in the protests so far:
A senior Israeli government source today described the events in the Middle East as an "earthquake". Israel was monitoring the situation in Egypt closely, he added, but believed the Mubarak regime was strong enough to withstand the protests. "We believe Egypt will overcome the current wave of protests," he said. "But it reflects the fragile situation in the region." "Islamic elements" were ready to exploit the situation, he added. "The cause of instability ... has no connection with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," he said, but was being driven by economic factors. The protests were being fuelled by social media, he said - "it's what connects the dots" - pointing out that in the past Arab regimes were able to maintain a tight grip on news and communications. Al Jazeera, he said, was "playing a more significant role than a regular TV station in the West". There were many differences between Egypt and Tunisia, where protests forced the president and his wife to flee the country. "Mubarak's regime is well-rooted in the military
Some tweets from Suez where there are clashes between protesters and police
The protesters turn to side streets and throwing stones at the security #Suez #Egypt #jan25
Security and armored vehicles roam the streets and fired tear gas and chasing Almtazahri
Firing rubber bullets and water cannons on demonstrators in the area of section forty. #Egypt #Suez #Jan25#Suez #Egypt #Jan25
This inspirational video of Egyptian people stopping a metro train is currently doing the rounds:
Despite widespread reports of use of teargas and police brutality, Egypt's cabinet spokesman said today officers were showing maximum restraint in dealing with anti-government protesters but intervening "strongly" in Suez in response to vandalism. From the Associated Press:
The police is keeping self restraint to the maximum but when there is an illegitimate way of expression or destruction of property they interfere," Magdy Rady told Reuters, speaking after violent clashes with police in the eastern city of Suez. The government was urging youths on the street to be aware of the Muslim Brotherhood and others exploiting protests for "hidden agendas", he said.
ElBaradei, due to arrive in Egypt today, seems to be making bold declarations of intent. Reuters reports:
Prominent Egyptian reform campaigner Mohamed ElBaradeisaid he was ready to assume power in Egypt if the people called for him to do so, the Arabic satellite channel Al Arabiya reported on Thursday. In a brief screen headline, the channel said: "ElBaradei: ready to take up power for a transitional period if the street demanded it." It did not give details.
@ianinegypt is providing updates on the clashes in Suez, where there are reports of live rounds being fired, via Twitter
Rocks fill the air. Protesters charging. Suez. Reports of live rounds being used. #jan25
Tear gas fired at us protesters respond with molotov cocktails in Suez #jan25
The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest opposition group in Egypt, has thrown its weight behind tomorrow's planned demonstration. People are spreading the world via Twitter, trying to get a million people onto the streets after Friday prayers.
A member of the group's Executive Bureau and its spokesman, Dr. Mohamed Morsi, said that the group will participate in a demonstration after Friday prayers in order to "achieve popular demands." The Brotherhood is keen on pushing the people's demand for reform as the group is part of the people, he said in a statement to reporters. A member of the group's Guidance Office, Dr. Saad al-Katatni, said the demonstration has been successful so far because it represents the whole society. He said in a statement to Al-Masry Al-Youm that it is not necessary for the Brotherhood to take a leading role in the protests, but if the situation requires, its members will maintain a strong street presence.
There have already been concerns raised on Twitter that the group will hijack the protest and its involvement might taint what is a non-religious uprising.
Jack Shenker, in Cairo has just sent me a statement on events in Egypt by Catherine Ashton, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Although it calls from restraint on all sides, it contains strong criticism of the Egyptian authorities:
I deplore the reported deaths following the demonstrations taking place in Egypt. I wish to extend my sympathies to the family and friends of the deceased. I note also with concern the high number of people injured and arrested, and the use of violence. I call on all parties to exercise restraint and on the Egyptian authorities to release all peaceful demonstrators who have been detained. Freedom of expression and the right to assemble peacefully are fundamental rights of every human being. I call on the Egyptian authorities to fully respect and protect the rights of their citizens to manifest their political aspirations by means of peaceful demonstrations. The voices calling for the full respect of their political, social and economic rights should be listened to carefully.
Reuters is asking if Suez, where clashes are ongoing as far as I can tell, could be Egypt's Sidi Bouzid, the town where the Tunisian protests that toppled Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali began:
Mosaics lining the road to Suez glorify Egypt's achievements in a 1973 war with Israel but, further on, toppled billboards, charred signposts and shattered glass stand as monuments to a more recent conflict. The port city has jumped onto the world's radar as the scene of clashes between government forces and protesters demanding the removal of President Hosni Mubarak, a veteran of the war with Israel who has ruled Egypt for three decades. The capital Cairo was mostly calm on Thursday morning, but in Suez police fired rubber bullets, water cannon and teargas at hundreds of demonstrators, according to witnesses. Online activists have started calling Suez Egypt's Sidi Bouzid in a nod to the Tunisian city where protests began that toppled autocratic leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali 13 days ago. Suez residents say they share many of the problems voiced by the Tunisian protesters - high unemployment, rising prices, official corruption and widespread use of torture, and have taken inspiration from Tunisia's uprising. As in Tunisia, a large portrait of the country's leader adorns a wall on the road into town. Mubarak's face is beaming and benevolent, his arms outstretched toward his people. Our government is a dictatorship. A total dictatorship," said Mohamed Fahim, a 29-year-old glass factory worker, as he stood near the charred skeleton of a car that he said was burned in the protests. "It's our right to choose our government ourselves. We have been living 29 years, my whole life, without being able to choose a president." "I've grown bald, and Mubarak has stayed Mubarak," he said, rubbing his bare scalp. A group of about 20 people quickly gathered around him, shouting out their complaints. "We can't find bread!" shouted one woman, who identified herself as a Christian. Hundreds gathered outside a morgue in Suez on Wednesday demanding the body of one of three people killed in the first clashes on Tuesday. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets and chased the demonstrators into side streets. After nightfall, protesters set a government building on fire in Suez and tried to burn down a local office of Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). The fires were put out before they engulfed the buildings. The government raised security at key buildings and ordered that shops be closed after looting was reported.
An image taken in Suez today
Egypt's interior minister Habib al-Adli, whose resignation is being demanded by the protesters, has dismissed the demonstrations, reports Reuters. He told Kuwait's al-Rai newspaper:
Egypt's system is not marginal or frail. We are a big state, with an administration with popular support. The millions will decide the future of this nation, not demonstrations even if numbered in the thousands. Our country is stable and not shaken by such actions.
Fire department building on fire. billows of black smoker rising. Firemen jumping out windows. #jan25 #suez
President Mubarak's party has said it is ready to open a dialogue with protesters, reports AP, but I think it might be too late for that, especially as it is has not held out any hope of concessions to those taking to the streets. From AP:
President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party says it is ready to open a dialogue with the youths who have staged three days of anti-government protests. Safwat El-Sherif, the secretary general of the National Democratic Party, also called Thursday for restraint by the security forces and protesters during a rally planned for after Friday prayers. However, el-Sharif, a longtime confidant of President Hosni Mubarak, did not offer any concessions to the protesters demanding Mubarak's ouster nor suggest that steps would be taken to address their complaints about unemployment and poverty. "The minority does not force its will on the majority," he said.
I'm handing over the blog to my colleague Paul Owen now.
Hi, Paul Owen here, taking over from Haroon Siddique. Here is an afternoon summary:
• Protests have taken place in Egypt for a third day against the government of Hosni Mubarak. Suez seems to have been a particular flashpoint, whereas Cairo has been calm.
• Big demonstrations are planned for tomorrow across the country. Mohamed ElBaradei, the Egyptian reformer and former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has said he will join the protesters in Cairo, and called on Mubarak to retire. The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood has also thrown its weight behind the planned protest.
• Mubarak's party says it is willing to open a dialogue with the demonstrators, but did not hold out hope of making concessions to their complaints about poverty and unemployment.
• The EU's foreign policy chief, Lady Ashton, has criticised the high number of people arrested and the use of violence by the police and called on the Egyptian government to respect the protesters' freedom of expression and right to assemble peacefully. William Hague, the UK foreign secretary, said the Egyptian government should move towards openness, transparency and greater political freedom. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has been less forthright, but last night called for "reforms".
• The king of Bahrain has called for an Arab summit to discuss the turmoil in the region.
This is the latest tweet from Al-Shaheed, the We are all Khaled Said Facebook group – named after the young man allegedly killed by Egyptian police whose death helped spark these protests – which was partly behind the demonstrations on Tuesday.
Here is a list of Egyptian protesters' slogans translated from Arabic, including "Oh Mubarak leave for good, or else tomorrow you'll be killed" and "Oh Mubarak, you rhinoceros, leave, leave, you're annoying".
There are reports that Egypt's domestic football league games for this weekend have been cancelled, but I can't confirm that.
This tweet from Al-Shaheed (see 3.39pm) is even more interesting. As my colleague Jack Shenker points out, it shows people are starting to practically consider a post-Mubarak future.
in case of power vacum in #Egypt it can be filled by our independent judges who stood against rigged presidential elections in 2005 #Jan25
According to Al-Masry Al-Youm, the Egyptian government has warned protesters against using mosques to launch protests tomorrow.
The Endowments Ministry told imams at tomorrow's prayers – after which protests are expected to begin across the country – to prevent mosques from being used to create "confusion among citizens or the circulation of unfounded rumors and speculations". The ministry said:
The teachings of the Holy Qur'an and Sunnah promote freedom of expression as long as it does not lead to chaos or corruption and as long as it respects others including those with opposing views or beliefs.
The newspaper says tomorrow is being called "the Friday of anger and freedom".
My colleague Jack Shenker in Cairo sends me the latest warning from the British embassy to UK visitors to Egypt:
There have been a number of violent demonstrations in Cairo and other locations across Egypt, including Suez, north Sinai, Rafah, the Delta region and some areas of upper Egypt over the past week. The situation is unpredictable and may change quickly. You should monitor the situation closely and stay away from demonstrations and large gatherings of people, public buildings or other sites which may become the focus of demonstrations, such as Tahrir Square in Cairo. There are press reports of calls for large scale demonstrations on Friday 28 January after midday mosque prayers. You should exercise caution, and observe instructions given by local security authorities and tour operators.
There are reports on Twitter that the BlackBerrys have been blocked in Egypt. I can't confirm that.
Reuters has more on Mohamed ElBaradei (left), the former head of the UN nuclear watchdog often named as a leading reformist candidate to succeed Hosni Mubarak. ElBaradei is expected back in Cairo today and has said he will join tomorrow's demonstrations, and told Reuters it was time for Mubarak to go. He suggested he might run for president if democratic and constitutional change was implemented.
ElBaradei said the Egyptians had ended their "culture of fear" and said he was "ready to help manage transition to democracy".
He expects big demonstrations across the country tomorrow, he said, but told Reuters he would not lead these protests; rather, his role would be "to manage the change politically". Reuters goes on to say:
The Arabic news station Al Arabiya quoted ElBaradei, who held a number of rallies to campaign for political reform in his homeland last year, as saying he was ready to take power for a transitional period if protesters asked him to do so.
ElBaradei's arrival might provide a focus for a protest movement that so far has no figurehead, although many activists resent his long absences over past months.
ElBaradei called for peaceful protests, and said any use of force by the authorities would "backfire badly". He said:
People broke the culture of fear and, once you break the culture of fear, there is no going back. I think we will definitely see a change coming.
He called for Mubarak to stand down:
He has served the country for 30 years and it is about time for him to retire. I think he has to declare that he is not going to run again. I expect that we will see a new team, and a new set-up, and a new democratic structure.
My first priority is to get the country from point A to B, put in place a framework that ensure that we will have a functioning democracy. [If, after that,] people want me to run I would not let them down, particularly the young people.
Of the police he said:
They have been charging people, detaining people, but that will backfire ... use of violence will backfire badly.
And, talking about tomorrow's protests:
Tomorrow is going to be, I think, a major demonstration all over Egypt and I will be there with them. I assume ... that there will be lots and lots of people.
Asked if he might be arrested on arrival in Cairo, he said any such move would make things "much, much worse for them".
Reuters notes:
The next presidential election is due in September, and Mubarak, 82, has not said if he will run. Egypt's political rules make it hard for anyone other than the ruling party's candidate to stand, let alone win.
ElBaradei, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005, launched a campaign for political change last year, hoping his international stature could galvanise the opposition.
But many activists have since complained that he should have spent more time on the street than abroad.
In smaller towns it's obvious there is more solidarity, even protesters from nearby Ismailia have travelled to Suez to help, Ismailla having its own unrest ... what is strange is Port Said, it's practically an island and if it rebels they can easily drive out the police but what can be very worrying to the world, if things escalate in Suez and Port Said revolts, the Suez canal will be closed. In Cairo and Alexandria, people still suffer from political apathy ... they are huge metropolis and perhaps one shouldn't judge yet but all those massive protests in Alexandria and Cairo are not even 0.5% of their populations. Those two cities if they really do erupt, the regime will be gone in a few hours ... that's why I said yesterday, we can never know what will happen or if they can really bring him down ... the number of protests tomorrow can be a barometer of what's to come.
Italy is to propose a high-level EU mission to the north African countries that have seen political upheaval and protests over the last few weeks, my colleague John Hooper writes from Rome.
The foreign minister, Franco Frattini, said the purpose of the proposed mission would be to make the EU's ties with north Africa "still fuller" and offer help in monitoring the forthcoming elections in Tunisia. He suggested the EU team should also visit Algeria and Egypt.
Frattini said he intended tabling his proposal at Monday's meeting of EU foreign ministers.
He said he would also argue for an increase in Europe's development assistance to north Africa; the creation of a programme of university exchanges similar to the intra-European Erasmus scheme, and an "updating" of Tunisia's links with the EU following the fall of the Ben Ali regime.
Frattini said the EU should try to promote the spread of democracy, but without "imposing or indicating solutions".
Reuters has just sent the following update on the state of play in various areas of the country:
• SHEIKH ZOWEID - Security forces shoot dead a Bedouin demonstrating in a town in Egypt's Sinai region, eyewitnesses and a security source say. Security forces fire tear gas to disperse dozens of protesters.
• SUEZ - Security forces fire rubber bullets, water cannon and use tear gas to disperse hundreds of protestors. Youths throw rocks and petrol bombs at the police.
• SUEZ - At sunset, hundreds of demonstrators are still on the streets and black smoke hangs over the city. Youths walk around shooting fire extinguishers into the air.
• ISMAILIA - Hundreds of protesters clash with police, who disperse the crowd with tear gas.
• CAIRO - Large groups of riot police keep watch in Cairo and in Giza suburb. Outside the press syndicate in central Cairo, dozens of protesters shout demands for President Hosni Mubarak to resign as police look on.
• CAIRO - State news agency MENA says the security services have released protesters in several parts of the country.
The Associated Press news agency has a full quote from Safwat El-Sherif, the secretary general of president Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic party, who has tentatively indicated the party might speak to protesters.
We are confident of our ability to listen. The NDP is ready for a dialogue with the public, youth and legal parties. But democracy has its rules and process. The minority does not force its will on the majority.
Tomorrow's prayers offer protesters a big opportunity, the news agency says:
Millions gather at mosques across the city for Friday prayers, providing organisers with a huge number of people already out on the streets to tap into.
As AP points out, Mubarak, 82, has not been seen in public or heard from since protests began on Tuesday.
Mubarak has not said yet whether he will stand for another six-year term as president in elections this year. He has never appointed a deputy and is thought to be grooming his son Gamal to succeed him despite popular opposition. According to leaked US memos, hereditary succession also does not meet with the approval of the powerful military. Mubarak has seen to it that no viable alternative to him has been allowed to emerge.
The banned Muslim Brotherhood put out a statement about the protests:
The movement of the Egyptian people that began January 25 and has been peaceful, mature and civilised must continue against corruption, oppression and injustice until its legitimate demands for reform are met. We are not pushing this movement, but we are moving with it. We don't wish to lead it but we want to be part of it.
AP also reports that the Egyptian stock market has fallen more than 10 per cent.
My colleague Owen Bowcott and I have been trying to follow events in Suez as reported on Twitter, but it's difficult to know how much of this information is current, and impossible to confirm what people ae posting at this point. If you want to take a look for yourself, click here.
Egyptian officials have denied reports that Hosni Mubarak's son Gamal – who the president has reportedly groomed to replace him – has fled the country, perhaps to London.
A senior party official said that Gamal had had a meeting at the National Democratic party's headquarters this morning "to discuss issues related to the demonstrations, along with other party leaders".
Mohamed ElBaradei's plane has landed in Cairo, my colleague Jack Shenker reports:
ElBaradei's plane has landed 15 mins ahead of schedule, flight MS 798 Egyptair. There's quite a big crowd at the airport. The police have erected a huge galleyway of metal barriers manned by burly plainclothes state security officers so celarly expecting a crush of people to descend. One imagines it will also be used to stop him giving an impromptu press conference.
Ahmed El Wahsh, a student at the American University in Cairo, sends this report of last night's protests in the capital.
The Egyptian government have deployed savages to contain the protesters. Last night in Tahrir Square, we were surrounded by bloodthirsty governmental thugs that were given direct orders to batter us with different means of weapons (ranging from electric taser bats, to rubber bullets and tear gas).
We Egyptian protesters must grace ourselves for tomorrow's strike after our weekly Friday prayers, as we go on ... with our protest against poverty and corruption.
Mohamed ElBaradei has returned to Egypt, Associated Press reports. We'll have more from Jack Shenker in Cairo on that soon.
Jack Shenker has just called in to say ElBaradei was thronged by people when he arrived in Cairo. Jack asked him why he had come back, to which he replied: "This is a crucial moment for Egypt."
Asked why he had come back now and not three days ago, ElBaradei replied: "This is all part of an ongoing process."
Here's the Associated Press on ElBaradei's return:
Egypt's top democracy advocate Mohamed ElBaradei has returned to the country amid the largest anti-government protests in years.
ElBaradei arrived this evening in Cairo, where he was greeted by family and friends. He said he returned to the country because "it's a critical time in the life of Egypt and I have to participate with the Egyptian people".
Hi, David Batty here, I'll be taking over the live blog for the rest of the evening.
The Obama administration has made further comment on the protests in a White House webcast, Reuters reports.
Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough said the protests provided a "great opportunity" for the Egyptian government to advance some of the political reforms they have been discussing with US officials.
He said the White House would like to see Egypt take steps to lift its emergency law, implement a new elections law and create a space for "social and democratic speech and openness so that we can see the kind of advancement that we hope for."
McDonough also urged the government and protesters in Egypt to refrain from violence.
Jack Shenker has just rung in from Cairo with more details of ElBaradei's comments at Cairo airport on his return to Egypt.
The opposition leader said he would be joining the protests on the streets tomorrow. He said there was no going back but warned that change would not happen overnight:
"This is a critical time in the life of Egypt and I have come to participate with the Egyptian people.
"I advise the government to listen to the people and not to use violence. There's no going back. I hope the regime stops violence, stops detaining people, stops torturing people. This will be completely counterproductive.
"We're still reaching out to the regime to work with them through the process of change. Every Egyptian does not want to see the country going into violence.
"The right to peaceful demonstration is the right of every Egyptian. I wish we didn't have to go onto the streets and press the regime but they need to change. We tried signatures, boycotts, elections ... nothing worked. Every demand fell on deaf ears.
"I'm still hoping to manage the process of change in a peaceful way, in an orderly way. I hope the regime will do the same. There's no going back."
"I was stunned to hear secretary Clinton saying the Egyptian government is stable. And I ask myself at what price is stablity. Is it on the basis of 29 years of martial law? Is it on the basis of 30 years of [an] ossified regime? Is it on the basis of rigged elections? That's not stability, that's living on borrowed time.
"When you see today almost over 100,000 young people getting desperate, going to the streets, asking for their basic freedom, I expected to hear from secretary Clinton stuff like democracy, human rights, basic freedom - all the stuff the US is standing for.
"I've been trying for a year to engage the regime through peaceful means, by collecting signature[s] for demands for free and fair elections, for opening the door to Egyptians to run for [the] presidency, for having [a] parliament representative of the people."
Asked by the news channel whether he would run for the presidency, ElBaradei replied cautiously:
"The priority for me is to shift Egypt into a democracy, is to catch up with the 21st century, to get Egypt to be a modern and moderate society. Whether I run or not is totally irrelevant, and I made it very clear I would not run under current condition[s]."
The opposition leader said the so-called Jasmine revolution that recently brought down the Tunisian government could prove to be the catalyst for regime change across the Arab world.
"It sent a message to the Arab world, to quote Barack Obma, that 'yes we can'. We can be empowered as people to change a system that is ossified, that is completely representative of our own basic rights."
Questioned as to whether he feared for his life on his return to Egypt, ElBaradei said:
"There was an edict against me a couple of weeks ago basically saying that my life should be dispensable because I'm defying the ruler. I have no security when I go to Egypt. But you have to be with your people."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Mubarak faces an opportunity to address the decades-long concern that the Egyptian people have for their "lack of rights," Reuters reports.
Gibbs called Mubarak a close and important US partner but stressed that the United States was not taking sides on the unrest.
"This isn't a choice between the government and the people of Egypt. This is not about taking sides. What is important is President Mubarak and those that seek greater freedom of expression, greater freedom to assemble, should be able to work out a process for that happening in a peaceful way."
A third day of protests has sent the Egyptian stock market plummeting, which could further undermine Mubarack's government.
The 10.5% plunge left the market's year-to-date losses at over 20%, with traders warning that the economic damage could widen if there are more protests tomorrow, AP reports.
"Tomorrow will be a trigger," said Mostafa Abdel-Aziz, a broker with the Cairo-based investment bank, Beltone Financial. "If things pass quietly, there should be a technical rebound" when the market reopens on Sunday. But I don't think the overall sentiment will be reversed."
In a sign that Mubarak's government is cracking down on social media from being used to foment unrest, Facebook said it had seen a drop in traffic to its website from Egypt today.
"We are aware of reports of disruption to service and have seen a drop in traffic from Egypt this morning," Facebook spokesperson Jillian Carroll told Reuters in an email.
Barack Obama has spoken out about the protests in Egypt, warning the violence was not the answer to the unrest. He said he had repeatedly told Mubarak to press ahead with political and economic reforms, Reuters reports.
Obama said Mubarak had been "very helpful on a range of tough issues in the Middle East."
"But I've always said to him that making sure that they are moving forward on reform - political reform, economic reform - is absolutely critical to the long-term well-being of Egypt.
"You can see these pent-up frustrations that are being displayed on the streets.
"Violence is not the answer in solving these problems in Egypt. I think it is very important that people have mechanisms in order to express legitimate grievances. That, I think, is no less true in the Arab world than it is here in the United States."
Italy has voiced its support for Mubarak's government, contending that regime change would lead to chaos in the Middle East and the Mediterranean.
Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini said the situation in Egypt was completely different from that in Tunisia, where a wave of street protests toppled the president earlier this month.
The minister claimed there were civil liberties in Egypt and the regime should be encouraged to expand them, Reuters reported. He warned that if the government fell it could provoke chaos throughout the region.
"The situation in Egypt is different. There are civil liberties. It is not a copy of the European model but we are not colonisers of any country, we must not impose our model."
"The stability of Egypt is fundamental for the entire Mediterranean. The biggest mistake would be to think of a change of leadership without having a solution, a proposal, a proper development of the situation. This certainly would lead to chaos.
"We must help the Egyptian leadership to gradually expand the enjoyment of civil liberties, the authorisation of peaceful demonstrations at the same time as guaranteeing stability."
Frattini said he would propose an EU delegation to Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria, to help their governments strengthen democracy, at a meeting of foreign ministers on Monday.
Here's a round-up of today's events from Reuters. The news agency reports that five people were killed in today's protests, including a a Bedouin protester shot dead by security in the north of Egypt's Sinai region.
In Suez, police fired rubber bullets, water cannon and tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators calling Mubarak to step down.
Protesters hurled rocks and petrol bombs at police lines, setting fire to a police post in Suez.
Mohamed Fahim, a 29-year-old glass factory worker, told Reuters that the action came in response to the killing of three demonstrators earlier in the week:
"Our government is a dictatorship. A total dictatorship. It's our right to choose our government ourselves. We have been living 29 years, my whole life, without being able to choose a president."
In Ismailia, hundreds of protesters clashed with police who dispersed the crowds with tear gas.
Witnesses told the news agency that demonstrators have been dragged away, beaten and shoved into police vans.
Tomorrow's demonstrations could be the biggest yet following the return of ElBaradei, who has pledged to join the protesters on the streets. A Facebook page publicising tomorrow's protest gained 55,000 fans in less than 24 hours.
"Egypt's Muslims and Christians will go out to fight against corruption, unemployment and oppression and absence of freedom," one activist wrote on Facebook.
Egypt's interior minister Habib al-Adli, whose resignation is being demanded by the protesters, dismissed the demonstrations in an interview with Kuwait's al-Rai newspaper.
"Egypt's system is not marginal or frail. We are a big state, with an administration with popular support. The millions will decide the future of this nation, not demonstrations even if numbered in the thousands. Our country is stable and not shaken by such actions."
In an analysis piece on the Egyptian protests, US foreign policy analysts suggest ElBaradei's return will not mark a tipping point in the unrest. However, the commentators also told Reuters that the US is unlikely to drop its support for Mubarak given that Washington provides the regime with aid topping $1.3bn (£0.82bn) per year.
"This is a matter for the Egyptian people - and how they view his return," state department spokesman PJ Crowley said.
Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East programme at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, dismissed ElBaradei's return and argued there was no groundswell of support for democracy.
"ElBaradei hasn't been willing to take the risks of bare knuckle fighting," he said.
"In the current environment it would be very hard for the United States to bet against a government with which it has both extraordinarily broad and extraordinarily deep cooperation.
"What most Egyptians really want is a government with better outcomes, and it is sometimes easier for successor authoritarian governments to say they are addressing those needs. The real cry here is not so much for democracy but for justice."
ElBaradei has a significant international profile but Brian Katulis, an analyst at the Center for American Progress, said this did not necessarily mean he would attract popular backing in Egypt.
"It remains unclear whether El Baradei's return will help unify the groups of protesters coming out into the streets," he told Reuters.
Katulis added that there was no evidence ElBaradei had any relationship with Egypt's security forces, which would count against him given that the country has been ruled by ex-officers since 1952.
Ellen Bork, director of democracy and human rights at the Foreign Policy Initiative, said ELBaradei's return might increase US leverage on Mubarak to promote political reforms ahead of the presidential election expected in September.
"The important thing to focus on is whether [ElBaradei], or any other independent candidates, have access to the ballot, and are able to campaign freely," she said. "The US needs to press for specific reforms to make these conditions possible."
The return of ElBaradei, one of the president's fiercest critics, and the intervention of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most potent opposition force, could further undermine Mubarak's authority.
That's all for today's live blog but we'll be continuing our coverage tomorrow.
In the meantime, here's a round-up of today's main developments:
• Mohamed ElBaradei has returned to Egypt today, telling reporters there was no going back for the country and pledging to join protesters on the streets tomorrow.
• Violent protests continued in many parts of the country today, including the port of Suez. After four days of unrest, six people have died and almost 1,000 have been rounded up by police.
• Thousands are expected to attend tomorrow's marches – dubbed "the Friday of anger and freedom". Egypt's main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, has thrown its weight behind tomorrow's protests, which are scheduled to follow Friday prayers.
The support of the Brotherhood could well change the calculus on the streets, tipping the numbers in favour of the protesters and away from the police, lending new strength to the demonstrations and further imperiling president Hosni Mubarak's reign of nearly three decades.
In an interview with CNN before his return, ElBaradei criticised comments by the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, who had described the Egyptian government as stable and "looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people".
"I was stunned to hear secretary Clinton saying the Egyptian government is stable. And I ask myself: at what price is stability? Is it on the basis of 29 years of martial law? Is it on the basis of 30 years of [an] ossified regime? Is it on the basis of rigged elections? That's not stability, that's living on borrowed time," said ElBaradei.
Internet access has been cut and restricted today. The Washington Post compared the crackdown to one that occurred following the disputed elections in Iran in 2009.
Signed "long live Egypt", the slickly produced 26-page document calls on demonstrators to begin with peaceful protests, carrying roses but no banners, and march on official buildings while persuading policemen and soldiers to join their ranks.
Peter Beaumont in Cairo describes what's likely to happen today. In an Audioboo interview he says: "Lots of ordinary Cairo residents in good jobs are talking about going to this demonstration today. So it will be interesting to see whether this is a bigger demonstration than happened on Tuesday." He adds that he has been trying to log on to the internet all day without success.
Egypt appears to have cut off almost all access to the internet from inside and outside the country from late on Thursday night, in a move that has concerned observers of the protests that have been building in strength through the week.
"According to our analysis, 88% of the 'Egyptian internet' has fallen off the internet," said Andree Toonk at BGPmon, a monitoring site that checks connectivity of countries and networks.
"What's different in this case as compared to other 'similar' cases is that all of the major ISPs seem to be almost completely offline. Whereas in other cases, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter were typically blocked, in this case the government seems to be taking a shotgun approach by ordering ISPs to stop routing all networks."
The cutoff appears to have happened around 10.30pm GMT on Thursday night.
Peter Beaumont in Cairo has just witnessed 15 security trucks heading for the centre of the city. "There's obviously going to be a massive police presence today," he told me by phone.
Tim Marshall from Sky News seems to have found a way to tweet from Cairo. He confirms what Peter just told me about the security presence in the city.
The US softly-softly approach to Egypt, particularly under Obama, is undermined by private criticism of president Hosni Murbarak in embassy cables released by WikiLeaks.
An article in the New York Times today says that cables on Egypt:
But they also reveal that relations with Mr. Mubarak warmed up because President Obama played down the public "name and shame" approach of the Bush administration. A cable prepared for a visit by Gen. David H. Petraeus in 2009 said the United States, while blunt in private, now avoided "the public confrontations that had become routine over the past several years."
Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director, said:
"The Egyptian authorities should allow protesters to exercise their right to assemble and protest peacefully. Instead protesters have met with exactly the kind of heavy-handed abuse and repression that people are protesting against.
We have seen wholly unacceptable and disproportionate policing of these protests. Instead of further crackdowns, the authorities should be investigating the widespread reports of excessive use of force by the police and holding those responsible to account."
The Egyptian Association for Change claims police are preparing to torch vehicles as a pretext for putting down the demonstration, writes Haroon Siddique.
The report, based on phone calls from activists last night, is by Stephen McInerney, director of advocacy for the Project on Middle East Democracy. In a Facebook post he writes:
They are being told by sources within the regime that very large groups of govt-organized thugs, calling themselves "ikhwan al-Haq" [a group never heard of, roughly translated as "brotherhood of truth"], are going to be in the streets with knives, swords, etc..., attacking and killing protesters in the streets tomorrow [Friday]; they don't know whether this may be deliberately and falsely leaked to discourage demonstrators; but they do see evidence that these groups are being organized. they may also claim that these violent groups are the demonstrators as a pretext to use violence on the real demonstrators.
Tony Blair, former prime minister and Middle East peace envoy, has echoed America's ambiguous line on Egypt.
My colleague Andrew Sparrow writes:
In an interview on the Today programme Blair said Egypt should "evolve and modernise", but that change should happen in an ordered way. He said anything could happen if there was a vacuum.
"The challenges have been the same for these countries for a long period of time. The question is how they evolve and modernise, but do so with stability. The danger is if you open up a vacuum anything can happen.
"As Hillary Clinton was saying yesterday, the important thing is to engage in this process of modernisation, and improving systems of government, but do it in a way that keeps the order and stability of the country together."
Asked if Mubarak should stay in power, Blair said: "Well I think the decisions about how this is done is incredibly difficult. President Mubarak has been in power for 30 years. There's obviously in any event going to be an evolution and a change there. The question is how does that happen in the most stable way possible.
"All over that region there is essentially one issue, which is how do they evolve and modernise, both in terms of their economy, their society and their politics. All I'm saying is that in the case of Egypt and in the case in Yemen, because there are other factors in this, not least those who would use any vacuum in order to ferment extremism, that you do this in what I would call a stable and ordered way ....
"This is not limited to one country in the region. It's all over the region. You have got to take account of the fact that when you unleash this process of reform, unless you are going to be very, very careful about how it's done and how it's staged, then you run risks as well."
Blair said the west should engage with countries like Egypt in the process of change "so that you weren't left with what is actually the most dangerous problem in the Middle East, which is that an elite that has an open minded attitude but it's out of touch with popular opinion, and popular opinion that can often - because it has not been given popular expression in its politics - end up frankly with the wrong idea and a closed idea."
A protest outside the Egyptian embassy in London is due to take place tomorrow. The demonstration will express support for political reform in Egypt.
As the internet is down, getting information out of Egypt is proving much more difficult today. But foreign correspondents are getting around the restrictions.
CNN's Ben Wedeman says he "momentarily" has access to the internet.
Cairo in COMPLETE lockdown. Security everywhere, including special forces. Government once again warning protests BANNED.
This graph, by the Arbor Networks, graphically illustrates how internet activity has dropped off a cliff in the last 12 hours. (Thanks to Nighthood, in the comments section, for the tip).
The Egyptian dissident Mohamed ElBaradei warned President Hosni Mubarak today that his regime is on its "last legs", as tens of thousands of people prepared to take to the streets for a fourth day of anti-government protests. The Nobel peace prize winner's comments to the Guardian represented his strongest intervention against the country's authoritarian government since he announced his intention to return to Egypt to join the protests. "I'm sending a message to the Guardian and to the world that Egypt is being isolated by a regime on its last legs," he said. His words marked an escalation with the language he used on arrival in Cairo last night, when he merely urged the Mubarak government to "listen to the people" and not to use violence. He has been criticised by some Egyptians for his late return to his homeland, two days after the protests began - hundreds of people have already been arrested and exposed to the brutal tactics of the security services. But ElBaradei was keen to stress his solidarity with the protesters. "There is of course a risk to my safety today, but it's a risk worth taking when you see your country in such a state you have to take risks," he said. "I will be with the people today."
The UN chief Ban Ki-moon has condemned Egypt's decision to cut internet access ahead of planned protests as being against the democratic principles of freedom of expression and association, the Associated Press reports:
Speaking to reporters Friday at the World Economic Forum, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that he has been following closely the protests in Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt and urged leaders to ensure that further violence is avoided. The UN chief said leaders should view the situation as a chance to address what he calls the "legitimate concerns" of their people.
Al-Jazeera says rubber bullets were fired in Suez - where there have been three confirmed deaths since the protests began - last night.
Written by the US ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey it says:
Torture and police brutality in Egypt are endemic and widespread. The police use brutal methods mostly against common criminals to extract confessions, but also against demonstrators, certain political prisoners and unfortunate bystanders. One human rights lawyer told us there is evidence of torture in Egypt dating back to the times of the Pharaohs.
It's worth reading the whole document.
Some more details of what the UN chief Ban said (10.18am):
In that regard ... shutting down all this internet service ... I believe that one of the ground principles of democracy should be to protect the freedom of speech of the people ...All concerned people or leaders should ensure that the situation in that region, and particularly now in Egypt, does not and should not lead to further violence.
A comment from below the line from @OneWorldGovernment:
Security forces blocking the road between Ismailia and Suez and the road to the strategic Tahir Square and the local metro stating [station] have been closed for the day. Security has been deployed in the Al Haram neighborhood.
The Guardian's Middle East expert Brian Whitaker will be online at 1pm for a live web chat on the unrest in the region. We'll post a link to the chat in the next few minutes.
One supporter, a teacher, told Jack that "hunger and poverty" had bought protesters out on to the streets. "We are not looking for an Islamic revolution" he said, "we want a citizen's government."
Jack says ElBaradei was "basically kettled" by riot police when he appeared.
Al-Jazeera reports that teargas has been fired at protesters in Alexandria.
Protesters continued to chant "down down Hosni Mubarak", despite the crackdown, Jack says.
"It was obvious the regime was not going to tolerate any protests today," Jack said. ElBaradei's whereabouts are unknown.
The Observer's Peter Beaumont describes the scene before the crackdown. In recording just minutes before the latest violence, he said there were thousands of police on the streets, hundreds on every corner and they have been recruiting young men to help quell protesters.
Authorites have closed the Makram mosque, one of the biggest in Cairo, near Tahrir Square for "urgent building works" but it was open yesterday. The mosques were preaching a message of peaceful protest during Friday prayers.
A witness tells Reuters that Egyptian protesters are gathered near a Cairo residential palace of Hosni Mubarak.
Regional Egyptian television stations are reporting clashes between thousands of protesters and police in several major cities outside Cairo, including the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, Minya and Assiut south of Cairo and al-Arish in the Sinai peninsula.
Al Jazeera is now reporting that dissident Mohamed ElBaradei has been detained by the police.
Now people at the scene are saying ElBaradei has not been arrested but prevented from going anywhere
I am being told El Baradei is not arrested, just stopped from moving anywhere, not sure about the technicalities
An al-Jazeera reporter has been beaten up by plain clothes police officers on the 6 October bridge in Cairo, across which people have been fleeing as officers fired teargas at them
The protests have spread to Jordan, the Associated Press reports:
Thousands of Jordanian opposition supporters have taken to the streets in the country's capital demanding the prime minister step down and venting their anger at rising prices, inflation and unemployment. About 3,500 opposition activists from the main Islamist opposition group, trade unions and leftist organizations have gathered in Amman. The crowd is denouncing Prime Minister Samir Rifai's unpopular policies. Many are shouting: "Rifai go away, prices are on fire and so are the Jordanians." Another 2,000 protesters in cities of Irbid and Karak have made similar calls. Friday's rallies mark the third consecutive day of protests in Jordan inspired by Tunisia and Egypt's unrest that has demanding the governments' downfall. King Abdullah II has promised some reforms.
Al-Jazeera is reporting four French journalists arrested, no further details at the moment.
The Egyptian people have been given a vote of support they might not appreciate ... from an Iranian cleric. From the Associated Press:
A change of government in Tunisia and violent protests in Egypt and Yemen are evidence that Iran's revolution is being replayed, a senior Iranian cleric said Friday. "An Islamic Middle East is taking shape," Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said in his Friday prayer sermon. "A new Middle East is emerging based on Islam ... based on religious democracy." Violent protests in Tunisia toppled former Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and a "Friday of Wrath" has engulfed Egypt, a U.S. ally. Protesters in Yemen also have called for the outser of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled for nearly 32 years. Khatami said the deposed Tunisian president copied the policies of the former Iranian shah and met a similar fate. "This is God's tradition: Those who fight religion are doomed to fail," he said. Iran's state TV provided extensive coverage of the violent protests that have engulfed Egypt, saying President Hosni Mubarak won't have a fate better than the shah's.
Here's a summary of what has been a very eventful morning.
While we've summarising lots more has been happening. Here's a round-up:
Some of the latest developments from around Egypt.
Cairo
Reuters is reporting that rubber bullets were fired at protesters. Protesters shouted "Down, Down, Hosni Mubarak" and stamped on posters of the president after Friday prayers, witnesses said. Tanks are moving through the streets. Teargas is being fired constantly.
Ismalia
Reports of thousands of people surrounding the security state building.
Alexandria
Teargas has been fired. People are chanting "God is great" and " We want a regime change". Al Jazeera reports
The Telecoms company Vodafone says the Egyptian government has ordered all mobile telephone operators to suspend services "in selected areas" of the country.
In a statement, the company says that "under Egyptian legislation the authorities have the right to issue such an order and we are obliged to comply with it." British-based Vodafone Group plc said Egyptian authorities "will be clarifying the situation in due course."
Middle-class, urban, web-savvy – the archetypal media image of the young protesters who have shaken Egypt's dictatorship this week captures only part of the reality.
This generation of dissidents, most of whom have lived their entire lives under the three-decade rule of President Hosni Mubarak, have rejected the moribund landscape of formal politics that has ensnared many of their liberal elders since Nasser's 1952 revolution.
Not content to feed on the crumbs of free expression thrown by the Egyptian regime, they have carved out an alternative space in which to develop, swap and spread ideas which challenge the status quo.
Until the government cut off internet access this morning, the forums they organised were online, spread through a vibrant network of blogs and social media sites. Despite Egypt's limited internet penetration, Facebook has been "the main actor", says Khalid al Aman a political analyst at Durham university. "The development of these events has transcended classical movements like the Muslim Brotherhood and other political parties."
We have witnessed this before in Iran but he goes on to say:
But despite the talk of a "Twitter revolution" it is worth remembering that the specific events that helped fuel this uprising happened offline. On top of the long-burning grievances of political oppression and economic hardship, it was a 2008 strike by textile workers in the Nile Delta town of Mahalla al-Kubra that fired the imagination of many of those on the streets today. The three people shot dead by security forces during the Mahalla unrest on 16 April inspired an online movement which took its name from the date.
The traditional working class from all corners of the country has continued to provoke and inspire dissident activity ever since, occupying pavements outside parliament for weeks on end to highlight the devastating impact of the neoliberal reforms pursued by the ruling NDP party. Some trade unions – most notably the real estate tax collectors – have gone on to break free from state control.
Away from the economic concerns, anger at police corruption and brutality has been at the heart of the new wave of protest.
BBC Arabic says approximately 4,000 protesters have surrounded the Suez governate building and are chanting "Free Egypt, Mubarak out."
An Al Jazeera reporter in the area said 2 soldiers in Suez had charges issued against them for refusing to fire live ammunition overnight.
This screen grab from Al Jazeera shows tear gas fired at protesters in Cairo.
A CNN crew has had its camera smashed by plainclothes police
Plainclothed #Egypt policemen in Tahrir Sq attack #CNN crew, brake and steal camera. Violent suppression of protesters everywhere #Jan25
BBC Arabic is reporting that protesters in Ismailia have taken over the local headquarters of Mubarak's National Democratic Party.
The latest take on the clashes from the Associated Press:
A soaking wet ElBaradei was trapped inside a mosque while hundreds of riot police laid siege to it, firing tear gas in the streets around so no one could leave. The tear gas canisters set several cars ablaze outside the mosque and several people fainted and suffered burns. Large groups of protesters, in the thousands, were gathered at at least six venues in Cairo, a city of about 18 million people, and many of them were on the move marching toward major squares and across Nile bridges.
They are demanding Mubarak's ouster and venting their rage at years of government neglect of rampant poverty, unemployment and rising food prices. There were smaller protests in Assiut south of Cairo and al-Arish in the Sinai peninsula. Regional television stations were reporting clashes between thousands of demonstrators and police in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria and Minya south of Cairo.
At the upscale Mohandiseen district, at least 10,000 of people were marching toward the city center chanting "down, down with Mubarak." The crowd later swelled to about 20,000 as they made their way through residential areas. Residents looking on from apartment block windows waved and whistled in support. Others waved the red, white and black Egyptian flags. The marchers were halted as they tried to cross a bridge over the Nile, when police fired dozens of tear gas canisters.
At Ramsis square in the heart of the city, thousands clashed with police as they left the al-Nur mosque after prayers. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets and some of the tear gas was fired inside the mosque where women were taking refuge. Hundreds later broke through police cordons to head to the main downtown square, Tahrir. But they were stopped by police firing tear gas.
Near Tahrir, hundreds of riot police clustered together moved in, anticipating the arrival of large crowds of protesters. A short while later, thousands of protesters marched across a bridge over the Nile and moved toward the square, where police began firing tear gas into the crowds. Later, television footage showed protesters throwing rocks down on police from a highway overpass near Tahrir Square, while a police vehicle sped through the crowd spraying tear gas on demonstrators.
People on Twitter are saying the NDP headquarters in Mansoura, 120 miles north-east of Cairo, is being overrun by 40,000 people.
@ShereffAbbas
Mansoura NDP headquarters destroyed by protestors #Jan25 #Egypt
Jack has seen tens of thousands of protesters on the streets, some chanting "we are change".
Al-Jazeera in Suez says the police station in the port city has been taken over by protesters who have freed detainees. They have also set fire to three armoured cars. The reporter said the police were overpowered within minutes.
An eyewitness account from Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch, who says police immediately set upon peaceful protesters.
We are in East Alexandria. Immediately after prayer, the people came out of mosque with banners and started marching, shouting 'we are peaceful, we are peaceful'. Security arrived and immediately began shooting teargas and rubber bullets at peaceful protesters, about 600. Then one-hour rock throwing clash, but police didn't advance more than one block and kept being pushed back. Then a massive column of protesters came from the other direction and blocked in police, holding up their hands and shouting we are peaceful. Right now police is held up in the yard of mosque and protesters all around, police can't move. They repeatedly ran out of teargas and begged protesters to stop, protesters telling them to join them.
There are reports a woman protester has been killed in Tahrir Square, Cairo's central plaza.
Moving pictures of people praying in the streets in Cairo are currently being broadcast.
"Nour", a young activist who was locked in the back of a police van with Jack Shenker, has told al-Jazeera that his Dad, Ayman Nour, a prominent dissident, is in intensive care after being hit on the back of a head by a rock thrown by government thugs. His father has diabetes and a heart condition. His father challenged Hosni Mubarak for the presidency in 2005 and was thrown in jail for his troubles.
Nour said there were government thugs in Cairo with "steel and sticks. It is very frightening and intimidating."
Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch in Alexandria has just sent an update that the police where he is have given up and are withdrawing.
Senior politician Mustafa al-Fiqi, chairman of the National Security and Foreign Relations committee, insisted the government would not fall.
But speaking to al-Jazeera he admitted that Egypt had to take action against poverty and corruption, and give people more freedom.
"It is very sad to see this confrontation," he said. "Police and the demonstrators both are Egyptians and we feel sad for the victims of both sides," he said.
He insisted that Mubarak would address his people in the next few days.
"People feel they need change," he said. But he claimed the current government would not fall.
More from Peter Bouckaert, from Human Rights Watch, in Alexandria:
The police have now given up fighting the protesters. The police and protesters are now talking, with protesters bringing water and vinegar (for teargas) to the police. Afternoon prayer has just been called and hundreds are praying in front of the mosque in east Alexandria.
Here's a picture he sent us of people praying after the police gave up:
"We are saying enough of this regime. This is a corrupt regime," one protester shouts in English to the camera.
At least two French journalists have been arrested, according to AP.
The daily newspaper Le Figaro says its reporter Adrien Jaulmes was arrested in Cairo and it has had no contact with him since he was detained.
The photo agency Sipa Press said one of its photographers, Albert Facelly, was also arrested in Cairo today. The agency said it had no details on the circumstances of his arrest and no contact with him yet.
Al-Jazeera is showing extraordinary live footage of a police firing teargas canisters at protesters and protesters throwing them back. Police have cleared one of the main motorway bridges over the Nile.
"The people want to bring down the regime," protesters are chanting, according to a translator.
The protesters are in control of the central square in Suez says al-Jazeera. There is no police presence. Jamal Elshayyal, their reporter in Suez, says:
The police has been quite comprehensively defeated by the power of the people.
Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, gives this detailed account of how protesters overwhelmed police in Alexandria today.
After prayers, the protesters came out of a mosque and started shouting slogans. They were saying "peaceful, peaceful" and raising their hands. 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. Then a much larger crowd of protesters came from another direction. They were packed in four blocks deep. 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 was all peaceful. Hundreds of protesters were praying in the street.
Now walking down to downtown Alexandria, the whole road is packed as far as we can see, people shouting slogans against [Hosni] Mubarak and his son Gamal. Asking others to join them. 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.
Reuters is reporting the death of protester in Suez:
Egyptians carried the body of a protester through Suez on Friday after clashes with police who withdrew from central areas of the eastern city leaving some main streets to demonstrators, a Reuters witness said. "They have killed my brother," shouted one of the demonstrators.
Egyptian security officials say Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei is under house arrest.
Rawya Rageh, for al-Jazeera, says she has seen evidence of a protester killed in Alexandria, a bloody body being held aloft through the streets with people chanting "There is no God but God". She adds that police have now been overrun by protesters in the city.
Protesters have named the man killed in Suez (2.37pm) as Hamada Labib, 30, a driver.. They blamed his death on a gunshot, reports Reuters. It adds:
Egyptian police abandoned central areas of the industrial port city after demonstrations in which thousands of protesters overwhelmed security lines and torched a police station, a Reuters witness said. Police had tried to disperse the protesters, who hurled stones and chanted for the end to President Hosni Mubarak's rule. But they were unable to contain them and moved back, abandoning at least eight big police trucks. Protesters smashed the windows and tried to flip one of the trucks over. Hundreds of members of security forces had gathered in a large group around the governor's offence, where there was no sign of protesters.
An incredible picture from Cairo, taken earlier today, of people praying in the streets surrounded by riot police.
His detention has no credible basis. It also will not serve Egypt's interests at this critical juncture. In a situation as tense as this, repression and abuse can only further inflame the situation. Rather than resort to repression, the authorities should heed demands of the population for dramatic political, social and economic transformation.
Egyptian protesters in Cairo are calling for the army to side with them against the police, Reuters reports:
Egyptian protesters in Cairo chanted slogans calling for the army to support them, complaining of police violence during clashes on Friday in which security forces fired teargas and rubber bullets. "Where is the army? Come and see what the police is doing to us. We want the army. We want the army," the protesters in one area of central Cairo shouted, shortly before police fired teargas on them.
Following up from the previous update, al-Jazeera just showed pictures of protesters jumping and cheering beside what appeared to be an army armoured vehicle in Cairo with the occupants in the vehicle not responding in any kind of negative fashion. It's too early to get carried away but al-Jazeera was suggesting this could be a sign that the army's allegiance is with the people. Let's just hope the hopes of the people are not misplaced.
A second police station has been taken over by protesters in Suez, reports al-Jazeera.
Protesters are in control of most streets in Alexandria, says al-Jazeera.
Egyptian state media is reporting a curfew starting at 6pm tonight (about 30 minutes away) and running until 7am tomorrow in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. The way it's looking on the streets at the moment suggests there is little chance of people obeying the order and what can the police actually do to enforce it.
State security have entered al-Jazeera's building in Cairo, it is reporting. It says they may have been chasing activists.
Outside the news organisation's offices, in remarkable scenes, a momentary truce has been called between police and protesters while protesters pray. Just a few moments ago police were throwing teargas cannisters at them and now this:
Egyptian state TV says Mubarak has asked the army to take charge of security alongside the police. Looks like that is how he intends to impose the curfew, due to start in about 15 minutes.
Britain's foreign secretary William Hague called on both sides to "refrain from violence". But he said: "It is is important to recognise that people involved do have legitimate grievances, both economic and political. And it is important for the authorities to respond positively to that, and to be able to hold out the hope and prospect of reform in the future. That is the answer to the situation rather than repression."
Hague repeated western ambiguity towards the regime. "It is not for use to try to choose the rulers of other countries. For the moment we should concentrating on advocating the right response." He called for "evolutionary change".
In a pooled interview Hague said the Foreign Office was reviewing travel advice to Egypt.
Based on a phone call to the British ambassador in Cairo, Hague said the main "problems" were in Cairo, Alexandria, and Suez. "Those are places where there is the greatest risk of violence," Hague said.
He added: "We are not sure of the whereabouts of the Mohamed ElBaradei. There are rumours of restraints on his movements, but we don't have any specific information."
In Alexandria Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, witnessed four police cars on fire in front of the Siddi Brahim mosque.
Mubarak is due to address the nation in the next few minutes. Al-Jazeera's offices in Cairo are being raided by police. They are being told to stop broadcasting images of the unrest.
Murabak ordered the military onto the streets, according to al-Jazeera, citing state media.
The curfew is in place, but the protests continue. Live footage from Cairo shows protesters trying to push a police van into the Nile.
Secret US embassy cables sent from Cairo in the past two years reveal that the Obama administration wanted to maintain a close political and military relationship with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, who is now facing a popular uprising. A frank briefing note in May 2009 ahead of Mubarak's trip to Washington, leaked by WikiLeaks, reported that the Egyptian president had a dismal opinion of Obama's predecessor, George Bush.
"The Egyptians want the visit to demonstrate that Egypt remains America's 'indispensable Arab ally', and that bilateral tensions have abated. President Mubarak is the proud leader of a proud nation ... Mubarak is 81 years old and in reasonably good health; his most notable problem is a hearing deficit in his left ear. He responds well to respect for Egypt and for his position, but is not swayed by personal flattery," the cable said.
Under Hosni Mubarak's presidency there had been "no serious effort to transform the police from an instrument of regime power into a public service institution", it said. The police's ubiquitous use of force had pervaded Egyptian culture to such an extent that one popular TV soap opera recently featured a police detective hero who beat up suspects to collect evidence.
Some middle-class Egyptians did not report thefts from their apartment blocks because they knew the police would immediately go and torture "all of the doormen", the cable added. It cited one source who said the police would use routinely electric shocks against suspected criminals, and would beat up human rights lawyers who enter police stations to defend their clients. Women detainees allegedly faced sexual abuse. Demoralised officers felt solving crimes justified brutal interrogation methods, with some believing that Islamic law also sanctioned torture, the cable said.
This is the response to the curfew in Cairo. This is the van protesters have been trying to push into the nile (see 4pm).
Army tanks are rolling into the centre of Cairo and Suez, al-Jazeera reports. Mubarak has supposedly ordered them in to restore order but people have been cheering the army hoping it will side with them against the police.
TV pictures show the headquarters of the ruling NDP in Cairo are on fire.
The US state department has responded to the protests via Twitter, which Egypt has of course tried to prevent its own citizens from using. PJ Crowley (@pjcrowley), US state department spokesman, tweeted:
Events unfolding in #Egypt are of deep concern. Fundamental rights must be respected, violence avoided and open communications allowed.
Reform is vital to #Egypt's long-term well-being. The Egyptian government should view its people as a partner and not as a threat.
We were expecting Hosni Mubarak or his son Gamal to speak (there were mixed reports as to who was going to speak) half an hour ago but we have still not heard anything.
Obama's press secretary Robert Gibbs has expressed concerned about the violence and urged the government to respect the freedom of speech.
Very concerned about violence in Egypt - government must respect the rights of the Egyptian people & turn on social networking and internet
Amin Iskander, an opposition politician from the Nasserist Al-Karama party, just told al-Jazeera what is needed from Mubarak is "a firm promise that this his last term he spends in office" and he must pave the way for democracy. But Iskander does not believe Mubarak will stand down. He said NDP headquarters are being set on fire across the country because the party had "gobbled up the riches" of the country.
A downtown police station in Cairo, police cars and gas tanks outside the police station are on fire, which could account for the number of loud explosions being heard, al-Jazeera reports.
This Guardian video tells the story of how events unfolded and escalated today after Friday prayers:
Once more amazing scenes being broadcast on al-Jazeera, as protesters stop for prayer. There is the sound of explosions and gunshots in the background as about six rows of people form rows and prostrate themselves on the ground.
Here are some of the best bits from the live Q&A on the Middle East protests, which the Guardian website hosted today. Answering the questions was Brian Whitaker, former Middle East editor and current editor with CIF.
Q. A question about an Eqyptian democracy... is there a basis for hope? is there a political culture that can step up to represent the people and what role will youth play in the new landscape?
Brian's Answer: Egypt already has the infrastructure to turn into a working democracy -- elected parliament, long-established political parties, etc. The problem is the the NDP has monopolised this system for a very long time. So the transition to a working democracy would not be all that difficult, though I would expect it to be a somewhat flawed democracy for some time - maybe like some of the East European or Latin American countries. One problem is that most of the opposition parties are just as hidebound as the regime. The younger "Facebook generation" doesn't seem to have much interest in them and prefers to do things in its own way. Youth movements are going to become more and more important, and they are a very hopeful sign.
Q. What are the chances that all this could be repeated in Syria?
Brian's answer: I was discussing that with an Arab friend yesterday. We both felt that it would be very difficult at present in Syria to organise the kind of protests seen in Tunisia and Egypt. One thing you need for it to happen is a civil society structure of some kind, whether it's trade unions, opposition parties or NGOs, plus a lot of internet users. I don't think Syria has that. Instead, it as a very proficient secret police. That said, I would expect the Syrian regime to be very scared. Yemenis have told me of the panic in the Marxist regime in the PDRY following the revolution in Romania in 1989 -- they feared it could happen to them. I would expect similar fears in the Syrian regime. Who knows? Could they be the ones who decide to reform rather than waiting to be toppled?
Q. How likely do you think it is that these uprisings will drive Egypt & Tunisia towards democracy? Is it likely that these situations will descend into sectarian or ethnic conflict as we seen in Kyrgyzstan last year?
Brian's answer: Adapting to democracy will be a lot easier in Tunisia and Egypt than it was in Iraq. There are no major ethnic issues; Egypt does have something of a sectarian problem but it is not insurmountable.
The Associated Press reports on the scene in Cairo's central plaza:
An Associated Press reporter saw the protesters cheering the police who joined them and hoisting them on their shoulders in one of the many dramatic and chaotic scenes across Egypt on Friday. After chasing the police, thousands of protesters were able to flood into the huge Tahrir Square downtown after being kept out most of the day by a very heavy police presence. Few police could be seen around the square after the confrontation.
Hillary Clinton is speaking. She says the US is "deeply concerned about the use of force" against protesters. She calls on the Egyptian government to restrain security forces but also says protesters should refrain from violence.
These protests underscore that there are deep grievances within Egyptian society and the Egyptian government needs to understand that violence will not make these grievances go away.
Clinton also called Egypt an "important partner" in the region. But she added:
As a partner we strongly believe that the Egyptian government needs to engage immediately with the Egyptian people in implementing political, social and economic reforms.
It won't be strong enough for everyone but in diplomatic terms that was pretty strong stuff from Clinton.
Another quote from Clinton:
We are deeply concerned about the use of violence by Egyptian police and security forces against protestors. We call on the Egyptian government to do everything in its power to restrain security forces. At the same time, protesters should also refrain from violence and express themselves peacefully."
Brian Whittaker, a Middle East expert at the Guardian, has provided this snap analysis of Clinton's words:
It looks to me as if Clinton is angling for a negotiated departure by Mubarak, accompanied by an increase in political freedom. I think the US is aiming to structure the solution in a way that would protect its key interests: the peace treaty with Israel, the Suez canal, and co-operation against terrorism.
The Associated Press says thousands of protesters are trying to storm the foreign ministry and state TV buildings in Cairo.
A member of ElBaradei's group told al-Jazeera there are 80,000 people protesting in Port Said, where she said a 14-year-old had been killed.
The Egyptian government has extended the curfew to the entire country, Egyptian state TV reports.
Al-Jazeera showed incredible footage of a vehicle burning in Cairo burning alongside "live" state TV pictures showing a relatively calm scene:
Reuters quotes medical sources saying 10 people have been wounded in Cairo today, some with bullet wounds.
The latest from Alexandria from Peter Bouckaert, of Human Rights Watch:
The army has deployed in Alexandria but atmosphere is calm. Soldiers are talking to protestors. Confirmed that Alexandria governorate and many police stations burned down.
US president Barack Obama has convened his national security team on the growing protests in Egypt, the Associated Press reports:
Obama's 40-minute session on Friday took the place of his daily national security briefing. It included Vice President Joe Biden and his national security adviser, Tom Donilon. Aides said additional briefings are planned during the day.
The army are being cheered as they pass in tanks/armoured cars in Cairo by protesters who are clambering on to the vehicles.
Apparently, bizarrely, it's the president's national guard being cheered through the streets of Cairo as they make their way to the state TV station, which has been taken over by protesters.
The Egyptian museum, full of priceless artefacts, is said to be at risk from the fire at the NDP headquarters.
Here's a summary of the day's events so far on a momentous day in Egypt's history:
President Hosni Mubarak has ordered a curfew in three cities (3.30pm), later extended to the entire country, which was supposed to start at 6pm today and last until 7am tomorrow morning but it has been roundly ignored as clashes have continued.
Mubarak has sent in the army to restore order in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez but protesters cheered the army in some areas, calling on them to side with them against the police (3.43 pm). In some areas the army has done so. Soldiers have shaken hands with protesters in Alexandria and in Cairo. Demonstrators have clambered onto tanks in Suez and Cairo. There have also been unconfirmed reports of clashes between the army and police
There have been unconfirmed reports of many protesters killed today, including a woman in Tahrir square in Cairo, two people in Suez, one named as Hamada Labib, 30, a driver., one person in Alexandria and a 14-year-old in Port Said.
In the country's strongest intervention so far, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said the US is "deeply concerned about the use of violence by Egyptian police and security forces against protestors". (5.12pm)
Some police are reported to have joined the protesters, who welcomed them to their ranks. (5.05pm)
Police immediately attacked protesters after Friday prayers (11.12am) but protesters remained defiant and fought back, overwhelming police and government buildings right across the country. The ruling NDP's party headquarters in Cairo were set on fire (4.23pm).
I'm handing over the blog to my colleague Richard Adams now.
Thanks Haroon, this is Richard Adams in the Guardian's bureau in Washington DC, where there has been an abrupt change in attitudes towards events in Egypt today.
The main US cable news networks had given Egypt minimal coverage so far this week, partly because of the time difference but also because of the president's state of the union address on Tuesday night absorbing so much energy.
That has all changed today, with the the extraordinary scenes from Egypt filling America's TV screens – even if the early morning bulletins were more interested in Charlie Sheen's hernia.
The exception has been Fox News, where coverage has been more muted. "You probably don't give a lot of time thinking about Egypt," a Fox News presenter suggested about an hour ago, before explaining that "groups linked to al-Qaida" were in danger of taking over the government in Cairo.
The US State Department has said that US citizens should postpone non-essential travel to Egypt and urged US citizens in the country to "exercise caution". The State Department also says Americans should not try to go to the US embassy since Egyptian security forces may block off the area around the embassy.
The White House has just announced that it is postponing its planned press conference on the situation in Egypt. There's some speculation that may be because Obama himself wants to make a statement personally, but in any case it has been postponed for the time being.
Reuters is now reporting a witness saying that the army has dispersed the protesters who tried to storm Egypt's state television building in central Cairo.
The Al Arabiya network had earlier reported that demonstrators had forced their way in, but the state television channel was broadcasting throughout.
Time magazine talks to "a minister in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," and reports that Israel appears to be backing the Mubarak regime:
With a deep investment in the status quo, Israel is watching what a senior official calls "an earthquake in the Middle East" with growing concern. The official says the Jewish state has faith in the security apparatus of its most formidable Arab neighbor, Egypt, to suppress the street demonstrations that threaten the dictatorial rule of President Hosni Mubarak. The harder question is what comes next.
But this was the most eye-catching quote from the unidentified minister:
"I'm not sure the time is right for the Arab region to go through the democratic process."
There is a White House briefing on Egypt promised shortly, but the Associated Press has this bombshell – that the Obama administration is using US aid to Egypt as leverage over the Mubarak regime:
An Obama administration official says the US will review its $1.5bn in aid to Egypt based on events unfolding in the country, where the authoritarian government is struggling to extinguish huge and growing street protests.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the situation. Egypt has been a key US ally in the volatile region. US officials are now increasing calls on President Hosni Mubarak, the target of the protesters, to respond with restraint and reverse steps taken to cut off the protesters' ability to communicate.
The decision to review assistance to Egypt is a significant step as the US seeks to balance the desire to maintain stability in the region with a recognition of the unexpected scope and uncertain outcome of the protests.
Al-Jazeera is showing some great live footage of the looting of the National Democratic Party headquarters – and is reporting that the protesters are forming a "human shield" around the nearby national museum.
Meanwhile, Nile TV, the Egyptian state broadcaster, is now also showing footage of the protests – perhaps a significant event, since it contadicts the broadcaster's earlier footage.
The White House press briefing room is full of journalists awaiting the press conference that is about to be held. It's being said that the US government doesn't want to be pre-empted by a TV appearance by President Mubarak on Egyptian television.
Still in DC, Politico reports on the split within the Republican party about how to deal with Egypt, between the pro-democracy wing and the Islamophobic wing, a split that also explains the dilemma of Fox News.
CNN's Ben Wedeman – who has been doing an excellent job all day – is asked why things have calmed down in Cairo. "Jim, things have calmed down because there is no government, there's no authority," saying that police and army had disappeared, "there's no one to protest against."
Is something about to happen?
Here we go: Laura Rozen of Politico reports that the Egyptian military's chief of staff, Lt General Sami Enan, is going home early from DC, having been in meetings at the US defence department.
The White House press briefing is starting now.
Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary, is up on stage. He confirms that Obama has not spoken with President Mubarak.
"The legitimate grievances that have festered for quite some time in Egypt have to be addressed by the Egyptian government immediately," says Gibbs.
What can the president do? Gibbs is asked. "First and foremost, this is a situation that will be solved by the people in Egypt," says Gibbs. "We will be reviewing our assistance posture based on events in the coming days" – that's a reference to the US's $1.5bn in aid to Egypt, as mentioned earlier.
Gibbs is also asked if Obama "stands by" Mubarak – and he makes no response.
What's the US doing about aid? "Obviously we will be reviewing our assistance posture based on the outcome of events, now and in the coming days," intones Gibbs.
Who else, what other allies, has Obama talked to about Egypt? "I am unaware of any calls at this point that have been made," says Gibbs.
Why hasn't Obama made personal contact, because of the weight that would have? Gibbs has no substantial answer.
"So the White House has called this press conference to convey with clarity and firmness its mixed feelings and uncertainty," tweets former Bush administration speechwriter Joshua Treviño.
Asked if the US was drawing up plans in the event of Mubarak being overthrown, Gibbs replied: "There are a robust series of meetings being held on a whole host of issues right now," in what is not his finest moment as White House press secretary.
Asked why the briefing was delayed for several hours, Gibbs says: "We were delayed for a whole host of reasons ... we were monitoring any and all actions that were coming out of the country and will continue to do so."
Asked who from the administration has been in touch with the Egyptian regime, Gibbs denies that Biden was one of them.
"The situation should be addressed through concrete reforms, that is what the people of Egypt demand, that's what they deserve," he says.
Asked if the US government had condemned the house arrest of Mohamed ElBaradei, Gibbs will only say: "Obviously, this goes into into our concern about expression, association and assembly."
On the cutting off of communications, Gibbs is asked if there any way to pressure Vodafone to turn its mobile phone service back on. Gibbs is noncommittal.
Is the promised review of US aid to Egypt a warning to the regime? Gibbs won't be drawn.
Later: "We're not in touch with the Muslim Brotherhood," Gibbs confirms.
While Robert Gibbs is saying as little as possible ("this is a fluid situation") in a baroque manner, al-Jazeera reports that "intense gunfire heard near key govt buildings in the Egyptian capital".
Very unusually, Gibbs is taking questions from foreign journalists. That almost never happens at a White House press briefing.
Al-Jazeera's live footage is showing a lot of tanks now on the streets of Cairo – and a lot of civilians milling about them unhindered.
Asked about reports about Vodafone agreeing to Egyptian government demands to block mobile phone service, Gibbs says: "I don't want to speak about the specific company because I want a little more information."
Foreign journalists are being tougher on Gibbs than the White House press corps. "We have reached a point where the grievances have to be addressed with concrete reforms, have to, must," says Gibbs at one point, in annoyance.
Gibbs does go on to describe internet access as a basic right, which is a revelation of sorts.
A new tweet from CNN's Ben Wedeman, on the ground in Cairo:
Saw ruling party headquarters in flames, police huddling in barracks as protesters tried to pursue them. Hearing parliament burning
Robert Gibbs's White House briefing has wrapped up after an hour.
The most noteworthy points to come out:
• Gibbs pointedly refused to take up an offer to say the administration stood by Mubarak
• Gibbs also repeated that the "people of Egypt" would decide events – suggesting that the White House was prepared to cut the Mubarak regime loose – calling their grievances "legitimate"
• The White House confirmed that it was prepared to withhold aid from Egypt's government
But the tone of the administration suggests the White House has been left stranded by the swift pace of events on the ground.
If you're not following CNN's Ben Wedeman @bencnn on Twitter then you should. Here are three tweets he has posted in the last 10 minutes:
Teenager showed me teargas canister "made in USA". Saw the same thing in Tunisia. Time to reconsider US exports?
One man said he graduated from college 4 years ago, hasn't worked a day since. Has been in streets since Tuesday protesting.
Saw boys with massive seal of the republic looted from State TV. If this isn't the end, it certainly looks and smells like it.
Reuters are reporting that "Egyptian medical sources" estimate there have been 1,030 people wounded today in today's protests.
Al-Jazeera is reporting that Fathi Sorour, the speaker of Egypt's parliament, says an "important announcement due soon".
Meanwhile, tanks and APC continue to pour onto the streets of Cairo.
The speaker of Egypt's People's Assembly has told an Egyptian satellite channel that "an important matter will be announced in a short time". The speaker, Fathi Sorour, was talking to the Mehwar channel and gave no further details, according to Reuters.
The speaker of the assembly is the first in the line of succession to become president of Egypt if the incumbent dies or is incapacitated. The New York Times reported in 2009:
Mr Mubarak has never appointed a vice president. If he dies in office, then the speaker of the Parliament, a veteran party leader, Fathi Sorour, would serve as an interim president until an election could be called.
Salon's Justin Elliott talks to major Israeli political pressure groups in the US and finds they are nervous about what happens in Egypt:
The Israelis are worried about, among other things, the possibility that an Islamic movement could gain power if the Mubarak regime were to fall. So I was interested today to see reaction from pro-Israel groups in the United States – which were favorably disposed to the democratic aspirations of the Green movement in Iran last year – to the Egyptian pro-democracy protests.
The graphic, which was compiled using anonymous traffic engineering statistics, shows traffic to and from Egypt dropping sharply around 5.20pm ET. As of about three hours ago, traffic has not picked back up.
The graphic was created by Craig Labovitz, chief scientist at Arbor Networks.
This is a puzzle but Reuters is now reporting that Fathi Sorour, the speaker of the Egyptian parliament who was to make a statement this evening, has told the Nile News television channel that Egypt is in the "safe hands" of President Mubarak.
Reuters reports:
"The matters are in safe hands, in the hands of President Hosni Mubarak, and he will act," Speaker Fathi Sorour told Egypt's state-owned Nile News channel after being asked about how the government would deal with the unrest.
He said the parliament, which is overwhelmingly dominated by Mubarak's ruling party, would meet on Sunday, for an ordinary session, and would request Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif attend to assess the situation and issue recommendations. "What more can we do?" Sorour said.
Now Nile TV is saying that Mubarak himself is about to speak on television. It's hard to keep up.
Mubarak now appears on television, with little warning. It's a single camera shot of him standing at a podium, reading from a statement, lit from below in a gloomy room. No indication if this is live or taped. He begins:
"I have been closely following the protests and what they were asking for and calling on. My instructions to the government have stressed providing it with an opportunity to express the opinions and demands of the citizens.... I deeply regret the loss of innocent lives among protesters and police forces...."
Mubarack has now appeared on television, and says the government will resign tomorrow and a new government will be appointed. More details to follow but here's his key statement:
I have asked the government to present its resignation today [Friday] and I will name a new government starting from tomorrow ... to effectively deal with the priorities of this current phase.
Mubarak finally appears on Nile TV. The translation is very halting and difficult to follow, so these notes may not be accurate, and it's much as I could catch:
"I assure you I am working for the people and giving freedom of opinion as long as you are respecting the law. There is a very fine line between freedom and chaos and I lean toward freedom for the people in expressing their opinions as much as I hold on to the need to maintain Egypt's safety and stability....
"We have to be careful of anything that would allow chaos. No democracy would be there if we allow chaos. These demonstrators wanted to speak about their opinion, to give have more job opportunities and lower prices and fight poverty. I know all of these issues that people are asking ... I will always be on the side of the poor...."
CNN is running Mubarak in a split screen, with the president on one side and the fires and wreakage in the streets around Cairo and Alexandra on the other.
"Dear citizens, I don't talk to you today as a president but as an Egyptian. I [have] spent war and peace in this country, we overcame very hard times, we were united as people.... [We need] new steps for more democracy, for more freedoms for citizens, new steps to raise the economy and to stand by the poor and those with limited salaries. This is what is going to make our future and we can't do that unless we are open and we are hard working. We need to build...
"What happened in the last few days put fear in everybody's hearts and fear for the future and additional chaos. I take responsibility for the security of this country and our citizens, I will not let this happen. I will not let fear live in the hearts of the citizens."
Then Mubarak announced that he will force the government to resign and appoint a new one tomorrow. But Mubarak gave no sign whatsoever that he would be going with them, quite the opposite in fact.
Now let's see how that goes down on the streets of Cairo.
Hi, Tim Hill here, taking over from Richard Adams. In his TV address, President Mubarak also made mention of the protests which continued into a fourth day across Egypt. He defended the actions of the security forces, and said he "regretted" the casualties, but described the protests as part of plot to destabilise Egypt and destroy the legitimacy of his regime.
Reuters are reporting that Egyptian armed forces have taken control of Cairo's Tahrir Square, with protesters fleeing into sidestreets, according to eyewitnesses.
More reaction on President Mubarak's speech to the nation. Sky News producer Yael Livie, standing above Tahrir Square in Cairo, has reported:
"There are now about 22 tanks on the square. The demonstrators are disregarding the curfew that was imposed. They're not in the square any more but we can hear them. I think much was anticipated from that speech, but it's clear that Mubarak is not stepping down. Whatever he said did not seem to strike a chord.
It was a very ambivalent speech. It was almost as if he was taking some sort of responsibility off himself – asking the government to resign – but not saying anything about him doing anything different. It's very clear he's staying in power. It seems to be a bit of a deadlock."
Some more news: Reuters say six Egyptians were killed in protests on Friday during protests in the northern city of Alexandria, according to medical sources. The dead were four protesters, a policeman and a bystander hit by a bullet while she stood on her balcony, they said. One of the protesters reportedly died from a bullet wound to the head.
Glenn Beck, the Fox News host – follow him at @glennbeck – has tweeted: Egypt may be a tipping point. Yemen and Jordan also have smaller uprisings. Iran is smiling, the Saudis and Israelis are not. Pray4peace.
The White House has just said President Obama will be making a statement on the Egypt protests at 11.30pm GMT. We'll have more details when we get them.
Earlier, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton spoke on Egypt. She described Egypt as an "important partner in the region", but said the US is "deeply concerned about the use of force" against protesters. See the details of her speech here.
Barack Obama has just given a short briefing at the White House. Here's a selection of what the president said:
We have been closely monitoring the situation in Egypt. As the situation continues to unfold, our first concern is preventing injury and loss of life, so I call upon the Egyptian authorities to refrain from violence against the protesters. The US will stand up for human rights everywhere.
Those protesting in the streets have a resposibility to express themselves peacefully.
The US has a close partnership with Egypt. But we've also been clear that there must be reform - social, political and economic. In the absence of these [reforms], grievances have built up over time. I just spoke to President Mubarak, after his speech, and told him he has a responsilibilty to give meaning to his words.
Violence will not address the grievances of the Egyptian people.
What's needed is concrete steps that advance the rights of the people. Ultimately, the future of Egypt will be determined by its people, and we believe the people want the same things as we want. The Egyptian people want a future that befits the heirs to a great and ancient civiliaztions. The US is committed to working with the government and the people to achieve the goals.
When I was in Cairo, after I became president, I said that all governments must maintain power through consent, not coercion, and that is how they will achieve the future. The US will continue to stand up to the rights of the Egyptian people, and work with the government to ensure a future that is more hopeful.
A summary of points from Obama's brief press conference, as the president:
• Told Hosni Mubarak he has a responsibility to deliver on promises of better democracy and greater economic opportunity.
• Emphasised the need for Mubarak to make reforms, saying: "This moment of volatility has to be turned into a moment of promise".
• Urged protesters in Egypt to express themselves peacefully.
• Said the US would stand up for the rights of the Egyptian people.
"What's needed now are concrete steps that advance the rights of the Egyptian people," Obama told reporters at the White House.
As we move into Saturday morning, we'll be bringing the live blog to a close shortly. We'll be continuing our coverage tomorrow, but there's much more on the Egypt protests at guardian.co.uk/world. Thanks for staying with us, and in the meantime, here's a summary of the main points today:
• President Hosni Mubarak appeared on TV to tell Egyptians he has asked the government to resign. Mubarak will form a new government on Saturday, but there was no indication that the president himself would be stepping aside.
• Barack Obama, the US president, said he had spoken to Mubarak following his televised address, and called on Egyptian authorities to refrain from using violence against peaceful protesters. "This moment of volatility has to be turned into a moment of promise," Obama said.
• The White House said it was reviewing its $1.5bn in aid to Egypt, on a day which saw tanks move in after protesters defied a nationwide curfew ordered by President Mubarak. Reports said at least 20 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured on the fourth and most violent day of protests against Mubarak's 30-year rule.
• In another significant development, Mohamed ElBaradei, the former UN weapons chief who may stand in presidential elections later this year, was placed under house arrest for "his own protection" after returning from abroad.
The Nobel peace prize winner's comments to the Guardian represented his strongest intervention against the country's authoritarian government since he announced his intention to return to Egypt to join the protests. "I'm sending a message to the Guardian and to the world that Egypt is being isolated by a regime on its last legs," he said.
His words marked an escalation of the language he used on arrival in Cairo last night, when he merely urged the Mubarak government to "listen to the people" and not to use violence.
ElBaradei has been criticised by some Egyptians for the late return to his homeland, two days after the protests began – hundreds of people have already been arrested and exposed to the brutal tactics of the security services. But ElBaradei was keen to stress his solidarity with the protesters.
"There is of course a risk to my safety today, but it's a risk worth taking when you see your country in such a state you have to take risks," he said. "I will be with the people today."
"Egypt today is in a pre-information age," he said. "The Egyptians are in solitary confinement – that's how unstable and uncomfortable the regime is. Being able to communicate is the first of our human rights and it's being taken away from us. I haven't seen this in any other country before."
He said the lack of communications could hamper organisation of the demonstrations, planned to begin after Friday prayers. "I don't know what my hopes are for today," he said. "It would be hard with the communications cut off but I think a lot of people will be turning out." Organisers of the marches – dubbed "the Friday of anger and freedom" – are defying a government ban on protests issued on Wednesday. They have been using social media to co-ordinate plans, and hope to rally even more than the tens of thousands who turned out on Tuesday in the biggest protests since 1977.
"The international community must understand we are being denied every human right day by day," he said. "Egypt today is one big prison. If the international community does not speak out it will have a lot of implications. We are fighting for universal values here. If the west is not going to speak out now, then when?"
Time to wrap things for today's live blogging. Here's a final summary of the day's events:
• Egypt's army said for the first time that it would not use force on protesters, declaring in a televised statement that "freedom of expression through peaceful means is guaranteed," and said it recognised the "legitimate demands" of the protesters.
• The Mubarak regime made its first public offer to speak directly to protesters, as newly-appointed vice president Omar Suleiman offered to hold talks with members of the opposition during an appearance on state television.
• Plans are underway for a "march of millions" and a general strike on Tuesday as protests intensify and pressure on the Mubarak regime is maintained for a week.
• Al-Jazeera journalists in Cairo are arrested by Egyptian security forces and then released after strong intervention from the White House and other governments.
• Egypt's last functioning commercial internet service provider is shut down, while the government appears to be canceling train services and public transport ahead of Tuesday's protests.
• The US announced that a special US envoy to Egypt is in Cairo and holding talks with members of the government and other actors. The White House continued to call for an "orderly transition" of power and democratic reforms.
And of course we'll be back on Tuesday morning with more live coverage. In the meantime, visit our world news site for all the latest news. Thanks for reading.
A first: a US Senator calls on Mubarak to resign. Bill Nelson, the Democratic senator for Florida, has a comment piece in The Hill newspaper in Washington DC:
Mr Mubarak will have to go – but not without an exit strategy that prevents the government from falling and leaving the door open for extremists.
Renesys, a US internet monitoring firm, has traffic data showing Noor's disappearance from the internet, as Egypt's last functioning internet service provider shuts down.
Update: Twitter user @ioerror points to two networks that are still operating in Egypt: the library of Alexandria and the ministry of information.
One way to get around Egypt's internet blackout: the engineers at Google have helped build a new "speak-to-tweet" feature for those in Egypt who want to get their message out.
Like many people we've been glued to the news unfolding in Egypt and thinking of what we could do to help people on the ground. Over the weekend we came up with the idea of a speak-to-tweet service — the ability for anyone to tweet using just a voice connection.
We worked with a small team of engineers from Twitter, Google and SayNow, a company we acquired last week, to make this idea a reality. It's already live and anyone can tweet by simply leaving a voicemail on one of these international phone numbers (+16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855) and the service will instantly tweet the message using the hashtag #egypt. No Internet connection is required. People can listen to the messages by dialing the same phone numbers or going to twitter.com/speak2tweet.
We hope that this will go some way to helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time. Our thoughts are with everyone there.
I've just had confirmation that Noor, the only Egyptian internet service provider to dodge the government's internet shutdown since Friday, has now also succumbed and has gone dark.
The speculation was that Noor had been allowed to remain in operation because it supplied data links to Egypt's stock exchange and other critical parts of the national infrastructure, including airports. Quite what happens now is a mystery.
A visit to the stock exchange's website, www.egyptse.com, turns up a "server not found" message. The stock exchange is closed tomorrow, because of the protests, so the government may have decided to take the risk and shut down the last ISP.
Egyptian state television is showing footage of the pro-Mubarak demonstrators, claiming that they are numbered in the "thousands".
Egypt has moved into the network news big time: celebrity news anchors Katie Couric of NBC and Brian Williams of NBC are en route to Cairo. CNN's Anderson Cooper – America's disaster-zone equivalent of the BBC's Kate Adie – is already there.
The pro Mubarak demonstrators are outside the information ministry, with a nearby resident telling al-Jazeera English that they only amounted to 300 or so people gathered near the building.
Another witness reported hearing pro-government chanting but said that the army had blocked off the routes to Tahrir Square, making it difficult for anyone to get through.
Nonetheless, this is the first sign of pro-government forces even attempting to organise opposition on the streets of Cairo.
The Guardian's coverage tonight includes this piece by Richard Norton-Taylor on how Egypt has the potential to take Pakistan's place as the country posing the greatest threat to Britain's security, according to intelligence analysts he has spoken to.
In what could be disturbing news, al-Jazeera English is reporting that there is a pro-Mubarak demonstration taking place in Cairo right now, and suggestions that it could be headed towards Tahrir Square, where thousands of anti-Mubarak protesters remain tonight.
So far this is just unconfirmed reports, and readers will be aware in recent days that all sorts of rumours swirl about. (If you believe everything you read on Twitter, for example, Mubarak has resigned at least eight times and his son Gamal shuttles to and from London on a daily basis.)
The Guardian's lead for tomorrow's print edition is now up, and it focuses on the huge rally set for tomorrow and the army's vow not to use force against protesters:
Egypt's army gave a powerful boost to the country's opposition tonight by announcing it would not use force to silence "legitimate" demands for democratic reforms in the Arab world's largest country.
On the eve of a million-strong protest planned for tomorrow and amid multiplying signs that the US is moving steadily closer towards ditching its long-standing ally, Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak now has few options left.
Mindful of the limitations of their popular support, and the danger of their involvement in protests being used as an excuse for the west to maintain support for Mubarak, the leadership of the Brotherhood therefore stood back as the past week's revolt unfolded.
Only in the past two days have senior figures begun publicly taking part in the jockeying for position in a post-Mubarak Egypt, and they have done so as unobtrusively as possible, mandating the non-Islamist Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei to help lead any transitional government and promising a "populist stance" in the future.
"We have spoken. When the citizens speak, we cannot go back," said Ahmed Mustafa. "I came here to fight the fear inside me. Now people have lost their fear."
"For the first time I am proud to be an Egyptian," said Susanne Saleh, a 38-year-old mother of three. "People are exploding. Mubarak is facing the pressure of his people and there is no way he can stay."
"This is the end," said Ala'adin al Sahabi simply, a view echoed in many of the handwritten signs. "Game over, Mubarak," said one.
The US Soccer Federation has announced that it has called off its international friendly in Cairo against Egypt, which was to have been played on 9 February.
"We were excited about the opportunity to play against Egypt, but due to the current situation all parties agreed it was best to cancel the match," said USSF president Sunil Gulati.
Behind the scenes the US is trying to ensure President Mubarak does not stand as a candidate in the elections later this year, as the AP reports:
Two American officials said the US government would prefer that Mubarak, 82, not run for re-election in presidential voting scheduled for September.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of diplomacy and the difficult situation the Obama administration finds itself in.
Fears that the turmoil in Egypt could disrupt oil shipments passing through the Suez canal and engulf the Middle East drove the price of Brent crude oil through the $100 barrier for the first time in over two years.
The price of a barrel of the benchmark Brent crude soared by more than $1.50 to as high as $101.08 a barrel as the protests against President Hosni Mubarak's regime intensified. Prices are now at their highest since September 2008, at the start of the financial crisis.
A loyalist NDP figure has the unhappy task of speaking on al-Jazeera to defend the regime. Mohamed Ragab, the NDP member, does allow that "there are demands that are lawful and legitimate".
Ragab does spoil the effect by claiming that there is "no enmity between the government and the opposition," although what he means by "opposition" is very different to what those standing in Tahrir Square would understand it.
Too little, too late? Omar Suleiman's offer of dialogue with other political parties is being dismissed as window dressing, after the new vice president appeared on state television less than an hour ago to announce:
"The president has asked me today to immediately hold meetings with the political forces to start a dialogue about all raised issues that also involve constitutional and legislative reforms in a way that will result in clear proposed amendments and a specific timetable for its implementation."
The consensus seems to be that Suleiman's appearance was intended for US consumption.
More on the appointment of the US special envoy Frank Wisner, who is now in Egypt and speaking to the government there on behalf of the US state department.
The AP reports:
The Obama administration has sent a retired senior diplomat to Egypt to press the US case for democratic reforms to top Egyptian officials amid spiraling anti-government protests that aim to topple the country's authoritarian president.
The State Department said Monday that the former ambassador to Egypt, Frank Wisner, is now on the ground in Cairo and will be meeting with Egyptian officials to urge them to embrace broad economic and political changes that can pave the way for free and fair elections.
State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said Wisner, who was US ambassador to Egypt from 1986 to 1991, has vast experience in the region as well as close relationships with many Egyptians in and out of government.
It was the first such explicit confirmation by the army that it would not fire at demonstrators who have taken to the streets of Egypt and comes a day before before Tuesday's "march of millions" to mark the seventh day of the protests as anti-government sentiment reaches fever pitch.
"The presence of the army in the streets is for your sake and to ensure your safety and wellbeing. The armed forces will not resort to use of force against our great people," the army statement said.
"Your armed forces, who are aware of the legitimacy of your demands and are keen to assume their responsibility in protecting the nation and the citizens, affirms that freedom of expression through peaceful means is guaranteed to everybody."
The statement was read on state television by army spokesman Ismail Etman, who said the military "has not and will not use force against the public".
New Egyptian vice president Omar Suleiman appears on state television, and announces: "I have been asked by the president to contact all the political parties regarding constitutional reform."
Suleiman then said the government will "fight corruption and unemployment" and go ahead with elections "in contested districts in Egypt in the coming weeks" – although it's unclear what that means.
Suleiman also promised to revisit and investigate the results of the last election, widely regarded inside and outside of Egypt as being deeply flawed.
The other briefing going on in Washington DC was at the State Department, where its spokesman PJ Crowley announced that it has sent a new US envoy to Cairo to meet with the government.
Crowley said that Frank Wisner, a former US ambassador to Egypt, "has the ability" to talk to Egyptian leaders. He gave no more details other than to say Wisner would have the opportunity to "reinforce" the US's message to Egypt.
State-owned Nile TV reports that Omar Suleiman, Egypt's new vice president, is about to make a televised statement.
Mubarak used Nile TV for his statement on Friday night so that makes sense.
At last a question to Robert Gibbs about Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's new vice president and his past involvement with torture as chief of intelligence. Gibbs won't make any comment other to speak broadly about the US's commitment to human rights.
And that's it, all over, no chance for a follow up question.
Robert Gibbs is asked what message the White House has sent to the Mubarak regime about the military response to tomorrow's planned protests.
Gibbs says there have been a wide range of contacts, including "military to military contact" and by the Secretary of State to Egypt's foreign ministry. "We have been clear at the outset that grievances cannot be addressed with violence, I think that message has been made clear," says Gibbs.
With Cairo in flames, a member of the White House press corp asks a question about the internal reporting structure involving the next White House press secretary. "Will the new press secretary have your office?" is an actual question.
Would the US government be comfortable with Islamists in power, for example the Muslim Brotherhood, in Egypt? Gibbs responds:
"I think, from what we can see, it's not accurate to say that those protesting are made up of one particular group or one particular ideology. I think it is clear that an increase in democratic representation has to include a whole host of important non-secular actors."
Later, Gibbs is asked whether the US could work with the Muslim Brotherhood in power?
"We do not have contact with them, and we have, as we have throughout the world, standards for that contact... adherence to the law, adherence to non-violence and a willingness to be part of a democratic process and not simply use those process [to win power]."
Does "orderly transition" mean that the White House wants Mubarak to leave office? "The way Egypt looks and operates must change," is as close as Gibbs will come, "but it's not for us to determine ... undoubtedly in this case transition means change."
But Gibbs also stresses: "It is not for our government to determine" what that change will be. "That is for the people of Egypt to determine."
Whether Obama addresses the subject again "depends on what happens on the ground," says Gibbs.
Still at the White House press briefing, and a journalist asks if the US government has been in direct contact with Mohamed ElBaradei? Robert Gibbs gives a masterly non-answer:
"Obviously the embassy has been in touch with him in the past. Obviously he is someone, along with a whole host of people in non-governmental voices ... that we are regularly in touch with. I believe that they [US diplomats] will continue to reach out to figures like him."
Has the government spoken to ElBaradei within the last week? "Last week? Not that I'm aware of, at least when I came in here."
You can watch a live stream of the White House press briefing here.
At the White House press briefing, Gibbs is asked: so what is the orderly transition in Egypt that the US is calling for? Negotiations with a broad cross-section of the Egyptian people, including the current government, he replies.
But that transition will "have to address the freedoms that the people of Egypt seek." That includes free and fair elections, scrapping the emergency laws from the 1980s, and changes to the constitution to allow greater democracy.
Robert Gibbs, Obama's press secretary, is now speaking to journalists at the White House.
The protesters' "complaints must be addressed in a substantive way," says Gibbs. But asked about Mubarak running again in the presidential elections in September, Gibbs say the US "does not determine who is on the ballot" but is concerned that the elections be free and fair.
The Associated Press's correspondent Hamza Hendawi files from Tahrir Square with some fascinating, on-the-spot reporting:
The mood in Tahrir — or Liberation — Square, surrounded by army tanks and barbed wire, was celebratory and determined as more protesters filtered in to join what has turned into a continual encampment despite a curfew, moved up an hour to 3pm on its fourth day in effect. Some protesters played music, others distributed dates and other food to their colleagues or watched the latest news on TVs set up on sidewalks.
Young men climbed lampposts to hang Egyptian flags and signs proclaiming "Leave, Mubarak!" One poster featured Mubarak's face plastered with a Hitler mustache, a sign of the deep resentment toward the 82-year-old leader they blame for widespread poverty, inflation and official indifference and brutality during his 30 years in power.
Reuters confirms reports regarding the Egyptian army's stance, and the army's statement that it would not use force against protesters demanding that Mubarak step down.
According to Reuters:
[The army's statement] said "freedom of expression" was guaranteed to all citizens using peaceful means.
It was the first such explicit confirmation by the army that it would not fire at demonstrators who have taken to the streets of Egypt since last week to try to force Mubarak to quit.
"The presence of the army in the streets is for your sake and to ensure your safety and wellbeing. The armed forces will not resort to use of force against our great people," the army statement said.
"Your armed forces, who are aware of the legitimacy of your demands and are keen to assume their responsibility in protecting the nation and the citizens, affirms that freedom of expression through peaceful means is guaranteed to everybody."
It urged people not resort to acts of sabotage that violate security and destroy public and private property. It warned that it would not allow outlaws and to loot, attack and "terrorise citizens".
The breaking news, according to al-Jazeera and other outlets, is that the Egyptian army is saying it "won't use violence against citizens staging protests against President Hosni Mubarak".
Is that a green light to the protesters? More on this as it becomes available.
Much of the action is taking place today outside of Cairo – as it has done through the protests in Egypt. Reuters reports on the protests nationwide:
• Alexandria: Thousands of protesters gathered in the square outside the main train station chanting "Come on, go away, show some shame". Witnesses said they had brought blankets and food, intending to stay the night and take part in the million-strong march which activists have called for Tuesday.
• Mahalla El-Kubra: 2,000 people demonstrate in the Nile Delta textile town chanting "Wakey wakey, Mubarak, today's your last day". Some 3,000 protest in Tanta 3,000, and 1,000 in Kafr el-Zayat, also in the delta region.
• Hamoul: A demonstration by several hundred people in the town in Kafr el-Sheikh province, north of Cairo, was dispersed by "outlaws" armed with sticks and swords, witnesses said. Seven protesters were injured. In Kafr el-Sheikh town 3,000 protested.
• Fayoum: 20,000 people took part in a silent demonstration in Sawaqi square in the city south of Cairo.
Now al-Jazeera has the statement from the Egyptian army (although who or which part isn't clear), saying "We are aware and acknowledge the demands of our honourable citizens"
The Al Arabiya television channel is also now reporting that the Egyptian army says it will not shoot at civilians.
In Washington, Obama administration officials say the United States is pressing Mubarak to institute "credible presidential elections" in September – preferably without Mubarak himself standing as a candidate.
The Associated Press reports:
Two American officials say the other gestures the US is seeking are for Mubarak to lift emergency laws in place since 1981, allow non-governmental organizations to operate and free political prisoners.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of diplomacy and the difficult situation the Obama administration finds itself in. It is trying to usher in an orderly transition to democracy without alienating pro-democracy protesters or its ally over three decades.
Sky News in the UK is quoting Egypt's state news agency, something that may be hugely significant, tweeting:
Egypt's army says it will not use force against tens of thousands of people demonstrating around country - state news agency
On TV, Sky is sourcing this to the AFP news agency, which in turn is sourcing it to state television.
The Economist's Cairo correspondent says he believes Mubarak's days are numbered, and has some telling details:
I knew it was truly over when I came home to find a neighbour in a panic. He had smelled a fire nearby. We traced its source soon enough, after climbing to the roof of my building. Smoke drifted from the garden of the villa next door, where workers had recently been digging a peculiarly deep hole, as if for a swimming pool. In a far corner of the garden stood rows of cardboard boxes spilling over with freshly shredded paper, and next to them a smouldering fire.
More intriguingly, a group of ordinary looking young men sat on the lawn, next to the hole. More boxes surrounded them, and from these the men extracted, one by one, what looked like cassette tapes and compact discs. After carefully smashing each of these with hammers, they tossed them into the pit. Down at its bottom another man shovelled wet cement onto the broken bits of plastic. More boxes kept appearing, and their labours continued all afternoon.
The villa, surrounded by high walls, is always silent. Cars, mostly unobtrusive Fiats and Ladas, slip in and out of its automatic security gates at odd hours, and fluorescent light peeps through shuttered windows late in the night. This happens to be an unmarked branch office of one of the Mubarak regime's top security agencies. It seems that someone had given the order to destroy their records. Whatever secrets were on those tapes and in those papers are now gone forever.
The piece concludes: "Perhaps I am still wrong, and it is not completely over. Maybe another battle will be needed, soon, before [Mubarak] falls for good."
Although Stone doesn't mention Egypt by name, you don't have to be Henry Kissinger to figure out which country he's talking about (although by extension Stone's comments also apply to Iran and elsewhere generally):
Our goal is to instantly connect people everywhere to what is most meaningful to them. For this to happen, freedom of expression is essential. Some Tweets may facilitate positive change in a repressed country, some make us laugh, some make us think, some downright anger a vast majority of users. We don't always agree with the things people choose to tweet, but we keep the information flowing irrespective of any view we may have about the content.
The open exchange of information can have a positive global impact. This is both a practical and ethical belief. On a practical level, we simply cannot review all one hundred million-plus Tweets created and subsequently delivered every day. From an ethical perspective, almost every country in the world agrees that freedom of expression is a human right. Many countries also agree that freedom of expression carries with it responsibilities and has limits.
At Twitter, we have identified our own responsibilities and limits. There are Tweets that we do remove, such as illegal Tweets and spam. However, we make efforts to keep these exceptions narrow so they may serve to prove a broader and more important rule — we strive not to remove Tweets on the basis of their content.
This is Richard Adams in the Guardian's Washington bureau, taking over from Haroon Siddique. I'm also tweeting at @RichardA for breaking news and other bits and pieces.
What to do about Egypt is the big question in US politics today, with the old battles between foreign policy Neocons and pragmatists coming to the fore again.
Meanwhile, potential Republican 2012 presidential nominee Mike Huckabee is visiting Israel and giving implicit support for the Mubarak regime, saying "we cannot afford to allow Israel to be threatened", as reported today by the Jerusalem Post:
The developments in Egypt have "created a very tenuous situation" for the entire world, likely US Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said in the Knesset on Monday.
Huckabee, on a private visit to Israel – his 13th to the country – said to the Knesset's Immigration and Absorption Committee that "the events of the past few days in Egypt have created a very tenuous situation, not just for Egypt, not just for the Middle East, but for the entire world, and the destabilization of that nation has the potential of cascading across the globe."
The Associated Press is running a couple of Israel-related stories.
The first says that Israel has given Egypt permission to "move several hundred troops into the Sinai peninsula for the first time since the countries reached peace three decades ago" because of the protests. It says:
With street protests threatening the Egyptian regime, the officials say that Israel allowed the Egyptian army to move two battalions about 800 soldiers into Sinai on Sunday. The officials said the troops were based in the Sharm el-Sheikh area on Sinai's southern tip, far from Israel. Under the 1979 peace treaty, Israel returned the captured Sinai to Egypt. In return, Egypt agreed to leave the area, which borders southern Israel, demilitarized. The arid peninsula lies between Egypt's mainland and Israel, and Israel was worried about an Egyptian invasion then. Now, as the unrest in Egypt has spread, Israeli officials have grown increasingly concerned about the stability of their southern neighbor. They are especially worried that Palestinian militants could take advantage of the unrest to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip through tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border. The Israeli officials spoke Monday about the troop movements on condition of anonymity because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has banned the government from discussing the situation in Egypt. There was no confirmation from Egypt.
The other story says Israeli pundits are ready to blame Barack Obama if Mubarak is toppled. I'm not sure the Egyptian people will agree that Obama deserves the blame/credit...
One comment by Aviad Pohoryles in the daily Maariv was entitled "A Bullet in the Back from Uncle Sam". It accused Obama and his secretary of state Hillary Clinton of pursuing a naive, smug, and insular diplomacy heedless of the risks. Who is advising them, he asked, "to fuel the mob raging in the streets of Egypt and to demand the head of the person who five minutes ago was the bold ally of the president ... an almost lone voice of sanity in a Middle East?" "The politically correct diplomacy of American presidents throughout the generations ... is painfully naive." .... Writing in Haaretz, Ari Shavit said Obama had betrayed "a moderate Egyptian president who remained loyal to the United States, promoted stability and encouraged moderation". To win popular Arab opinion, Obama was risking America's status as a superpower and reliable ally. "Throughout Asia, Africa and South America, leaders are now looking at what is going on between Washington and Cairo. Everyone grasps the message: "America's word is worthless ... America has lost it."
The EU has released a statement on Egypt after a meeting of European foreign ministers. It is more of the same in terms of what the UK government and other administrations have been saying.
It has urged "the Egyptian authorities to embark on an orderly transition to a broad-based government with full respect for the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms".
Hossam el-Hamalawy, who tweets as @3arabawy and has been quoted several times in our blogs (see 12.48pm)is doing a live Q&A on the Washington Post at 5pm GMT. Should be interesting.
Some more on the economic effects, as Brent crude oil futures have soared above $100 a barrel. From Reuters:
Brent crude oil futures surged above $100 (£62.41) a barrel for the first time in 28 months on Monday on concerns that anti-government protests in Egypt could create instability across the Middle East, possibly disrupting oil shipments through the Suez Canal. In London, ICE Brent crude for March delivery (LCOH1) shot up to $100.05 a barrel, rising 63 cents on the day. At 11.22am (1622 GMT), it was trading at $99.97, up 55 cents. The day's high was the highest since Brent front-month crude hit $100.31 on Oct. 1, 2008.
Several major European companies began to suspend operations in Egypt today as City experts warned that the country's economic growth has already been damaged by the protests against President Hosni Mubarak. Gas producer BG Group suspended drilling in the country, nearly a week after crowds hit the streets of Cairo. The decision was taken over the weekend, and the company is now withdrawing "non-essential, non-Egyptian" staff from the country. The FTSE 100-listed company is continuing to run its production facilities in Egypt, and monitoring the situation. "We have taken a safety and security decision," said BG spokesman Neil Burrows, adding that senior management are remaining in the country. French building materials company Lafarge has also halted production at its six cement productions sites in Egypt. The company operates six quarries and three gypsum production sites, as well as more than 60 other plants. Lafarge has also recalled 30 of its Cairo-based expatriate workers, out of a total of 70 expats. Activity at Egypt's ports also declined today. AP Moller-Maersk, the world's largest container ship and supply vessel operator, confirmed today that it has suspended its port terminal operations in Egypt, and closed its shipping offices. DP World, the Dubai-based ports operator, also halted operations in Egypt as a "precautionary measures".
A couple of interesting links to bring to your attention.
Former President Jimmy Carter called the weeklong political unrest and rioting in Egypt an "earth shaking event" and said that the country's president, Hosni Mubarak, "will have to leave." Carter's remarks came at Maranatha Baptist Church, where he regularly teaches a Sunday School class to visitors from across the country and globe. "This is the most profound situation in the Middle East since I left office," Carter said Sunday to the nearly 300 people packed into the small sanctuary about a half mile from downtown Plains.
Shortly after 9/11, Australian citizen, Mamdouh Habib, was captured by Pakistani security forces and, under US pressure, tortured by Pakistanis. He was then rendered (with an Australian diplomat watching) by CIA operatives to Egypt, a not uncommon practice. In Egypt, Habib merited Suleiman's personal attention. As related by Richard Neville, based on Habib's memoir:
Habib was interrogated by the country's Intelligence Director, General Omar Suleiman…. Suleiman took a personal interest in anyone suspected of links with Al Qaeda. As Habib had visited Afghanistan shortly before 9/11, he was under suspicion. Habib was repeatedly zapped with high-voltage electricity, immersed in water up to his nostrils, beaten, his fingers were broken and he was hung from metal hooks.
That treatment wasn't enough for Suleiman, so:
To loosen Habib's tongue, Suleiman ordered a guard to murder a gruesomely shackled Turkistan prisoner in front of Habib – and he did, with a vicious karate kick.
Soldiers have detained about 50 men trying to break into the Egyptian National Museum in the last two days, the military said today. I should mention that there have been concerns that some reports of looting have been exaggerated to give an impression of lawlessness, thereby justfiying a heavy-handed crackdown. From the Associated Press:
Snipers were stationed on the roof of the building, and dozens of troops patrolled the grounds of the famed antiquities museum amid fears that the chaos sweeping Cairo could engulf the nation's heritage. Some of the most intense anti-government protests in the past week happened near the museum. On Monday, half a dozen suspected thieves lay in a group on the floor of the entrance, their faces covered by a blanket. Guards said they were caught trying to enter. A military general at the museum said soldiers arrested about 35 men trying to break into the building on Sunday, and another 15 on Monday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Troops said they were given orders not to shoot, but to protect the building and its contents. The majority of the museum was intact, but there were signs of an earlier break-in. On the second floor, one case containing a gold trinket, two small rods and other small artifacts was broken, and another case was smashed on the first floor. The cases were next to the gated room containing the gold funerary mask of King Tutankhamun that draws millions of tourists a year. At the museum's gift shop, broken glass, souvenirs and postcards littered the ground. Zahi Hawass, Egypt's antiquities chief, walked through the darkened museum with a military guard and said the museum was heavily protected by the Egyptian army. Later Monday, he was appointed minister of state antiquities in the new government named by President Hosni Mubarak, who faces calls from protesters for his ouster. "If the museum is safe, Egypt is safe," Hawass said.
While protests continue today and there are hopes that one million will take to the streets tomorrow, there are already plans for Friday. Protesters have said the army must choose to take the people's side by Thursday or else demonstrators will march on the presidential palace in Heliopolis after Friday prayers. The statement from youth-led groups says:
We the people and the youth of Egypt demand that our brothers in the national armed forces clearly define their stance by either lining up with the real legitimacy provided by millions of Egyptians on strike on the streets, or standing in the camp of the regime that has killed our people, terrorized them and stole from them.
Hi, this is Haroon Siddique, back again, taking over from Matt.
Alistair Burt, the parliamentary undersecretary of state at the foreign office, has just made a statement on the Egyptian protests in the House of Commons. The UK foreign secretary William Hague, is at an EU summit with his counterparts, where Egypt is top of the agenda. Burt did not deviate from the already stated position of the British government. He said it was not for the British government "to decide who governs Egypt" but itsupports "transition to a more democratic system, including free and fair elections". He also called for Mubarak to appoint a "broad-based government" that involves opposition politicians, so still no call for Mubarak to go.
He said the safety of British citizens is the government's top priority. Burt said 30,000 Britis are in Egypt with 10,000 outside the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, which has been untouched by the protests. He described the situation as "improving" in Cairo and Alexandria but British citizens in Luxor are advised to stay indoors wherever possible.
The US is claiming credit for the release of those al-Jazeera six.
Alec Ross, one of Hillary Clinton's advisers, just tweeted this:
Searches for the Chinese characters for Egypt on the popular Sina microblog service returned a message saying results were not being shown due to local regulations.
But tactics such as employing the English word or characters sounding the same as the Chinese name – also "ai ji", but this time meaning "sad and worried" – allowed internet users to discuss the situation.
Some people said they had also been able to post messages containing the characters for Egypt, although it was not clear how long they stayed up.
What Next? Zaineb Al-Assam, head of Middle East and North Africa Forecasting at Exclusive Analysis, gave this assessment to Reuters.
The most likely scenario in the next seven days will be an escalation in protests, with a million strong protest planned for tomorrow. If Mubarak appears to be staying then protests will continue after then, also initiated by a lack of basic foodstuffs such as flour.
In the event of Mubarak's resignation, the Muslim Brotherhood (see picture below) are well organised and would do well in any open electoral process. While the more moderate political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood will contain the more extreme elements in the group, they are close to Hamas and so increased war risks with Israel and increased terrorism risks in Israel (if border control lapses) are very likely.
In a year, Egypt would likely look more like Turkey and represent a moderately positive investment and risk climate. Even so, many existing contracts will be revised and challenged. There is likely to be some re-nationalisation in the manufacturing and industrial sector.
In terms of contagion risk, Yemen, Sudan, Jordan and Syria all look vulnerable. However, the greatest risk in terms of both probability and severity is in Saudi Arabia. A successor regime in Saudi Arabia would change the commercial as well as geopolitical environment across the region.
Israel's concern at the popular unrest in Egypt is not just about the internal affairs of a near neighbour, but the strategic issue of its 30-year peace treaty with the largest Arab country, once its bitter enemy.
The prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, reportedly ordered his cabinet to refrain from commenting publicly on the unfolding drama, saying only that the treaty must be maintained. But as Haaretz reported today, the government is seeking to convince the US and EU to curb their criticism of Hosni Mubarak to preserve stability in the region, even as Washington and its allies signal their wish for an "orderly transition" which the incumbent almost almost certainly cannot ignore.
If democracy is the issue on the streets of Cairo, stability is Israel's paramount interest. Upholding the treaty and its military provisions is the key question, but that is closely linked to Egypt's internal politics and a likely future role for the Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition groups if the system opens up.
US state department spokesman Philip Crowley has been swift to condemn the arrest of al-Jazeera journalists.
The curfew has been in place for more than 20 minutes, but the protests are continuing.
Issandr El Amrani, has posted a video of significant moment from yesterday, when an army general told the crowd that they were free to protest. He prevaricated on whether he backed Mubarak, according to El Amrani on his widely-read Arabist blog.
The above video was from an amazing moment when what appears to be a one-star general stood atop a tank and addressed the crowd. He told them that the country was in a dire situation, and the army had to restore calm. When pressed on whether he supported Mubarak, he told them, more or less, that this was not his mission. People are free to protest and express their opinion, and free to choose their leader.
(Unfortunately he couldn't hear my questions, but you can hear him loud and clear).
Earlier (10.37am) we mentioned a list of missing people being compiled by activists. One of those listed is saying it's a fake.
The blogger @sandmonkey has tweeted:
FB list of missing ppl is FAKE. Many ppl on it NOT missing. This is state security trying to get info on us. DO NOT RESPOND #Jan25
Mubarak's new cabinet has been sworn in, according to Egyptian state TV. He has retained his long-serving defence minister, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, and his foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. Most significant is the appointment (reported earlier, 11.48am) of retired police general Mahmoud Wagdi as interior minister to replace Habib el-Adly, who is widely despised by protesters for the brutality shown by security forces.
I spoke with a trade unionist in Suez now. The protests continue. Popular committees r running security. Police has vanished.
The Suez governor has also fled, according to the trade unionist I spoke with.
Some police corporals in Suez have joined the protests, after burning their police uniforms, says the trade unionist.
"It's a cross between a high-tech media hub, and student's bedroom" - Jack Shenker describes one location where Egyptians have found a way around internet restrictions in Egypt. Dozens of protesters, activists, and bloggers are staring at banks and banks of laptops spreading word of the unrest, he says.
More on those arrests of al-Jazeera staff (12.19pm). One of those reportedly arrested is Dan Nolan, the station's UAE correspondent. Despite being apparently under arrest, he is still tweeting.
Unsure if arrested or about to be deported. 6 of us held at army checkpoint outside Hilton hotel. Equipment seized too. #Egypt #jan25
4 soldiers entered room took our camera. Wr ae under military arrest #Egypt #jan25
Here's a summary of events so far today:
Protesters have flocked to Tahrir Square, in Cairo, after opponents to Hosni Mubarak's regime called for a general strike. Some estimates suggest there might be 100,000 people gathered in the capital's central plaza. (12.04pm). There is also a protest in the Cairo district of Shubra, about 2km from Tahrir Square,
The rating agency Moody's has downgraded Egypt to Ba2 status reflect growing anxiety among investors about the continuing unrest. (8.26am)
Mubarak has started naming his new cabinet. A retired general, Mahmoud Wagdy, is his new interior minister, replacing the long-serving the long-time Habib el-Adly. . The former Trade Minister Rashid Mohammed Rashid has refused to join the new government, according to reports. (11.48am)
Protesters are calling for a million people to take to the streets of Cairo tomorrow to mark the one week anniversary of the demonstrations against Mubarak's regime. Tomorrow's gathering is being backed by a coalition of opposition groups, including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group. (11.18am)
This is Haroon Siddique, giving Matthew a breather
Six members of the al-Jazeera production team have been arrested in Cairo, the TV station reports. (Initial reports said five)
Tahrir Square is packed with protesters, Harriet Sherwood reports.
General Mahmoud Wagdy replaces the long-time Minister of Interior Habib el-Adly.
Gawdat El-Malt, formerly of the audit office, is reported to have appointed as Minister of Finance. But he denied he is part of the new government, according to Reuters.
"We still can't confirm the charges but most likely they were arrested for breaking the curfew in Tahrir square," Ahmed Seif Al-Islam, head of Hisham Mubarak centre, told Daily News Egypt.
A coalition of opposition groups are backing calls for a million people to take to Cairo's streets tomorrow, while politicians talk of deals with the army.
AP reports:
The coalition of groups including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood said it wants the march from Tahrir, or Liberation Square, to force Mubarak to step down by Friday.
The groups also called for a general strike today, although much of Cairo remained shut down, with government officers and private businesses closed.
"We don't want life to go back to normal but until Mubarak leaves. We want people to abandon their jobs until he leaves," Israa Abdel-Fattah, one of the protest organizers and one of the founders of April 6 group, a grass-roots movement of young people that has been pushing for democratic reform since 2008.
Banks, schools and the stock market were shut for the second working day. Long lines formed outside bakeries as people tried to replenish their stores of bread, the main source of sustenance for most Egyptians.
Meanwhile, Reuters has more on the political manoeuvring:
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is seeking to form a broad political committee with Mohamed ElBaradei to talk to the army, a senior member of the opposition group said today.
Ali ElBaradei, brother of the former head of the UN nuclear watchdog who has been campaigning for change in Egypt, said his brother had not yet been approached.
"We are in the course of discussing forming a broad negotiation committee for political issues with Dr ElBaradei that reflects the will of the people and that would negotiate with the army," Essam el-Erian told Reuters.
"The Brotherhood does not take decisions on its own without national forces," he said, adding it would also seek to contact other political elements, without elaborating.
Ali ElBaradei said: "There have been no such discussions over such a committee. ElBaradei hasn't been approached by anyone."
Could the unrest spread to Morocco? Our Madrid correspondent Giles Tremlett reports on a warning by a royal Moroccan exile.
By the standards of Egypt and Tunisia things have been rather quiet on the opposite corner of north Africa, in Morocco, but that is bound to change, according to the man who is third in line to the crown, the "red" prince Moulay Hicham.
In an interview with Ignacio Cembrero of Spain's El País newspaper today, Hicham warns that "the course of history changed with the fall of Ben Ali" in Tunisia. "Morocco has not been touched yet, but... almost all authoritarian systems will be affected by the wave of protests. Morocco will probably not be an exception."
Morocco is a semi-democracy, ruled by his cousin, King Mohammed VI and rife with cronyism and corruption. But Hicham, known for his pro-democratic stance, warns that the country's "higher grade of social mediation between political power and the people [than in Tunisia]... has been amply discredited."
And he warns that his cousin's sweeping powers are "incompatible with the new fundamental magnitude [of change] that the citizen demands". Mohammed VI had better get ahead of the game and start reforms now, he adds.
Hicham accuses Europe of using the threat of Islamism to prop up authoritarian regimes in the Arab world. "Religion plays no part in these new social movements," he says. "This is a largely secularised generation which calls for liberty and dignity when confronted by regimes that violate human rights."
The Red Prince, as he is known, sounds like ElBaradei. He lives in the US, having left in 2002 (the El Pais interview was done while he was in Paris) but is free to travel back and forth from Morocco.
The Guardian has footage of Mohamed ElBaradei addressing the crowd last night.
There were rumours that Mubarak's son Gamal, who was being lined up to succeed him as president, had fled to London.
The Guardian's Sam Jones has the thankless task of trying to track him down. There was no sign of Gamal in his town house in Wilton Place, this morning, Sam says. Neighbours confirmed that Gamal used to live in the house, on the Belgravia borders, but he hasn't been there for some time.
The Egyptian embassy denied that Gamal had fled to London, but they wouldn't say if he is still in Egypt.
Al-Jazeera is also on Gamal's trail.
About 1,000 people have gathered for a protest in the Cairo district of Shubra, about 2km from Tahrir Square, an al-Jazeera correspondent reports from the demo.
The protest began after mid day prayers, he said. Loud chanting could be heard as he spoke.
Activists have created a list of missing persons linked to the protests, writes Haroon Siddique. (Update, see 1pm post, claim that list is fake)
So far it has 13 names on it but they are asking for help in updating it. Contact @samerkaram or @tinkeyeh on Twitter.
These are the details of the list as it stands.
Wael Ghonim, Cairo Mohamed Abdelfattah, Alexandria Shahd Essam, Nasr City Mohamed Omar, Alexandria Ziad Bakir, Cairo Mohamed Aboulazm, Tanta Kareem Mokhtar, Cairo Marwan Imam, Cairo Navine Zaki, Cairo Ahmed Fouad, Ras Gharid Mohammad Ghafari, Cairo The blogger Sandmonkey
My colleague Graeme Wearden has more on falling confidence in the Egyptian economy.
Moody's decision to downgrade Egypt's credit rating (see 8.26am) is another reminder of the fragile nature of the country's economy. The protests and the uncertainty over its political future directly threaten tourism, its key revenue stream, and even raise questions about the Suez Canal.
Reading between the lines of today's statement, Moody's is concerned that the Egyptian authorities will react to the protests by raising wages and subsidies. It argues that Egypt's "weak" public finances, simply couldn't take the strain. Egypt currently runs a large trade deficit - mainly caused by imports of food and oil, whose prices are subsidised on the streets.
Or as Moody's put it: "Egypt suffers from deep-seated political and socio-economic challenges. These include a chronic high rate of unemployment, elevated inflation and widespread poverty. These, together with a desire for political change, have fueled popular frustrations. In Moody's opinion, there is a strong possibility that fiscal policy will be loosened as part of the government's efforts to contain discontent."
Egypt's revenues are driven by tourism - thought to bring in around £7bn per year to the Egyptian economy - and taxes on ships using the Suez Canal to avoid the long trip around Africa. The Canal generated almost £6bn of 'remittances' in the last financial year. But Egypt still ran a current account deficit of $802m (£505m) in the third quarter of 2010 - and had to rely on government borrowing to cover the difference.
The Suez Canal is still open today, and authorities point to the "armed guards" that patrol the area to ward against attacks. But the Egypt stock market remained suspended, having fallen by over 16% last week. Officials have just announced that it will be closed tomorrow too, to prevent investors pulling their money out. Most financial institutions have also been closed in recent days, amid speculation that there could be a major run on Egypt's banks.
Harriet Sherwood said there was little sign of the police being deployed back on the streets (see the audio interview earlier). This is confirmed by a new Audioboo clip by al-Jazeera. The reporter also says that a curfew will be imposed an hour earlier today at 3pm (1pm GMT), and that it will be more strictly enforced. But as he says there have been similar claims about enforcement in the last few days.
-Fall Mubarak -Alaa' (mubarak oldest son) tell your papa lets flee with the mob -An ass would have understood -Revolution people... revolution -NO mubarak, NO Nazeef, NO Soroor -LEAVE -The People want the System to fall -Fall Mubarak, Fall Gamal -No Mubarak, 30 years of theft.
Syria's president Bashar Assad says the protests in Tunisia and Egypt are ushering in a "new era" in the Arab world, but he claimed his country was immune.
Assad's regime is considered vulnerable to the same kind of unrest that has gripped Tunisia and Egypt. After the fall of president Ben Ali in Tunisia, Assad appeared earlier this month on a memorable front page of the French newspaper Liberation. It asked Who's next? Mubarak appears next to Ben Ali.
But Assad insisted that Syria was different. In a sometimes rambling interview Assad told the WSJ:
If you want to make a comparison between what is happening in Egypt and Syria, you have to look from a different point: why is Syria stable, although we have more difficult conditions? Egypt has been supported financially by the United States, while we are under embargo by most countries of the world. We have growth although we do not have many of the basic needs for the people. Despite all that, the people do not go into an uprising. So it is not only about the needs and not only about the reform. It is about the ideology, the beliefs and the cause that you have. There is a difference between having a cause and having a vacuum. So, as I said, we have many things in common but at the same time we have some different things.
The scenes at Cairo airport are "fairly chaotic", according to the Guardian's Jerusalem correspondent Harriet Sherwood who flew in last night. "Crowds of people in the lobbies, every room was booked out, piles of luggage everywhere. We ended up sleeping on the floor with 100 other people," she said.
British passengers told her they were disappointed by the lack of action from the British government.
On the streets of Cairo, vigilante groups continue to control their local neighbourhoods, Harriet said.
Human Rights Watch has appealed directly to the head of Egyptian military to help ensure a smooth transition to democracy in Egypt.
Here's the letter:
Dear Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi,
At this critical moment in the history of Egypt and the Middle East, a heavy burden of responsibility falls on the leaders of the Egyptian Armed Forces to ensure a smooth transition from an era of political repression characterised by severe abuse to one in which fundamental human rights are respected.
In the midst of anxious days of popular protest and revolt against police brutality, torture and corruption, and with protesters calling for a new constitutional order in Egypt, the Egyptian Armed Forces now stand as the only security organs of the Egyptian state that retain the trust of the Egyptian people.
The legitimacy of the Egyptian police and other internal security organs have long been tarnished by a record of human rights abuses, including the systematic use of torture. Furthermore the role of the internal security forces in the attempted suppression of protests in recent days, in which Human Rights Watch and the international media have witnessed countless examples of excessive use of force and other egregious abuses, has further undermined their credibility. Human Rights Watch is already calling for accountability for these abuses and the prosecution of those responsible.
In contrast, the Egyptian military, which was called onto the streets on Friday 28 January, has so far shown commendable restraint and has been welcomed by the majority of protesters. Human Rights Watch is therefore now calling on you and your fellow chiefs of the Egyptian military to maintain this commendable posture of trust and restraint and to remind you of the legal obligations, under international law, of the Egyptian Armed Forces, given their current involvement in policing activities.
First, the Egyptian Armed Forces must respect the rights of the Egyptian people to freedom of assembly and peaceful protest against a government that has ruled through repression and dictatorial whim for decades.
Second, to the extent that the Armed Forces are engaged in protecting public security, they are obliged to abide by the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. Under these principles, law enforcement officials may use reasonable and proportionate force to prevent crimes, but firearms should only be used in situations of grave and imminent threats of death or serious injury.
Third, Human Rights Watch draws your attention to the real possibility that failure to abide by these international standards would open individual soldiers, officers and their superiors to investigation and prosecution.
We urge you to reflect on the fact that the current crisis in Egypt and the rest of the region is in great part the result of years of corrupt and abusive government and unlawful torture and repression by its security forces, against which the people are now in open revolt. The solution to this crisis is not further repression, but a swift and orderly transition to a new democratic order in which the basic rights and freedoms of the people of the region are respected. We urge you to shoulder your historic responsibility and to assist in bringing about this transition.
Kenneth Roth (Executive director Human Rights Watch)
There's a heavy military presence in central Cairo today, but there are signs of good relations between the army and the protesters, according to a Twitter update from CNN's Ivan Watson.
• The rating agency Moody's has downgraded Egypt to Ba2 status reflect growing anxiety among investors about the continuing unrest. "Moody's decision to downgrade Egypt's government bond ratings is driven by increased event risk," Moody's said in an emailed statement, according to the Wall Street Journal. "This has resulted from escalating political tensions in the country following the recent uprising in Tunisia, with large-scale antigovernment protests taking place."
• Israel has urged the world to temper the criticism of Mubarak, according to the Israeli parper Ha'aretz. "The Americans and the Europeans are being pulled along by public opinion and aren't considering their genuine interests," one senior Israeli official told the paper. "Even if they are critical of Mubarak they have to make their friends feel that they're not alone. Jordan and Saudi Arabia see the reactions in the West, how everyone is abandoning Mubarak, and this will have very serious implications." A columnist in the Jerusalem Post describes the unrest in Egypt as "worst disaster since Iran's revolution".
Mubarak appeared to blame the Muslim Brotherhood for "infiltrating" the protest, in his statement read out on state TV last night.
"The citizens and the young people of Egypt have gone out to the streets in peaceful demonstration asking for their right for the freedom of speech," he said according to a transcript reported on CNN.
He [Mubarak] contrasted the hooliganism of the Brotherhood with the peaceful aspirations of most Egyptians, and pledged to work for economic and social reform (while giving the pledge no content). Mubarak is attempting to split the movement against him by sowing seeds of doubt among its constituents.
These include Coptic Christians, educated middle and upper middle class Muslims, and non-ideological youth, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood. By suggesting that the MB is taking advantage of the protests to conduct a campaign of sabotage behind the scenes, with the goal of establishing a theocratic dictatorship, Mubarak hopes to terrify the other groups into breaking with the Muslim fundamentalists. Since middle class movements such as Kefaya (Enough!) are small and not very well organized, Mubarak may believe that he can easily later crush them if he can detach them from the more formidable Brotherhood.
It is a desperate ploy and unlikely to work. Mainstream Muslim Egyptians and Copts do have some fear of the Muslim Brotherhood as a sectarian and fundamentalist tendency, but their dislike of the Mubarak government for the moment seems to overcome their anxieties about a theocracy.
Today, in an effort to restore a semblance of normality, the police will be back on the streets – reportedly with instructions not to confront the protesters. They had been withdrawn over the weekend, apparently to facilitate looting by the regime's thugs and provide the excuse for a crackdown. That move was thwarted by the public, who organised their own unofficial policing.
One of the most striking things about the uprising so far has been the resourcefulness of the protesters and their determination. At the same time though, on the other side, we have President Mubarak – equally implacable and determined to stay put.
The result, for now, is deadlock. But the deadlock is not going to be broken on the streets by the army or the police. At some point there will have to be movement on the political front – and that is not going to happen instantly. (It's worth repeating that the removal of Ben Ali in Tunisia took four weeks; the Mubarak regime is a tougher nut to crack and the uprising began less than a week ago.)
There seems to be widespread recognition, even by some of the regime stalwarts, that Egypt is moving towards "transition". The argument, basically, is whether it will be a transition supervised by Mubarak or not. The protesters' fear is that a transition under Mubarak will merely bring a change of faces without real change in the system they are protesting about. As far as the protesters are concerned, that is a deal-breaker.
Mohamed ElBaradei offered the regime a carrot yesterday by putting himself forward as "leader" of the opposition. Like him or not, this means a channel is now open for dialogue if and when the regime is ready to talk – though on the protesters' side that can't happen until Mubarak goes.
Egyptian protesters have called for general strike today after another night of demonstrations in defiance of a curfew.
"The army has to choose between Egypt and Mubarak," one banner read. Cairo blogger Sarah Carr has put together a Flickr slide show of anti Mubarak graffiti (Thanks to the New York Times's Lede blog for the find).
This has nothing to do with any political party. It is truly a popular movement. There is concern about what is going to happen next. We need to continue to experience this with joy. We have to remain peaceful until we get our demands. Look, there are more and more people walking into Tahrir Square.
In a statement read out on state TV last night, Mubarak promised reforms. He is also due to name his cabinet.
You can read how yesterday's events unfolded in Sunday's live blog, but here's a round up of the overnight's news:
• Large-scale protests erupted in Alexandria, Egypt's second city, after the funerals of victims of the unrest. The death toll over the past six days was reported to have risen to 102.
The legendary Oscar-winning composer was best known for his scores for 11 James Bond adventures
John Barry, who composed the score for 11 James Bond films, has died aged 77.
Barry won five Oscars and was awarded an OBE in an illustrious career that saw him work on a number of other acclaimed film scores, including Born Free, Midnight Cowboy and Out of Africa. He died of a heart attack, having suffered from poor health for some time.
He was born in York as John Barry Prendergast, the son of a classical pianist mother and a father who owned a number of theatres and cinemas in Lancashire and Yorkshire. His earliest encounters with the world of film came from helping out his father at his cinemas.
Barry attended a Catholic convent school in York, which he said was bombed in early 1942, killing several of the nuns and some of his fellow pupils. When he was later required to do national service, Barry, who played the trumpet, joined the army band, where he learned to arrange music.
On leaving the army he first found fame with the John Barry Seven, a band he founded that went on to have a number of hits. He then started working on music for the movies and his career took off when he arranged Monty Norman's score for the first 007 film, Dr No. It led to Barry working on other films in the series, including Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice.
While he will forever be associated with his Bond films oeuvre, he worked on many other scores and his Oscar wins were for Born Free (for best song and best score), The Lion in Winter, Out of Africa and Dances With Wolves. Among the other notable films he worked on were The Ipcress File, Body Heat and The Cotton Club. He received the Bafta fellowship in 2005 in recognition of his services to film music.
Barry also worked on a number of television themes and later in his career released albums of his own music. He co-wrote a musical of the Graham Greene novel Brighton Rock, which opened in in 2004. His last film score was for Enigma, the 2001 film about second world war code-breakers.
That's it for today's live blog – here's a summary of the main events on a packed day:
• Huge protests throughout Egypt saw city centres packed with protesters demanding the end of President Mubarak's rule as president
• Mubarak announced that he would not run in the coming presidential elections, promising constitutional reforms and a transfer of power
• President Obama spoke directly to Mubarak for 30 minutes and later said an orderly transition "must begin now"
• Mubarak's concessions were rejected by many protesters and opposition parties, with continued calls for Mubarak's removal from office
• Plans appear to be underway for another mass protest on Friday outside the presidential palace in Cairo
• Small groups of pro-Mubarak demonstrators were reported in Cairo and elsewhere, while violence and looting continues to be a concern around the country
• Protests in Jordan and Yemen led to hurried responses by their respective governments
We'll be back on Wednesday with more live coverage from Egypt and elsewhere. In the meantime, you can follow our correspondents in Egypt, London and elsewhere on Twitter:
Time to wrap up today's live blog but first a quick update on Obama's phone call with Mubarak, which a White House official is describing as "a direct and frank conversation".
According to ABC, Obama explained to Mubarak that an "orderly transition can't be prolonged" and must begin now. In other words, a seven-month handover period is not what the White House has in mind.
The full text of President Obama's statement tonight:
Good evening everybody. Over the past few days, the American people have watched the situation unfolding in Egypt. We've seen enormous demonstrations by the Egyptian people. We've borne witness to the beginning of a new chapter in the history of a great country, and a long-time partner of the United States.
And my administration has been in close contact with our Egyptian counterparts and a broad range of the Egyptian people, as well as others across the region and across the globe. And throughout this period, we've stood for a set of core principles.
First, we oppose violence. And I want to commend the Egyptian military for the professionalism and patriotism that it has shown thus far in allowing peaceful protests while protecting the Egyptian people. We've seen tanks covered with banners, and soldiers and protesters embracing in the streets. And going forward, I urge the military to continue its efforts to help ensure that this time of change is peaceful.
Second, we stand for universal values, including the rights of the Egyptian people to freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and the freedom to access information. Once more, we've seen the incredible potential for technology to empower citizens and the dignity of those who stand up for a better future. And going forward, the United States will continue to stand up for democracy and the universal rights that all human beings deserve, in Egypt and around the world.
Third, we have spoken out on behalf of the need for change. After his speech tonight, I spoke directly to President Mubarak. He recognizes that the status quo is not sustainable and that a change must take place. Indeed, all of us who are privileged to serve in positions of political power do so at the will of our people. Through thousands of years, Egypt has known many moments of transformation. The voices of the Egyptian people tell us that this is one of those moments; this is one of those times.
Now, it is not the role of any other country to determine Egypt's leaders. Only the Egyptian people can do that. What is clear – and what I indicated tonight to President Mubarak – is my belief that an orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now.
Furthermore, the process must include a broad spectrum of Egyptian voices and opposition parties. It should lead to elections that are free and fair. And it should result in a government that's not only grounded in democratic principles, but is also responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people.
Throughout this process, the United States will continue to extend the hand of partnership and friendship to Egypt. And we stand ready to provide any assistance that is necessary to help the Egyptian people as they manage the aftermath of these protests.
Over the last few days, the passion and the dignity that has been demonstrated by the people of Egypt has been an inspiration to people around the world, including here in the United States, and to all those who believe in the inevitability of human freedom.
To the people of Egypt, particularly the young people of Egypt, I want to be clear: We hear your voices. I have an unyielding belief that you will determine your own destiny and seize the promise of a better future for your children and your grandchildren. And I say that as someone who is committed to a partnership between the United States and Egypt.
There will be difficult days ahead. Many questions about Egypt's future remain unanswered. But I am confident that the people of Egypt will find those answers. That truth can be seen in the sense of community in the streets. It can be seen in the mothers and fathers embracing soldiers. And it can be seen in the Egyptians who linked arms to protect the national museum – a new generation protecting the treasures of antiquity; a human chain connecting a great and ancient civilization to the promise of a new day.
The strongest part of Obama's speech was his final sentences, in which he paid tribute to the protesters, with an enduring image linking them to Egypt's history:
In the last few days, the passion and dignity demonstrated by the people of Egypt has been an inspiration to people around the world, including here in the US, and to all those who believe in the inevitability of human freedom.
To the people of Egypt, particularly the young people of Egypt, I want to be clear: we hear your voices. I have an unyielding belief that you will determine your own destiny and seize the promise of a better future for your children and your grandchildren.
And I say that, as someone committed to a partnership between the United States and the people of Egypt, there will be difficult days ahead. Many questions about Egypt remain unanswered. But I am confident that the people of Egypt will find those answers. That truth can be seen in the sense of community in the streets ... can be seen in the Egyptians who linked arms to protect the national museum, a new generation to protect the treasure of antiquity, a human chain connecting a great and ancient civilisation to the promise of a new day.
It was a brief statement by Obama, just a few minutes but the highlight was this statement:
"What is clear – and what I indicated tonight to President Mubarak – is my belief that an orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now."
That is perhaps the clearest statement to date from the administration, although it's hardly going to satisfy the administration's critics, who define change as starting with Mubarak leaving office.
Obama begins by praising the Egyptian military for its restraint and professionalism:
"I urge the military to continue its efforts to ensure this time of change is peaceful."
Obama went on to say:
"After his speech tonight I spoke directly to President Mubarak. He recognises that the status quo is not sustainable and a change must take place."
Here we go – Obama is now speaking.
We're still waiting on President Obama to appear before the cameras, but an aide has just added his notes to the podium so it can't be long until the start.
Those wanting to watch Obama's statement live should go here for the White House's streaming video.
ABC is reporting that President Obama spoke to Mubarak this evening for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, Egyptian state television is showing archive footage of Mubarak kissing children and meeting citizens.
The word is that Obama will be speaking in 10 minutes time, at 6.20pm ET.
CNN's Anderson Cooper – who appears not to have slept for 36 hours – has spoken to opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei about his reaction to Mubarak's speech tonight.
"He has to let go. He's not only a lame duck president but he's going to become a dead man walking," said ElBaradei, who also said Mubarak's attempt to stay on until elections in September would just lead to six months of instability.
The scenes on Tahrir Square in Cairo appear peaceful, with makeshift tents springing up and many protesters settling down for the night. But an out of breath al-Jazeera reporter has just gone on air to say that, while leaving the square, he came across gangs of motorcyclists circling, with chants of "We love Hosni, we love you president" and "We don't want him to leave," along with a group of 300 or so demonstrators.
Hotel security in the area is said to be looking nervous and that the army units nearby are putting on flak jackets and moving to battle stations.
Witnesses at the railway station in Alexandria are now saying that excitement by neighbourhood watch groups might have got out of hand, leading to the flurry of violence.
That doesn't tally with the pro-Mubarak chanting or indeed the earlier footage on al-Jazeera, although it did look impromptu – at least one of the men on the square was waving about the leafy branch of a tree.
The violence in Alexandria is happening in Mahatit Masr Square, the square near the main railway station. Things seem to have quietened down, but al-Jazeera's correspondent says the crowd on the square can be heard to be chanting "We want Mubarak" – suggesting a pro-Mubarak presence.
Update: You can hear audio of the gunfire and reaction here.
The White House says Obama watched Mubarak's speech in the Situation Room, during a meeting with his foreign policy team.
The White House has announced that President Obama is to give a statement on Egypt within the hour, live from the White House's grand foyer.
There are two tanks on the scene and no police, and the images are of men hurling stones and much running. A tank is slowly circling between two groups of pro and anti Mubarak protesters, it seems, trying to herd one group back but it isn't doing much good.
More gunfire can clearly be heard, in the air it seems, assuming it's the army that is doing the shooting. Al-Jazeera's correspondent on the scene in Alexandria said she had to duck when the burst of gunfire went off.
The violence seemed to break out about 10 minutes ago, sparking scenes of panic.
Scenes of violence on the streets of Alexandria, with al-Jazeera showing some sort of violent confrontation between two groups – and now there are bursts of gunfire.
We'll be following this.
The Guardian has just posted its latest splash on events in Egypt, including reaction to Mubarak's speech and concessions, from our reporters in Cairo and London:
Mubarak, effectively abandoned by the US in a day of fast moving developments, said he would not be a candidate for a seventh term but would remain in power to oversee reform and guarantee stability — a position that was immediately rejected by angry crowds and promised yet more drama in Egypt's extraordinary crisis.
"In the few months remaining in my current term I will work towards ensuring a peaceful transition of power," Mubarak said. "I have exhausted my life in serving Egypt and my people. I will die on the soil of Egypt and be judged by history" – a clear reference to the fate of Tunisia's president who fled into exile last month.
Looking grave as he spoke on state TV in front of the presidential seal, Mubarak attacked those responsible for protests that had been "manipulated by political forces," caused mayhem and chaos and endangered the "stability of the nation."
The major opposition parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood, say they have rejected the offers made by Mubarak tonight, according to Ivan Watson of CNN.
And to confirm earlier suggestions, MSNBC cable news confirms that Mubarak's speech tonight was taped, not live. Where Mubarak was at the time is anyone's guess, although most educated guesses put him in Sharm el-Sheikh.
It sounds as if plans are being made for another massive protest, this time at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, possibly taking place on Friday.
It's now struck midnight in Egypt – and judging by the size of the crowds being shown live on al-Jazeera in Alexandria and Cairo, the curfew still isn't much of a success.
The crowd reaction on Twitter isn't any more welcoming to Mubarak's speech than the crowd in Tahrir Square. Here's a tweet from the Twitter account of the hard-working Sultan Al Qassemi:
We have fresh audio from the Guardian's Jack Shenker, who listened to Mubarak's speech among the crowd in Tahrir Square:
"People were bursting with hostility, many people held up their shoes in the air, which is, as you probably know, is one of the gravest insults you can show people in Arab culture, and as he announced that he would not be running in the September elections many of those shoes were hurled at the screen."
Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League and a likely presidential candidate, is speaking to CNN, saying that there should now be a debate over whether Mubarak's offers in tonight's speech are enough to satisfy the protesters' demands. But it sounds like he thinks they are.
"I believe that this is something new that has been offered and it should be considered carefully," Moussa says, mentioning the limits on presidential terms and the new election laws raised by Mubarak.
Asked if he will run for the presidency in September's elections, Moussa replies: "Yes I will think about it seriously in the next few weeks."
According to my colleagues in London, the crowd in Tahrir Square immediately after the speech can be heard to chant: "Leave, have some dignity".
The secretary general of the Arab League is making a statement shortly. The secretary general post is held by Amr Moussa, an Egyptian who was promoted to the job by Mubarak as a means of getting rid of a potential rival.
Richard Adams in the Guardian's Washington bureau, taking over live blogging from Haroon Siddique.
Attention turns straight back to the reaction of the crowd in Tahrir Square and other protest venues around Egypt. It's worth noting that the crowd in Cairo did not bother waiting until the end of Mubarak's address to react – as soon as Mubarak said that he wasn't stepping down immediately, the crowd could be heard breaking out with chants of "Down, down with Mubarak," and "He's the one who has to leave".
State television in Egypt is now running a highlights reel of Mubarak's career as president, as sort of video retrospective of the Mubarak years.
That was a rambling speech in which Mubarak tried to show empathy with the protesters but at the same time suggested that they have been manipulated by political forces (perhaps trying to implicate the Muslim Brotherhood, whose role has been minimal). He also had strong words for those responsible for criminal acts.
And he ended on a very defiant note, insisting he would not flee, but "die on the soil of Egypt" and "be judged by history".
People in Tahrir Square are chanting "Leave, leave" and "Get out".
Mubarak starts talking about himself in the third person:
Hosni Mubarak who serves you today took pride in the long time I spent serving Egyptians...I will die on the soil of Egypt
He says he will be judged by history.
Mubarak finishes speaking and immediately people in Tahrir Square begin chanting their opposition to him.
Mubarak says he will instruct the police apparatus "to protect and serve the citizens in absolute dignity".
He will work to immediately identify and arrest the outlaws, looters and arsonists.
"I pray to God to guide me to the successful right path to end my career in a way that is applicable to God and the people."
"I have exhausted my life serving Egypt but I am totally prepared to end my career"
The translation is halting but he is saying he will not run for another term as president.
In his "few" remaining months he says he will work towards a transition of power.
The protests were "manipulated and controlled by political forces", says Mubarak.
People must chose between "chaos and stability".
Certain political forces have turned their back on dialogue, so he says he is addressing the people directly, Muslims, Christians, farmers.
"I never sought power or influence"
Mubarak is speaking. He said the protests were started by "honest youths and men" but were taken over by those "who wanted to take advantage".
GOOG tells me they are getting 1-2 audio tweets/min for service set up for Egypt. Transcriptions crowdsourced.
Jack Shenker, for the Guardian, is in Tahrir Square, where he says there is a festival atmosphere. He asked people if Mubarak, who is expected to speak any minute, announcing his intention to step down at the next election, in September, would be enough. He said the "overwhelming consensus is that is absolutely not enough."
Jack told me (apologies for the quality of the recording):
They are really fired up, they're really emboldened by the fact that, assuming Mubarak announces this, they've secured a major concession from him and it's only spurred them on to continue the protests and stick it out till the bitter end.
Barack Obama has told Mubarak not to run again, the New York Times is reporting. Well, that would explain the reports that Mubarak has reached just such a decision (see 6.40pm). The NYT writes:
President Obama has told theembattled president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, that he should not run for another term in elections in the fall, effectively withdrawing American support for its closest Arab ally, according to American diplomats in Cairo and Washington. Al Arabiya television, citing unnamed sources, reported that Mr. Mubarak would announce in a nationwide address Tuesday evening that he would not run for another term. The message was conveyed to Mr Mubarak by Frank G. Wisner, a seasoned former diplomat with deep ties to Egypt, these officials said. Mr. Wisner's message, they said, was not a blunt demand for Mr Mubarak to step aside now, but firm counsel that he should make way for a reform process that would culminate in free and fair elections in September to elect a new Egyptian leader. This back channel message, authorized directly by Mr. Obama, would appear to tip the administration beyond the delicate balancing act it has performed in the last week — resisting calls for Mr. Mubarak to step down, even as it has called for an "orderly transition" to a more politically open Egypt.
Al-Jazeera has posted more video footage of the scenes in Tahrir Square today:
Here's a summary of events so far on another momentous day in Egypt
•Protesters continue to occupy Tahrir Square in Cairo, with many apparently preparing to spend the night there. There were demonstrations across the country today, including in Suez, Alexandria, Ismailiya, Mansoura, Damietta, Mahalls, Tanta and Kafr El Sheikh as people responded to the call for one million people to take to the streets.
•President Mubarak is to announce that he will step down at the next election but will stay on, according to al-Arabiya TV. (6.40pm)
• Mohamed ElBaredei has said Mubarak "must leave to avoid bloodshed" and said preparations have already begun for the "post-Mubarak era" (12.03pm). He also attacked Britain's response to the protests (7.48am).
•The US has been reaching out to Mubarak's opponents. The US ambassador to Egypt, Margaret Scobey spoke with Mohamed ElBaradei (4.33pm)
• Jordan's King Abdullah has responded to the gathering pace of pro-democracy protests in the Middle East by dismissing his government and appointing a new prime minister (12.45pm).
The blogger Sandmonkey responds on Twitter to the reports that Mubarak is to step down:
Mubarak to announce in a speech 2night that he's not running for another term. Just leave already! (cont.) #jan25
Either way, it's a big victory for #jan25 youth. Can't wait for abdication speech.
Al Arabiya TV is now reporting that President Hosni Mubarak will say in a speech that he will step down at the next election but will stay in office till then to meet demands of protesters in that period.
Mubarak will give a speech today, according to Al Arabiya television. There was no official confirmation. The channel also said Vice President Omar Suleiman had started meetings with representatives of parties.
The Guardian's chief political correspondent Nicholas Watt has sent me some lines Number 10 Downing Street has issued on its response to events in Egypt. A Downing Street spokesman said:
The government has had a range of contacts through today on the situation in Egypt. The prime minister spoke this afternoon to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and to Egyptian prime minister Shafiq. In his calls, the prime minister welcomed the restraint the Egyptian Army had shown today and emphasised the importance of allowing the protests to take place peacefully. The prime minister also made very clear that the Egyptian government must now urgently listen to the aspirations of its people. The prime minister called for an orderly transition to a broad-based government, including opposition figures. The prime minister also said that bold steps were needed to produce real, visible and comprehensive change, with a clear path to free and fair elections. In addition the British ambassador in Cairo, Dominic Asquith, has had a range contacts on the ground today with both government and opposition figures, including Mohammed El Baradei, in which he has set out this approach.
More on Netanyahu's comments today (see 5.19pm). He actually offered support (albeit heavily qualified) to the protesters. From ynetnews.com:
"We encourage the promotion of values of freedom and democracy in the Middle East," Netanyahu said in the closed talks but noted that "if extremist forces are allowed to take advantage of democratic processes in order to take power, like what happened in Iran and other places, the consequences will mean that peace and democracy are hurt."
AFP journalist Sara Hussein has provided a flavour of the atmosphere in Tahrir Square in a series of tweets:
back from #Tahrir amazing crowd. People dancing to the beat of protest chants, tanks at every entrance (1/3) #Jan25 #Egypt
#Tahrir heaving with people, tons of great, super-Egyptian chants. Children, women and men, amazingly creative protest signs #Jan25 #Egypt
#Tahrir crowd protective of lone women and foreigners, but eager to get their msg out. Insistent they stay until Mubarak goes. #Jan25 #Egypt
The popular movement in Egypt, unprecedented in recent decades, has for the most part been carried out in a courageous and peaceful manner. The whole world is watching how the president and the reconfigured government will react to the continuing protests demanding a radical change to a wide range of civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights... I urge all governments, both in this region and elsewhere to reflect on the fact that, in the long term, genuine and lasting stability does not depend on a ruthless security apparatus, or a ring of military steel, but on the development of human rights and democracy. These are the principles on which the United Nations was founded. Stability cannot be approached solely through a security lense. This is a short-sighted method that, in the end, is bound to fail.
The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has once again expressed concern about what is happening in Egypt, saying any future government must respect the 30-year peace treaty with Israel. Israel had previously expressed confidence that Mubarak would face down the protests but it seems as though that confidence may be ebbing.
A giant TV screen has reportedly just been put up in Tahrir Square. No prizes for what it is showing....al-Jazeera. The revolution will be televised.
A call by John Kerry (left), the Democratic senator who unsuccessfully ran against George W Bush for the presidency in 2004, for Hosni Mubarak to step down has generated a lot of discussion. If you haven't read his New York Times article, he writes:
President Hosni Mubarak must accept that the stability of his country hinges on his willingness to step aside gracefully to make way for a new political structure. One of the toughest jobs that a leader under siege can perform is to engineer a peaceful transition. But Egyptians have made clear they will settle for nothing less than greater democracy and more economic opportunities.
Ushering in such a transformation offers President Mubarak — a great nationalist ever since his generation of young officers helped their country escape the last vestiges of British colonialism — the chance to end the violence and lawlessness, to begin improving the dire economic and social conditions in his country and to change his place in history. It is not enough for President Mubarak to pledge "fair" elections, as he did on Saturday. The most important step that he can take is to address his nation and declare that neither he nor the son he has been positioning as his successor will run in the presidential election this year. Egyptians have moved beyond his regime, and the best way to avoid unrest turning into upheaval is for President Mubarak to take himself and his family out of the equation.
Further, he must guarantee that the election will be honest and open to all legitimate candidates and conducted without interference from the military or security apparatus and under the oversight of international monitors. The Egyptian people are demanding wholesale transformation, not window dressing.
The U.S. Embassy in #Cairo has been especially busy in the past several days with an active outreach to political and civil society reps
As part of our public outreach to convey support for orderly transition in #Egypt, Ambassador Scobey spoke today with Mohammed #ElBaradei.
Meanwhile, Channel 4's Jonathan Rugman, who earlier suggested Mubarak might already have gone, has just tweeted:
V reliable source tells me US Ambassador spoke to Mubarak today - and that he said he wasn't leaving. #jan25 #feb01 #egypt #c4news
Darkness has fallen. It's more than three hours since the curfew began and still Tahrir Square is packed – see picture above.
The US ambassador to Egypt has spoken to Mohamed ElBaradei by phone today.
Margaret Scobey reportedly told ElBaradei that "the US is interested in a political change in Egypt, but that the US government won't dictate the path which Cairo must follow". That amounts to no change in the US position.
Secret intelligence services, naturally enough, want to emphasise secret intelligence – a product which only they, in their special and privileged role, can offer. As a result, they have seriously underestimated what can be gleaned from "open sources". It was a fault brutally identified in the Franks report into the Argentinian invasion of the Falklands in 1982. More accurate and timely information could be gleaned about the Argentinian junta's intentions from local newspapers than from British secret agents in Latin America, it said. Britain's diplomats and spooks who, in common with all western intelligence agencies, also spectacularly failed to foresee the fall of the Berlin wall, must in future pay much more attention to "open sources", what they can hear on the Arab street, and what they can read, notably on the internet.
A Cairo resident has contacted the Guardian to tell us she is hearing reports of looters dressing up as members of the military and using this guise to get access to shops. This would tie in with reports we're hearing that the military is telling Egyptian citizens not to dress in military uniforms (an instruction that is probably advisable on any day).
Jack Shenker describes the rumour mill in Cairo's Tahrir Square. There is a huge amount of rumour and conjecture and it is all amplified by the lack of internet and mobile phone connections, he says. Jack says:
You will suddenly hear an eruption of whistling, cheering, and a frisson goes through the crowd. You will that hear that "Mubarak has been seen flying off in his private jet", but you can't confirm any of it. The euphoria is at a high level.
Amid all this carnival atmosphere and euphoria, it's really easy to forget that this time 10 days it was really surprising to see any thing more than 50 protesters on the streets chanting Mubarak slogans. Now by all accounts you have close to a million on the streets, holding up phenomenal placards, chanting that they want their president to go. It is such an incredible transformation.
In this interactive, my colleague Ian Black assesses the likelihood of the turmoil in Egypt spreading to other parts of the region.
US Ambassador met El Baradei today. Rumour Mubarak gone to Bahrain. Still not confirmed. #jan25 #c4news #feb01
There are other people tweeting that people are celebrating in the streets amid news that Mubarak has gone. But rumours have gone round the protests on previous days that the Egyptian leader has stepped down so I must emphasise the level of caution that should be attached to such rumours.
My colleague Mona Mahmood has sent me this round-up of Arab press reports on the situation in Egypt:
Al-Shareq Al-Awssat, Saudi newspaper based in London
What sort of dawn would rise on Egypt? Is it going to be like [the Russian revolution] or ... China's political changes or Ayatollah Khomeini's revolution in Iran?
Time will answer all these important questions and away ... we can say that all probabilities are possible though I believe the third probability, which is a comprehensive revolution like Iran's became impossible because the regime and the military sector in particular was able to spread out and hold the main pillars of the country.
If we suppose that the coming days prove the opposite and these pillars collapse, including the military, and the regime is changed, we will be faced with a completely different Egypt that is really similar to Iran in its revolution in 1979. This unlikely scenario depends highly on the change that would happen inside the military command ... I mean the current command would lose control, something I have heard no one could imagine yet, so it is almost impossible.
Ad-Distour, Jordanian newspaper based in Amman
Israel is worried, Israeli diplomacy is in panic, intelligence and security bodies are so disappointed: why did we fail again in expecting what will happen? ... Just have a quick look at Tel Aviv newspapers, you can feel the extent of tension, worry and upset.
Nothing good is coming from Egypt on these days that can make the Israelis happy; only one piece of news that made the window of hope open for Tel Aviv was the instalment of Omar Suleiman as vice-president. They know him well; no one in Israel does not know him or did not meet him. For them, he means the continuation of the regime. He is Mubarakism without Hosni Mubarak.
Al-Qabes, Kuwaiti newspaper based in Kuwait
After ongoing turmoil and the beginning of something like a peaceful people's revolution that is calling for serious reforms, the latest events witnessed by Egypt within the last few days proved that if the people moved and imposed their will, the change will happen beyond any imagination of the ruler or observer and even the people themselves.
... Mubarak is forced under the continuous week-long pressure from the people to officially declare the end of "inherited power", which was a repeated slogan in Egypt for the last five years. It emerged from the big role that Mubarak's son Gamal started to play especially after he chaired the policies committee for the ruling National Democratic party. This prominent role for Gamal made "inherited power" dominate the talk in Egypt and that Mubarak will hand power to his son Gamal.
But the latest events forced Mubarak to appoint a vice-president, something he refused and resisted for 30 years, declaring the end of "inherited power" in Egypt, and this is one of the faces of reform the Egyptian people had waited for long time ...
Al-Ahrar, Algerian newspaper based in Algeria
Mubarak did not learn anything from the Tunisian lesson. He showed up to the Egyptians in his familiar prejudiced way to say that he would not allow that and would not be easy with that and he ended with the resignation of his government and the appointing of a vice-president to him who is the head of the General Intelligence Body, Omar Suleiman.
Mubarak is faltering and he is dragging the US into a quagmire. Washington, out of its recessive keennes on Israel, wants to guarantee the transfer of power in Egypt without the change of the regime and Omar Suleiman is a guarantee for the US and Israel's interests.
It is a clear indication that Gamal Mubarak won't be on the list of those who are nominated to succeed Mubarak.
Syrians are planning their own "day[s] of rage" in Damascus this week, reports the Associated Press:
The main Syrian protest page on Facebook is urging people to protest in Damascus on 4 and 5 February for "a day of rage". It says the goal is to "end the state of emergency in Syria and end corruption". The number of people who have joined Facebook and Twitter pages calling for protests on Friday and Saturday is still relatively small, and some are believed to live outside the country. Social networking sites were integral to rallying protesters in Tunisia and Egypt.
Facebook is banned in Syria, which makes organising more difficult even though many Syrians manage to access the social networking site anyway. More than 2,500 people have joined the page calling for protests on 4 and 5 February, with another 850 joining a page in favour of President Bashar Assad.
"I've seen extraordinary placards today. Lots of 'game over' lots of 'time to go'. I just saw a woman holding a shoe with a picture of Mubarak on it. I've seen a placard with 'go, you dog' on it," she says.
"What's really striking is that more 99% of the placards are homemade ... This is not an organised protest; people are doing their own thing," she says.
There's lots of talk of "bad guys" and plainclothes policeman involved in looting and causing trouble, she says.
"People are confident that it is only a matter of time before Mubarak goes."
I'm a doctor from Demitta. I'm living the happiest moments in my life. I feel I'm alive! I drive my car in my city feeling very happy! I don't meet police officers and I'm not stopped in police ambushes. I also want to say my opinion. That man [Hosni Mubarak] is trapped. He doesn't know how to leave or stay. He's scared that if he leaves, he will later be arrested and sentenced, like other corrupt politicians. He doesn't know how to stay. He's looking for an exit. He's like a mouse trapped in a mousetrap. I want to say to my Egyptian brothers who protest in Tahrir Square to not leave, and to be strong. If I was with them, I'd protest with them. But, we're going to protest here tomorrow in Demitta. Everyone here will protest. God help us to get our freedom.
In the comments, Brian Whitaker has responded to this comment from followtheoil:
I can't believe that nobody on the Guardian's CiF has yet pointed out how ElBaradei is clearly an Anglo-American stooge.
ElBaradei has been parachuted in to insure that whoever emerges as leader after Mubarak, if he falls, will remain a sock puppet of the US and Britain, and part of their wider strategy to promote a democratic revolution in the region.
Remember Bush and Blair's strategy to spread democracy in the region? Now we have this people's movement for change - headed by El Baradei???
This is a Bush-Blair dream come true.
Down with Mubarak - but also OUT with El Baradei!
Brian Whitaker responded:
ElBaradei isn't obviously an American stooge. He made himself very unpopular with the US by standing up to them over the imagined Iraqi WMD.
He started getting involved in Egyptian politics last year after retiring from the IAEA, so I think it's also a bit unfair to suggest he was parachuted in.
In a statement on the library's site, Ismail Serageldin tells "friends around the world" that the library is being protected by the city's youth from the threat of looting by the "lawless bands of thugs, and maybe agents provocateurs" who have materialised since the popular protests sweeping through Egypt's major cities began several days ago.
"The young people organised themselves into groups that directed traffic, protected neighbourhoods and guarded public buildings of value such as the Egyptian Museum and the Library of Alexandria," he states. "They are collaborating with the army. This makeshift arrangement is in place until full public order returns."
The Guardian's Middle East expert Brian Whitaker is online answering your questions.
roeradu asks about America's response to today's protests:
Do you think America will respond more firmly following the huge protest today? Will it continue to display a reserved attitude? And if Mubarak is finally ousted, which figures of the opposition have more chances of receiving Obama's support?
Brian Whitaker writes:
Not sure how much effect today's protest will have on the US. The US is demanding reforms from the regime – and quickly. Mubarak can't deliver that, even if he wanted to, because opposition figures are refusing to talk to the regime until he is gone. So for that reason the US attitude is likely to harden against Mubarak over the coming days.
MietzscheintheUK asks about the potential spread of democracy across the Arab world:
Do you think that new democratically elected governments, which could soon get into power in Tunisia and Egypt, would try to help other Arab populations to achieve freedom and democracy in their own countries? In other words, will those two countries get together as a political and historical avant-garde to pursue an active regional diplomacy centred on the promotion of democracy and the realisation of a new regional order?
Brian Whitaker writes:
That's doubtful. The Tunisians have a lot of domestic issues to deal with, and the Egyptians will have a lot too after the "transition". Also, I think this movement is more of a people-to-people thing than a government-to-government thing.
Brian - It seems extremely unlikely that the newly appointed [vice-president] Suleiman will be a credible alternative to Mubarrak for the protesters, even in the short term. Egyptian protesters are acutely aware of his background and his role in what can only be described as the terror inflicted on the people by the security service. I am surprised that the western media is not saying much about this and I would like you to comment on this.
Brian Whitaker writes:
There have been critical reports about Suleiman's background, but for the time being the real issue is Mubarak rather than Suleiman. If/when Mubarak goes, it's quite possible that Suleiman will go with him, or that Suleiman will not become anything more than a short-term acting president.
I think it may be a mistake to talk about replacements for Mubarak. To avoid dictatorship in future, what the Egyptians need is a less powerful presidency and a more powerful parliament.
More from Human Rights Watch's Peter Bouckaert in Alexandria:
The protest march in Alexandria has now exploded into a massive crowd. We stood here for 10 minutes watching solid crowds stream by. And now a second large crowd has come down. Very impressive numbers! This is the front of the crowd. People shouting "Freedom" and "We have had enough".
The US government has just ordered all non-emergency embassy and other US government personnel to leave Egypt. From the state department's website:
On February 1, the department of state ordered the departure of all non-emergency US government personnel and their families from Egypt in light of recent events. The department of state will continue to facilitate the evacuation of US citizens who require assistance. Cairo airport is open and operating, but flights may be disrupted and transport to the airport may be disrupted due to the protests. US citizens in Egypt who require assistance, or those who are concerned that their US citizen loved one in Egypt may require assistance, should contact the US department of state and the US embassy in Cairo
A truck of men armed with guns has been stopped attempting to get into Tahrir Square, al-Jazeera reports. It is not clear which organisation they represent, if any.
Meanwhile, police are putting barbed wire around Mubarak's residence, says al-Jazeera.
There are angry scenes on the road between Cairo and Alexandria, we're told by Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch.
Just passed another army roadblock on the Agricultural Road between Cairo and Alexandria. Tank blocking the road in direction of Cairo and officer standing on top of tank with handgun drawn. Lots of angry people and massive traffic jam.
Time for a summary:
• An estimated 1 million people have gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square (10.43am), fulfilling the hopes of opponents of Hosni Mubarak's regime who wanted to make this the biggest protest since demonstrations began a week ago. Protesters believe this could be the last few hours of Mubarak's rule, but it remains unclear whether they will march on the presidential palace as planned.
• Mohamed ElBaredei has said Mubarak "must leave to avoid bloodshed" and said preparations have already begun for the "post-Mubarak era" (12.03pm). He also attacked Britain's response to the protests (7.48am).
• Egypt's key ally Turkey has urged Mubarak to meet the popular demands for change. Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Egyptian leader should "lend an ear to the people's cries and extremely human demands". He also postponed a visit to Cairo.
• Jordan's King Abdullah has responded to the gathering pace of pro-democracy protests in the Middle East by dismissing his government and appointing a new prime minister (12.45pm).
• Egypt's credit rating has been downgraded by Standard & Poor's to BB, it's second-highest "junk" rating. The stock market remains closed and will also be shut tomorrow (10.21am).
More on that new government in Jordan from our Middle East editor Ian Black:
Jordan's prime minister has been replaced by King Abdullah as the political shockwaves from Egypt continue to reverberate across the Arab world. Marouf al-Bakhit was asked to form a new government following the sudden resignation of Samir al-Rifai after weeks of protests by Jordanians calling on the government to step down.
Bakhit, who was prime minister from 2005-07, also served in the sensitive roles of national security chief and Jordan's ambassador in Israel. As a member of the Al-Abbadi tribe he is considered a loyal member of the country's East Bank elite.
Demonstrators had demanded Rifai's departure in weekend demonstrations, the latest in a series which have been given added impetus by the dramatic events in Egypt and Tunisia. Islamists have been active in the protests but insist they are reformists who are not trying to overthrow the regime.
Protesters are now starting to march in Alexandria, Human Rights Watch Reports.
There is no clear route for the march, so a bit of confusion. The local lawyers association and some judges have joined under a banner stating: "The Law Association says Down, Down with Mubarak."
The Guardian's Harriet Sherwood, who is also in Alexandria, tweets:
International pressure seems to have been cranked up a notch against Hosni Mubarak. Downing Street expressed disappointment in his new cabinet, and Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan said he was postponing a trip to Cairo next week.
A spokesman for David Cameron said:
We have said that it is important for the Egyptian government to listen to the aspirations of its people.
That means a transition to a broad-based government including opposition figures that will produce real political change.
It is clear from yesterday's cabinet appointments that this is not yet happening and we consider that to be disappointing. Many of the appointees served in previous governments or have ties to the current regime.
"There is very strong belief here that this might end today with Mubarak's fall," Channel 4 News's Jon Snow reports from Tahrir Square. "It's amazing; it's a heady day," he says.
He says there is confidence that vice-president Omar Sulieman will lead a transition government.
My colleague Simon Tisdall has just filed an analysis piece saying that "the Egyptian regime is showing signs of assembling a strategy to extricate itself from its perilous predicament. Whether the strategy can work is another matter entirely."
The regime's survival plan centres on Omar Suleiman, the head of intelligence, President Hosni Mubarak's close confidant, and newly installed vice-president. At this point, Suleiman is the most powerful man in Egypt, backed by the military (from whence he hails), the security apparatus and a frightened ruling elite hoping to salvage something from the wreckage.
Suleiman is, in effect, heading a military junta at this point, with all the principal civilian power positions – the presidency, the vice-presidency, the premiership, the defence and interior ministries – held by former senior officers, and with the military itself in full support.
Mubarak is now reduced to the role of figurehead, sheltering behind this clique. But they will not sacrifice him if they can avoid it.
Some comment from the Guardian's Middle East expert Brian Whitaker:
Watching the scene in Tahrir Square, it looks almost like a victory celebration. Then I remember that Mubarak is actually still in power. I'm sure there are political moves going on behind the scenes now, but it's not clear where the protests might go from here if Mubarak stays put. They can't just carry on having bigger and bigger demonstrations.
But perhaps we're focusing too much on Tahrir Square. There are things happening in other cities too, plus industrial action. In the end, it may be the shutdown of economic activity as a result of the protests that forces Mubarak out.
Brian: how has the US role in this whole affair been viewed by the people in Egypt and what do you think the long-term impact this revolt will have on Egyptian-US relations?
Brian Whitaker replies:
There are complaints that the US has helped to keep Hosni Mubarak in power, and some are disappointed that the US is not at present taking a strong stand against him. I have some sympathy for Barack Obama in this because it's a situation that he inherited and his room for manoeuvre is not as large as people may think (see Mike Tomasky's article). The future of US-Egyptian relations will largely be determined by the complexion of the post-Mubarak government in Egypt and the attitude the US adopts towards it.
Brian, what do you think has to happen in order for Mubarak to throw in the towel? And what do you think the timeframe is on a Mubarak resignation? Thanks.
Brian Whitaker replies:
Good question. One possibility would be his generals telling him the situation is uncontrollable. Another is Mubarak having a health crisis (real or pretended). But he's very stubborn I'm leaning more towards the idea that a financial emergency could trigger his departure. The banks are closed and people are running short of cash and food; that can't continue for very long.
Response on the issue of whether the Suez Canal will be closed from Brian, as requested by commenters yesterday:
The Suez canal is unlikely to be closed. Whoever governs Egypt will need the revenue from it. However, about half the ships using the canal normally call at Egyptian ports to pick up supplies etc. There are some problems in the ports because of strikes and IT difficulties.
"Mubarak must leave to avoid bloodshed" Mohamed ElBaradei told the broadcaster al-Arabiya. "We are already discussing the post-Mubarak era," he said, according to Reuters.
"There can be dialogue but it has to come after the demands of the people are met and the first of those is that President Mubarak leaves," he told the network.
"I hope to see Egypt peaceful and that's going to require as a first step the departure of President Mubarak. If President Mubarak leaves, then everything will progress correctly," he said.
Al-Jazeera has this on-the-ground footage of today's protest:
The Egyptian actor Omar Sharif (left) has backed the demonstration.
"I think Mr Mubarak is very stubborn about not leaving. He doesn't want to be humiliated," he told BBC World from the square. He added:
I think most Egyptian people, if they're going to vote, will vote against Mr Mubarak, I am sure. They want new people and they want a real democracy, which is wonderful because they had never thought of democracy before. I had never heard anyone in Egypt speak of democracy.
Hamas has prevented some 20 people from demonstrating in solidarity with the Egyptian protesters, according to Bill van Esveld, from Human Rights Watch researcher in Jerusalem:
Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip prevented Gazans from demonstrating in solidarity with protesters in Egypt, according to witnesses we talked to. Police arbitrarily arrested six women and threatened to arrest another 20 people who responded to a call on Facebook for a demonstration at the Park of the Unknown Soldier in Gaza City.
An eyewitness told Human Rights Watch that shortly after 2pm on 31 January, plainclothes detectives forced three women demonstrators into a civilian car and drove them away. Others who walked away from the planned demonstration were followed by a police detective on a motorcycle, who demanded that they turn over their ID cards and mobile phones. When they handed over their IDs but refused to surrender their phones, the detective called for support to arrest them, and the demonstrators fled, the witness said.
"It certainly feels like close to a million people are crammed into the square," Jack Shenker reports. But he says there is confusion about what they do next.
It is quite clear they broken past that fear barrier. But now debates are breaking out everywhere about what to do next. There was a plan to march on the presidential palace – about 10 miles. There are a lot of people who against that because it's too far. And there is also a fear that if they leave the square, riot police will reoccupy it.
There is no one leader; it has been a leaderless movement from the start and it still a leaderless movement here in the square. A huge amount of energy but not much of an outlet at the moment as to where it should be taken next.
Judging by continuing live footage from the protest it looks as if at least 1 million people are taking part. The scale looks every bit as big as that London 2003 demonstration against the Iraq war, when at least 1 million people took part.
Essam El Erian of the Muslim Brotherhood told al-Jazeera: "A temporary government must be formed until elections take place. This regime and the parliament have no legitimacy."
Thousands of people have gathered for a good humoured demonstration in the main square in Alexandria, Harriet Sherwood reports. There are lots of tanks and soldiers on the outskirts of the square, but not in the square itself, she says.
"People feel very much that Mubarak is on his way out. People are saying is that all they want is what we have in the west, which is free and fair elections," she says.
She was told that only 30% of the electorate would support the Muslim Brotherhood.
Brian Whitaker, one of the Guardian's Middle East experts, is on hand to answer any questions on today's events in Egypt, and their implications for the broader Middle East. Brian spent seven years as the Guardian's Middle East editor, has reported widely from the region and is currently an editor on Comment is free. What role will the Egyptian army play in the resolution of the crisis? Is the Muslim Brotherhood waiting in the wings? Whatever you want to ask about the Egyptian uprising, this is your chance to ask. Post your questions in the comments below, and Brian will answer them here.
Egypt's key ally, Turkey has urged Mubarak to meet the popular demands for change. AP has this:
Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) said Mubarak should act immediately and prevent "exploiters, groups with dirty aims, (and) those sections that have dark designs over Egypt to take the initiative." He did not elaborate.
Erdogan also called for anti-government protesters to refrain from violence and protect the country's cultural heritage.
The Turkish leader was addressing members of his Islamic-oriented party in Parliament. Erdogan urged Mubarak to "lend an ear to the people's cries and extremely human demands."
Judges have joined the demonstration, according to Heba Morayef, from Human Rights Watch, who is in Tahrir Square.
A group of senior judges have joined the demonstration with a banner which reads: "The Judges and the People are one Hand together" One senior judge made a speech from a loud speaker in which he called for the Minister of the Interior and others to be held accountable and for an end to state of emergency (loud cheer) and for free elections under full judicial supervision.
The organisers claim that a million people have joined the protests, al-Jazeera reports. Tahrir Square is more packed than it has ever been since the protests started, it said.
This image only represents a third of those people gathered, its reporter claimed.
"I do believe Mubarak should leave, but I believe a system should be in place," before he does, says Cairo resident Dana Mousa, who says that her view is not shared by the majority. "I don't believe in chaos, I don't believe in anarchy, I don't think the protesters have a sense of what is to come".
The state owned television and the police are ordering their employees to stage pro-Mubarak protests and about a few hundred are now engaging in pro-Mubarak demonstrations outside the state owned TV building.
When demonstrators in Tahrir square were asked about this, they all stated that the people have a right, "we only hope that they are doing this freely and that they are not coerced or bullied into this fake show of counter movement".
The Egypt crisis continues to dominate the financial markets, my colleague Graeme Wearden on the business desk reports.
Standard & Poor's has just downgraded Egypt's credit rating by one notch to BB (its second-highest 'junk' rating). S&P said that Egypt's economic growth will be stunted this year and beyond because of damage caused to its tourism sector. Like Moody's yesterday, S&P is concerned that the government will "eventually take measures to alleviate poverty by increasing food and fuel subsidies", thus pushing up its budget deficit [a somewhat emotionless view of the situation].
The Egyptian stock market remains closed today and will also be shut tomorrow. Officials are keen to avoid another plunge in share prices after watching the main index fall 17% last week. The oil price remains over $100 a barrel, despite the Suez Canal remaining open for business.
"People are still streaming in from every possible entry point. They want the world to see that this is their moment," Jack reports.
He just spoke to a man whose son was killed last week. "After burying his son, he has been here ever since," Jack says. "He says he will march to the presidential palace and if he sees Mubarak he will take him himself."
Later in the clip protester Hossam Hamalawy tells me that Mubarak will definitely fall.
"I would say at least a quarter of million have already assembled," he says. "We are protesting in order to push Mubarak to leave this country. It is not just Muburak we want a new regime. I have no doubt that he will fall, it is a question of time."
The Observer's foreign affairs editor, Peter Beaumont is in Tahrir Square. He sent these Twitter updates in the last few minutes:
Huge crowd in square. Hearing mobile phone net might come down again shortly
Searched 12 times by army and volunteers coming into square. Army leaflets ask for no violence
Soldiers frisking everyone going into tahrir sq but v dif feeling to friday, laid back not tense and no police
Egyptian army sent out txt message last night saying with egypt against thugs and thieves
Steady stream of people heading to Tahrir square. Scores of tanks on road to airport
The march will go from Tahrir Square towards Mubarak's presidential palace, which is currently under heavy guard.
"Everyone is out there to deliver a clear message to the system that we are are not going to let go... We want our voices to be heard," a protester says in a audio clip he made before taking to the streets.
Israel remains very twitchy about events in Egypt, and some feel betrayed by the Americans.
One comment by Aviad Pohoryles in the daily Maariv was headlined "A Bullet in the Back from Uncle Sam", according to Reuters. It accused Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of pursuing a naive, smug, and insular diplomacy heedless of the risks. Who is advising them, he asked, "to fuel the mob raging in the streets of Egypt and to demand the head of the person who five minutes ago was the bold ally of the president ... an almost lone voice of sanity in a Middle East?"
Al-Jazeera is showing live pictures of tens of thousands of people gathering in Tahrir Square.
"Everyone is coming" a protester in Tahrir Square predicts in this video shot yesterday. "We are not going anywhere until our demands our met," she said.
Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director for Human Rights Watch, is concerned that the army is going back on its pledge about allowing the protest. Writing from Cairo he says:
This is the first time since the deployment of the military on Friday that the army has moved to limit protests. Cairo ring-road now also closed. So much for military's pledge not to interfere in the right of the people to express their legitimate grievances.
The million-person march to the presidential palace will take the protests to a new level, it is hoped, he says.
The regime's tactics to prevent people taking part, won't work, Jack predicts. "Tens of thousands of people have defied a strict night curfew after night," Jack says. "Right now in Tahrir, there is a huge presence, far bigger than it has been at this time. There are tens of thousands certainly. Thousands from different directions are streaming towards the square."
Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director for Human Rights Watch, says the roads and rail services to Cairo have been cut.
He emails:
Army closed main roads between Cairo and Alexandria to prevent protesters from reaching mass protests today. Train services also closed.
With Egyptian protesters beginning a "million-person march" today – probably heading for the presidential palace – Mubarak's latest ploy is to shut down the country's entire rail network in the hope of keeping people away. But as with the night-time curfew, the banning of al-Jazeera and the internet shutdown, it's unlikely to have much effect on the protesters' determination.
As the internet is down many Egyptians are resorting to a new Google phone service to spread word of the protest, via audio tweets.
Announcing the service on its blog, Google said:
Like many people we've been glued to the news unfolding in Egypt and thinking of what we could do to help people on the ground. Over the weekend we came up with the idea of a speak-to-tweet service—the ability for anyone to tweet using just a voice connection.
Overnight the last of Egypt's main Internet service providers was cut off. The Noor Group had remained online even after Egypt's four main Internet providers Link Egypt, Vodafone/Raya, Telecom Egypt and Etisalat Misr were cut last Friday, AP reports.
In an interview with the Independent's Robert Fisk, ElBaradei, said:
When a regime withdraws the police entirely from the streets of Cairo, when thugs are part of the secret police, trying to give the impression that without Mubarak the country will go into chaos, this is a criminal act. Somebody has to be accountable. And now, as you can hear in the streets, people are not saying Mubarak should go, they are now saying he should be put on trial. If he wants to save his skin, he better leave.
He also attacked Britain's response to the Egypt protests.
Yesterday, I heard Mr Cameron saying that democracy is not an election, that it's "block-building". Well, everybody knows that. But how do you talk about building a judiciary, civil society – how do you talk about these "building blocks" – under a dictatorship? You either have a civil society or you don't.
A planned million-person march has started, but not yet with the turnout protesters had hoped for.
Overnight, for the first time a small pro-Mubarak demonstration was also mounted, but it was tiny. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen tweeted: "Just saw pro Mubarak demo for the first time at information ministry. About 50 guys chanting with signs."
Meanwhile, in apparent attempt to soften popular anger, the Egyptian vice-president said president Hosni Mubarak had asked him to start a dialogue with all the country's political parties. According to state TV, Omar Suleiman said it would involve constitutional and legislative reforms.
Overnight there was much focus on the US response to the unrest. The White House said in a statement that the crisis should be settled by "meaningful talks". It also sent sent a retired senior diplomat, Frank Wisner, to Egypt to press the US case for democratic reforms to top Egyptian officials.
Barack Obama met Middle East experts yesterday as his administration tried to find a path to a post-Mubarak era. One of those expert was Heather Hurlburt, a former speech writer for Bill Clinton. She said all of those present thought that Mubarak would fall.
Speaking on Bloggingheads TV she said: "There is not anyone in Washington, both inside and outside government, who thinks Mubarak is going to survive." She pointed out that the post Mubarak era would reveal "sad and ugly" truths about American's role in Egypt in the last 30 years. She added that the key question what happens next? "It isn't just a question of Mubarak going. He will go when the army decides he will go. The real question at this point, is do you have a transition to a moderately less reviled figure like Sulieman or a transition to a more open democratic system."
Hurlburt's discussion with the right wing foreign policy analyst Eli Lake is a good primer on US policy towards Egypt.
Here's a round up of more of the latest news and analysis:
• The Muslim Brotherhood has vowed to "respect the will of the Egyptian people" if Mubarak's regime falls, amid concern from western leaders that religious extremism might proliferate following the anti-government uprising. Tony Blair, the Middle East peace envoy, warned that Egypt might take a backward step "into a very reactionary form of religious autocracy". But his words carried limited resonance in Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood – the country's largest opposition force – has played little more than a walk-on role in the unprecedented protests.
• About 10,000 people streamed into Tahrir Square, yesterday, paying no heed to the curfew which was today brought forward to 3pm. They were scathing about the new government announced by the president. "This is all nonsense," said protester Omar el-Demerdash, 24, a research executive. "The demand is clear: We want Mubarak and his men to get out."
It's after 2am in Cairo – time to wrap up the live blog for the evening, although we'll be keeping a close eye on an outbreaks of further violence. Here are the highlights this evening:
• At least three people were killed and as many as 1,500 injured in a day of violence in central Cairo, as supporters of the Mubarak regime appeared in force. Protesters found plainclothes policemen among them
• Fighting continued around Tahrir Square past midnight, with both sides building barricades and pro-government supporters throwing molotov cocktails, setting fire to cars and buildings while the army refused to intervene
• The US government incrementally increased its pressure on Mubarak to step down and for reforms to take place, with Hillary Clinton speaking directly to vice president Omar Suleiman
• Pro-government forces appear to have arrested or attacked journalists reporting on the bloody events in Cairo. CNN presenter Anderson Cooper and his crew were among those attacked
One last entry – a very depressing piece of analysis by Robert Springborg in Foreign Policy, who argues the upshot will be "back to business as usual with a repressive, US-backed military regime":
While much of American media has termed the events unfolding in Egypt today as "clashes between pro-government and opposition groups," this is not in fact what's happening on the street. The so-called "pro-government" forces are actually Mubarak's cleverly orchestrated goon squads dressed up as pro-Mubarak demonstrators to attack the protesters in Midan Tahrir, with the Army appearing to be a neutral force. The opposition, largely cognizant of the dirty game being played against it, nevertheless has had little choice but to call for protection against the regime's thugs by the regime itself, ie, the military. And so Mubarak begins to show us just how clever and experienced he truly is. The game is, thus, more or less over.
The threat to the military's control of the Egyptian political system is passing. Millions of demonstrators in the street have not broken the chain of command over which President Mubarak presides. Paradoxically the popular uprising has even ensured that the presidential succession will not only be engineered by the military, but that an officer will succeed Mubarak. The only possible civilian candidate, Gamal Mubarak, has been chased into exile, thereby clearing the path for the new vice president, Gen. Omar Suleiman.
On that happy thought: good night.
The Guardian's Jack Shenker reports on the fires now burning in central Cairo:
The fire you can see on television streams is a tree burning at the junction of Mohamed Haggag street and Mahmoud Basyuni, just off Abdel Munim Riyad square where the pro-Mubarak fighters are coming up against the anti-Mubarak protesters' barricade.
It's just two blocks from my apartment building so I know this area well. From my vantage point it appears as if the burning tree has set alight parts of a derelict structure nearby – a beautiful old corner building with gargoyles carved above the doorways - which is thankfully empty, though there are many densely-populated residential blocks just a stone's throw away.
It's almost 2am in Egypt, and amid all the drama on our screens and rumours zipping around on the web, we shouldn't lose sight of one basic and incredible fact – for the ninth night running, ordinary Egyptians are on the streets in their thousands, still bound together with remarkable social solidarity, still battling their three-decade-old dictatorial regime, still holding their ground even as it is rained on by rocks and molotov cocktails.
Downtown Cairo is aflame tonight, its streets playing host to block-by-block, roof-by-roof, corner-by-corner urban warfare – but it's the bravery behind those fighting that battle that should really be leaving people open-mouthed.
Frank Wisner, the US special envoy sent by Obama to talk to Egypt's government, is on his way back to the US, empty-handed it would appear. AP reports:
The White House had attempted to nudge Mubarak to the exits, dispatching former US Ambassador Frank Wisner as a special envoy to deliver the message to him. But by Wednesday, Wisner was on his way back to the United States.
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the matter, suggested Wisner had been seeking specific pledges from Mubarak beyond just a promise not to stand for re-election. The official would not elaborate, but the administration has made no secret of the fact that it wants the state of emergency lifted and would prefer to see Mubarak's son, Gamal, not try to succeed his father. Mubarak mentioned neither in his address Tuesday night.
"Suddenly, rocks started falling out of the sky," said Ismail Naguib, a witness at the scene. "Rocks were flying everywhere. Everywhere." Many people were hit. Some were badly cut, others had arms and legs broken. The mob then charged in; some rode on horseback and camels, trampling and beating people. Groups of them gathered on rooftops around Tahrir and continued to pelt people with rocks.
"It's a massacre," said Selma al-Tarzi as the attack was ongoing. "They have knives, they are throwing molotov bombs, they are burning the trees, they are throwing stones at us ... this is not a demonstration anymore, this is war."
Some of the attackers were caught. Their IDs showed them to be policemen dressed in civilians clothes. Others appeared to be state sponsored "baltagiya" (gangs) and government employees. "Instead of uniformed guys trying to stop you from protesting. You've got non-uniformed guys trying to stop you from protesting," Naguib said.
The global campaign organisation Avaaz is working to help provide activists in Egypt with satellite phone devices together with secure online software to allow them to send and share information confidentially, beating the government crackdown on information.
This comes as Avaaz has learnt that the Egyptian government has arrested eight bulletin board service operators in Egypt who have been providing internet access through landlines.
In partnership with the TOR Project, Avaaz is providing equipment and software to increase the flow of information and online access for news dissemination via satellite phones. This comes as the crisis in Egypt continues and internet and mobile network access remains intermittent and has again been shut off today.
Providing high-speed satellite equipment is not only much faster and more reliable, it is also far safer in the context of a violent government crackdown on information.
A building near the Egyptian Museum appears to be on fire near Tahrir Square, an ominous development although not surprising given the number of molotov cocktails being thrown around.
Al-Jazeera is talking to a museum official, who says "The situation tonight is very, very dangerous."
Meanwhile, Mubarak supporters are massing again, and have used a billboard and a burned-out car to create a huge barrier, while smashing out street lights near Tahrir Square, preparing for a possible confrontation.
Meanwhile, Evan Hill, a web producer for al-Jazeera in Cairo, tweets signs of co-ordination among the pro-government supporters.
Right now there are protests in Egypt that look like they might bring down the government. There are a thousand important things that can be said about their origins and implications: as I wrote last summer in The New Yorker, "high risk" social activism requires deep roots and strong ties. But surely the least interesting fact about them is that some of the protesters may (or may not) have at one point or another employed some of the tools of the new media to communicate with one another. Please. People protested and brought down governments before Facebook was invented. They did it before the Internet came along.
There are all sort of reasons why Gladwell has got this wrong and it deserves to be dealt with at greater length than I can here. But to deny the impact of technological change on what we've witnessed in recent weeks seems foolish, to say the least.
Since Tahrir Square has been the crucible of the protest movement for the past week, it's useful to have a map to show the geography.
Based on the live TV feeds, the government supporters are tossing molotov cocktails ineffectually from the overpass that runs close to Tahrir Square towards the protesters below.
The protesters are still out in force – there's talk of 2,000 in the centre of the square – now behind barricades, and occasionally a few rush forward and stamp out the molotov cocktail fires.
The Obama administration appears to be slowly hardening its stance this evening, with a State Department official now saying that Mubarak has "a narrow amount of time" to take concrete steps toward reform.
Elise Labott, senior State Department producer for CNN, has been tweeting her briefing from the State Department.
After Egypt, is Algeria next? Pro-government members of Algeria's parliament have proposed lifting the state of emergency that has been in force for 19 years, a key demand of a protest organised for 12 February.
Algeria's official news agency APS said 21 members of parliament had proposed a motion to scrap the state of emergency, enough to force the assembly and government to debate the issue.
But Nouredine Yazid Zerhouni, the deputy prime minister, said the government had no plans to lift the state of emergency. "Those who are calling for this march must take responsibility for damage or for things getting out of hand," Zerhouni said, according to state media.
The toll of those injured today in Cairo has reached more than 1,500 people, a doctor at an emergency clinic at the scene has told Reuters:
Many of the injuries were from metal rods smashing faces and from bricks and rocks, said Dr Mona Mina, who is working at the clinic in the nearby Omar Makram mosque.
The casualty toll, higher than that provided by the health ministry, includes many light injuries, she added.
More from the State Department, with spokesman PJ Crowley suggesting that the US is reconciled to the Muslim Brotherhood being a part of whatever government replaces Mubarak's regime.
After urging the Muslim Brotherhood to respect democratic processes, Crowley acknowledged that its presence is "a fact of life in Egypt".
Reuters reports comments from an anonymous "senior official" inside the White House:
The administration senior official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday's clashes could convince the Egyptian military that it needs to pressure Mubarak to do more.
The official also said it was clear that "somebody loyal to Mubarak has unleashed these guys to try to intimidate the protesters," a reference to pro-Mubarak forces. "That shows that they're still dug in."
Tahrir Square now seems to be relatively calm, with anti-Mubarak protesters retaking parts of the square that they were pushed out of by the government supporters earlier in the day, where much of the violence took place.
CNN's Anderson Cooper, looking down on Tahrir Square, reports that the anti-Mubarak groups have retaken the large area around Egyptian Museum, and have put up barricades, while several cars have been set on fire.
"I'm sorry I've got to duck down, some shoots have been fired," says Cooper, who seems not to have slept for three days.
Some molotov cocktails are still being thrown. CNN's camera is showing the burning cars and barricades being constructed on both sides.
It's midnight in Egypt, and Al Arabiya television is quoting the Egyptian health minister that three people have been killed in violence between supporters and opponents in Cairo today, with some 600 injured.
That's an increase from the ministry's earlier claim that only one person had been killed.
More details from the State Department briefing this afternoon, and the news that Hillary Clinton's call to Omar Suleiman was the first by a senior member of the administration since Suleiman was appointed vice president.
State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said that Clinton condemned the violence. But, incredibly, Crowley also said: "We don't know who's responsible for the violence," which he described as being caused by "thugs" and called it an attempt to intimidate protesters.
The Atlantic's Graeme Wood managed to arrive in the centre of Cairo just in time to be caught up in the violence – and filed this vivid eyewitness account of what took place inside Tahrir Square:
Gradually, near the entrance to the Egyptian Museum, each side began to realize that neither faction would be overrun completely. Entrenchment began, and a no-man's-land of about a hundred yards opened up. I stood there in the middle, taking video, dodging rocks coming from the side I could see and holding my notebook to cover the side I couldn't. Then, right by the Egyptian Museum entrance, five men in plainclothes grabbed me, hit me three times, twice in the back and once in the chest, and brought me toward the Museum itself. They grabbed my video camera and still camera, shouting "memory card," and tried to break it when they couldn't figure out how to remove it. Then two of them grabbed my arms and ejected me from the square, onto the Nile corniche, which was so calm that the first person I met was a newspaper journalist who had to ask me whether we were among Mubarak supporters or protesters.
One side-effect of the tumult in Tunisia and Egypt has been to massively raise the profile of al-Jazeera English in the US, where the news channel has been carried by very few cable TV providers (Washington DC residents are a lucky exception) thanks to hostility dating back to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Now, though, Link TV has announced it is showing 12 hours of Al Jazeera coverage on its DirecTV satellite channel (owned by a Mr R Murdoch), which for those of you with DirecTV is on channel 375:
Link TV, an independent broadcaster seen primarily on the DirecTV and Dish satellite systems, said Wednesday it is simulcasting about 12 hours a day of live Al-Jazeera coverage to about 33 million of the nation's nearly 116 million homes with televisions.
John McCain, the US senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee, has joined the calls for Mubarak to step down immediately.
Why this is important is that it not only puts more pressure on the Obama administration to be more active but it gives Obama political support from a prominent Republican if he does take a more aggressive stance.
Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, has been in direct contact today with Egyptian vice president Omar Suleiman, the State Department revealed.
Clinton urged Suleiman "to hold accountable those responsible for violence" seen today.
CNN have just shown some amazing footage taken earlier today of the attacks on its presenter Anderson Cooper near Tahrir Square. Anderson's cameraman managed to secretly film the attack, and the journalists can be seen being rushed and jostled by groups of young men – some clutching photos of Mubarak – with punches being thrown and bottles of water thrown. Some locals can be seen trying to help and ushering the CNN crew out of the area.
"Clearly there were people who came there looking for a fight," Cooper tells his colleagues back in the studio.
For all the criticisms of US television coverage, CNN's efforts this week have been superlative.
Good afternoon from Washington DC, where the Obama administration's stance towards Egypt is coming under increasing pressure as the violent scenes from Tahrir Square and other parts of Egypt are being shown live on the US television.
Obama's call both for an "orderly transition" in power and for immediate change has been seized upon by members of the Mubarak regime, according to the Associated Press:
An Egyptian official says his government believes that White House demands for President Hosni Mubarak to step down immediately are in "clear contradiction" with Obama administration calls for an orderly transition to a new government.
The official, speaking for his government from a location outside Egypt, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that Mubarak's decision not to seek re-election in September was not a result of White House pressure.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity, saying his government would not allow him to associate his name with the statement.
The official said in the statement: "There is a clear contradiction between an orderly process of transition and the insistence that this process be rushed."
Mohamed Abel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa programme coordinator, said:
The Egyptian government is employing a strategy of eliminating witnesses ot their actions The government has resorted to blanket censorship, intimidation and today a serious of deliberate attacks on journalists carried out by pro-government mobs.
I'm handing over to my colleague Richard Adams now.
I can see Molotov cocktails being thrown from different roofs...There are two battles going on, one on the ground and one in the air, on the rooftops...They are throwing petrol bombs down on the crowd.
Massive battle going on to take control of the roofs opposite the museum. Molotov cocktails still raining down on protestors #jan25
Something is very seriously on fire in front of the barricade. #jan25
The people have boys on pickup trucks to tell them where to throw. The police have a massive laser. #jan25
This video shows the attacks from earlier today, including, 1 minute 20 seconds in, a man on camel beating people with a stick
The newly appointed vice president Omar Suleiman has just urged the protesters to go home, offering them the prospect of dialogue. That is very unlikely to have any impact, judging by the determination the protesters have shown today in the face of violent attack.
All accounts suggest Tahrir Square itself is relatively calm but fighting continues in the museum area.
The numbers have gone down in Tahrir Square but in the streets surrounding it clashes continue. Pro-democracy protesters have been urging people to join them there to help keep it in their hands.
Mohamed Effat (@3effat) tweets about the identity of the pro-Mubarak supporters:
Today In Tahrir square i SAW captured thugs admitting that they were paid LE100 to protest and others with ID's of police officers #jan25
The UK foreign secretary, William Hague, was on BBC Radio 4's PM programme and said he has spoken to Gamal Mubarak today (thanks to @cornelia23) in the comments section but said the president's son is in "Egypt...not in London". There has been speculation as to his whereabouts amid no public appearances or comments from him. Hague told PM:
In the last hour I have spoken to the president's son Gamal Mubarak and said that if it turned out that there was state-sponsored violence that would be catastrophic for Egypt and for those in the government now
.
The Associated Press has written up the comments by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, see (6.45pm):
The White House said Wednesday that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has a chance to show the world "exactly who he is" by bringing desperately needed transition to his country now. Press secretary Robert Gibbs also decried bloody violence happening in Cairo, where pro-government forces clashed with protesters a day after Mubarak announced he would not seek re-election in September. That was not good enough for the protesters, who want him out now. If any of the violence is instigated by the government it should stop immediately," Gibbs said, while declining to speculate whether the government was in fact behind the violence. Protesters contend plainclothes police are among the pro-government attackers. Gibbs said no decision had been made on cutting off the $1.5 billion in annual aid the US provides Egypt but that it was still under review. Gibbs reiterated President Barack Obama's call from Tuesday night that transition in Egypt must begin now but he did not explain exactly what that meant or say whether Mubarak should resign now. "Now means now," Gibbs said at the White House briefing. "The people of Egypt need to see change, the people of Egypt need to see progress," he said. Gibbs didn't directly answer when asked whether Obama viewed Mubarak as a dictator, saying the Egyptian president had a chance to show who he was.
We received a very interesting email from a Brit living in Cairo, who does not want to be named:
I received a txt message from "Egypt Lovers" telling me to go to Tahrir Square and show my support for the regime! The message was translated for me by a friend and I understand it has been sent to everyone. How did the pro-Mubarak supporters do that? How did they get everyones phone numbers? Perhaps because "Egyt Lovers" are actually the interior ministry...?
Al Arbiya says one of its journalists has been kidnapped by pro-Mubarak supporters.
@SultanAlQassemi
Al Arabiya is pleading for assistance in finding its missing reporter (captured by NDP thugs) Ahmad Abdallah to call 257 85 005.
Two ambulances have entered Tahrir Square, Al Jazeera is reporting.
Apologies, we've had some technical problems with the blog, which removed some of the content below.
The White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in the last few minutes:
If any violence in Egypt is instigated by government, it should stop immediately.
He rebuffed criticism that the US had been slow in supporting the pro-democracy protesters.
Here's a summary of events so far today
• Thousands of pro-Mubarak supporters have attacked pro-democracy supporters in central Cairo. Some rode in on horses and camels (1.24pm). Many brandished iron bars and baseball bats and they have also thrown rocks and ripped up bits of pavement to create weapons.
• Pro-democracy protesters have fought back and managed to keep control of Tahrir Square as clashes took place in all the side streets around Cairo's central plaza (4.43pm).
• Eyewitnesses say hundreds of people have been injured. An unconscious boy, no more than 8-years-old, was among those seen being carried away for medical treatment. The health ministry said one person has been killed in Tahrir Square and 403 people injured (5.49pm)
• The violence of the pro-Mubarak supporters appears to be organised, with policemen and hired thugs seemingly involved. The UK prime minister, David Cameron, said it would be "completely unacceptable" if the government was involved (3.16pm). The Egyptian interior ministry has denied any involvement but has made no attempt to intervene in the clashes.
•Mohamed ElBaradei has urged the army to intervene to stop the violence in Cairo (3.24pm). He told the Guardian the determination not to negotiate with the Mubarak regime had been strengthened by today's events and people now want to see the Egyptian leader put on trial (5.52pm).
•Pro-Mubarak protesters have also taken to the streets in Alexandria but so far there have not been the violent scenes seen in Cairo. (5.30pm)
• Ahead of a planned protest in Yemen, president Ali Abdullah Saleh has said he won't seek re-election in 2013. Analysts say he is up to his old tricks. (9.31am)
Egyptian state TV is warning people to evacuate the square.
The Egyptian health ministry is saying one person has been killed in Tahrir Square today and 403 injured. That could prove to be conservative but lets hope not.
Jack Shenker has interviewed Mohamed ElBaradei, who has said he is not prepared to negotiate with "killers" but there is "no going back" for the pro-democracy movement. Here's a taste of what he said, there will be more in tomorrow's newpaper:
After today, people are realising just what they're dealing with. Now they're not just talking about the man responsible leaving the country, they're also talking about putting him on trial. If he has an iota of dignity left, he should leave. Mubarak has received a vote of no confidence by the entire Egyptian people.
Our determination not to hold negotiations with the government until Mubarak leaves has only been strengthened today. First of all this is not a negotiation – we the people have legitimate demands and we would like to tell the government what to do. Our freedom is not up for negotiation. Secondly how can you negotiate with a regime that is killing its people?
When I see some of the young people heading on to the streets and then corpses coming back the other way, it makes you cringe that this could be a state [sic]...I will be encouraging people campaigning for change to return to the streets, and I think Friday will be a very big day in that respect. But even if they don't, even if they are repressed and crushed, there is still no going back.
The military in Tahrir is now, belatedly, trying to enforce the curfew, according to al-Jazeera, telling people to go inside and take cover.
Harriet Sherwood has sent an update from Alexandria, which thankfully so far not witnessed the violence seen in Cairo today:
Alexandria has today seen a fightback by supporters of the regime, challenging the protests of the anti-Mubarak camp. There were very ugly scenes in the square where the protests have been taking place all day until mid-afternoon when the anti-Mubarak protesters marched down the Corniche. Several times I thought I was about to witness bloodshed, but somehow the guys trying to keep the two sides apart managed to literally bundle the protagonists apart. Since then there have been rival groups marauding around Alexandria. It's now well after dark, and too dangerous to go out alone. But - so far - it's been threatening and ugly but nothing on the scale of civil war that seems to be erupting in central Cairo. People here are now extremely fearful and anxious; no one knows what the coming days will bring.
To clarify the situation with the lights in Tahrir Square (see 4.49pm). The main lights in the square have been turned off - street lights are still on but it's normally illuminated by much larger lights as it's a transport hub and they are out now.
We've recieved a couple of very enlightening first person accounts of today's events that I would urge you to read. Thank you to both contributors.
The first is an anonymous account sent by email:
They came into the square and we blocked them peacefully, forming a human line and peacefully pushing them back . A number of thugs had infiltrated behind our human line and all of a sudden 70 people from behind us started running towards us from behind the line and started throwing rocks and stones and picking up pieces of wood from their side. This was the signal for other 'Pro-Mubarak' side to start reponding by throwing rocks. Our people retreated, they came forward - the point of stopping was where the army tanks were [next to the Egyptian Museum] and as we came forward people started throwing stones at us from the side of those tanks. This is significant because the only way you can get there is with the permission of the army. Stone throwing was happening - then suddenly someone gets up on the tank shouting "People, stop stop stop, we can't behave like this! ' - and immediately another guy comes straight up holding a picture of Mubarak and the tank is swarmed with Mubarak supporters as if they're trying to stop violence! That was clearly a photo op. Once that photo opportunity had happened the 'Mubarak Protesters' got down from top of the tanks all of a sudden. Suddenly a whole load of camels and horses with people on top of them with whips came through the entrance right by the tanks. It was so clearly orchestrated that some of the young guys from the army were breaking ranks because they were so disillusioned and didn't want to be part of this bullshit. We managed to pull people off camels, and they all went back and it all returned to a vague normality and calmed down.
The first act of violence I saw was a family crossing street into Tahrir Square and a car passed by with a group of women and suddently they got out of the car and started cursing, intimidating and throwing stones as they ran after the family harassing them and other people. We started creating human chain around the square and inside the square we were putting signs calling it "Shuhada Square" (Martyr Square) to remember the 300 people who died so far. Peace was maintained inside the square. We decided to take a break and go home. As we are walking away from the square, suddenly I see pro Mubarak protesters on horses and camels riding down from Talaat Harb Square toward us, cursing me and my husband. They had whips and all kinds of weapons on them. I called to check on my friends who'd stayed in Tahrir Square and they began to shout that they are being beaten – my friend described to me what she was seeing: a 7-year-old-boy was wounded by stones thrown at him by the pro Mubarak campaigners. The anti Mubarak camp kept chanting: Peaceful. Peaceful. Peaceful but the pro camp kept pushing in and they had all kinds of weapons on them and the stone throwing fight began. In the meantime, all they have on national TV is a broadcast of peaceful protesters chanting pro-mubarak [slogans] and callers calling in blaming everything on the anti-Mubarak protests and saying that they deserve whatever happens to them because they didn't stop.
We mentioned the New York Times Pulitzer prize winning columnist Nicholas Kristof earlier today (2.52pm). He has now blogged on what he saw in Tahrir:
In my area of Tahrir, the thugs were armed with machetes, straight razors, clubs and stones. And they all had the same chants, the same slogans and the same hostility to journalists. They clearly had been organized and briefed. So the idea that this is some spontaneous outpouring of pro-Mubarak supporters, both in Cairo and in Alexandria, who happen to end up clashing with other side — that is preposterous. It's difficult to know what is happening, and I'm only one observer, but to me these seem to be organized thugs sent in to crack heads, chase out journalists, intimidate the pro-democracy forces and perhaps create a pretext for an even harsher crackdown.
Two Molotov cocktails have been thrown into the grounds of the Egyptian Museum, it is being reported
There are ominous reports that the lights have been turned off, prompting fears of what the government has planned.
Both groups are pelting each other with rocks, it's extremely violent here...people are unsure about the army position...I don't see this coming to an end, it's been going on for hours now. There are hundreds of people injured, literally hundreds of people.
Some recent tweets on the continuing violence, from Cairo:
@pjcrowley,@barakobama,@statedepartment what are you doing to help us, we're being killed by Mubarak in Tahrir, long live US Freedom!!!!!
Al-Jazeera's reporter can see other emergency vehicles heading to Tahrir Square now; sirens are audible over TV coverage.
The White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has put out this statement:
The United States deplores and condemns the violence that is taking place in Egypt, and we are deeply concerned about attacks on the media and peaceful demonstrators. We repeat our strong call for restraint.
It's worth noting again that the US has not come out strongly calling for Hosni Mubarak to go.
US state department spokesman PJ Crowley has called on all sides to avoid violence. On Twitter, Crowley wrote:
We reiterate our call for all sides in Egypt to show restraint and avoid violence. Egypt's path to democratic change must be peaceful.
Al-Jazeera just showed some kind of burning object being thrown from a building into the crowd in central Cairo.
Al-Jazeera is showing smoke rising from a building in the centre of Cairo.
Reuters is reporting that the Egyptian army has denied firing any shots at protesters in Tahrir Square.
"The army denies firing any shots on the protesters," according to a statement from the defence ministry, read to Reuters by a ministry source. It added that some smoke canisters were fired near the US embassy to disperse crowds.
The US embassy in Cairo is close to Tahrir Square. "No one in the army participated in the protest," the source said, denying some reports that those involved included soldiers.
An al-Jazeera correspondent earlier said the army had fired shots in the air. A Reuters witness said they heard shots fired, but it was not immediately clear where the shots came from.
PJ Crowley, a spokesman for the US state department, has criticised Hosni Mubarak's government regarding detentions and freedom of the press – although he did not discuss the violence taking place in Cairo. Crowley said on Twitter that the US was "concerned about detentions and attacks on news media in Egypt. The civil society that Egypt wants to build includes a free press."
Al-Jazeera is now reporting pro-Mubarak supporters dropping concrete blocks off the roofs of buildings on to protesters. I can't confirm that.
One of the channel's correspondents asked some pro-Mubarak demonstrators why they waited until today to come out on to the streets. He says they said: "Yesterday we weren't happy seeing our leader broken on screen," referring to Mubarak's televised address announcing he would not seek a further term as president.
The Associated Press news agency has been speaking to pro-Mubarak protesters gathering "on an upscale Cairo boulevard" for a counter-demonstration.
The mood was angry and defiant but the protest was mostly peaceful, in contrast to the scene in Cairo's main square, where hundreds of young pro-government supporters attacked crowds of thousands demanding his ouster.
On the boulevard in the upper-class neighbourhood of Mohandiseen, men in designer sunglasses and women with expensive hairdos joined government employees, including a few dozen nurses in white dresses and stockings who jumped and chanted, "We love you Mubarak!"
In dozens of interviews, they expressed fears of chaos and violence engulfing the country. They said they feared for Egypt's plummeting currency and the shortages of food and gasoline gripping the country's major cities.
They identified themselves as middle- and working-class people whose lives had improved under Mubarak, whom praised for keeping the country at peace after a series of wars with Israel.
Many said they felt personally humiliated by the jeers of anti-Mubarak demonstrators for the Egyptian leader to leave the country. They called Egypt a deeply patriarchal society where the leader is seen as a father-like figure, and a symbol of the nation itself.
"We have been a stable country since the days of the Pharoahs. These demonstrators want to turn us into Somalia: poor and at war with itself," cried Samir Hamid, a 58-year-old war veteran who said his age made him remember life in Egypt Mubarak took power nearly 30 years ago.
Many said they did not necessarily support the Egyptian president, but said the anti-Mubarak demonstrators should have been satisfied by his Tuesday night pledge to step down from power in seven months, after the country holds elections.
"It's not like Mubarak can rub Aladdin's lamp and pull out a genie who will fix everything," said Fatima al-Shal, 41, who wore a heavily bejeweled ring on each hand. "We have to give them time to peacefully change power," she said.
"I feel humiliated," said Mohammed Hussein, a 31-year-old factory worker. "He is the symbol of our country. When he is insulted, I am insulted."
My colleagues on the video desk have sent this video of the clashes in Cairo.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the leading opposition figure, has called on the army to intervene and prevent bloodshed.
The military is refusing to get involved in the clashes between pro- and anti-Mubarak protesters, al-Jazeera is reporting.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the leading opposition figurehead and former head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, has told al-Jazeera he hopes Hosni Mubarak, the president, will leave office before Friday, when protesters are planning the "Friday of departure". More from his interview when we get it.
Some more from David Cameron (left), who has said that it would be unacceptable for the Egyptian government to be supporting violence in any way:
If it turns out that the regime in any way has sponsored or tolerated this violence, that is completely unacceptable.
I've seen pro-Mubarak thugs out on the streets today in a violent attempt to disperse peaceful pro-deomocracy protesters in Tahrir Square in Cairo, as I walked with my wife on October bridge.
The corrupt regime has managed to turn part of its people on each other as, mostly through instilling fear and panic.
We, the Egyptian people, must realise we are all on the same side.
Below the line, the Guardian's Middle East expert Brian Whitaker has responded to some of your comments.
What is probably needed now is some very senior army officers to come out in support of the revolution. Does anyone know enough about how the Egyptian army is organised - esp. how politicised it is - to say whether this is possible or likely?
Brian Whitaker responded:
The role of an army is to protect the state, not the regime or the revolution. Anything else is an interference in the sovereignty of the people.
Readers are also asking whether Hosni Mubarak's speech last night and his announcement that he wouldn't run again is binding or a ploy to disperse tensions and get protesters off the streets.
Brian responded:
These guys are tricky and not to be trusted. Of course the aim is to get the anti-Mubarak protesters off the streets. Once they have done that, they will drag their feet as much as possible on the question of reform.
My colleague Jack Shenker emails with confirmation that the explosions he has been hearing in Tahrir Square are warning shots being fired into the air by the army, at a military checkpoint at the Talaat Harb entrance to the square. Jack writes:
The situation is looking very serious - the road between Abdel Munim Riyad Square and Tahrir Square is now a war zone, with a debris-strewn no man's land in between. Behind the front lines of the pro-Mubarak stone-throwers is a crowd several thousand strong in Abdel Munim Riyad, and although some of them seem peaceful many others are breaking apart burnt-out police trucks to obtain metal rods. On the anti-Mubarak side of the battle in Tahrir, demonstrators fear they are being slowly encircled, with pro-Mubarak young men stealing through the downtown backstreets to approach Tahrir from different entrances.
I've just run into grown men crying at the chaos and bloodshed on their streets: "When we were fighting the central security forces last Friday it felt liberating," one told me, "yet we know we are fighting each other and that breaks my heart." Reports are streaming on of there being government-employed thugs and ex-prisoners among the pro-Mubarak crowd, alongside plainclothes policemen - though it would be misleading to suggest that these are the only people making up that side of these increasingly-violent rival demonstrations.
David Cameron, the prime minister, and Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, have appeared in Downing Street to condemn the violence and call for urgent change.
Cameron said:
These are despicable scenes that are we are seeing and they should not be repeated. They are underline the need for political reform and frankly for that political reform to be accelerated.
Ban said:
This is an unacceptable situation. Any attack on peaceful demonstrators in unacceptable and I condemn it. It is important at this junction to ensure that an orderly and peaceful transition should take place. I urge all the parties to engage in a such a process without further delay.
It's just gone 5pm in Cairo and tonight's curfew is supposed to begin. But clashes are continuing between pro- and anti-government supporters in the centre of the city. Al-Jazeera has just been showing pictures of people throwing rocks and chairs off the roof of a building. You can watch their live stream from Cairo here.
New York Times Pulitzer prize winning columnist Nicholas Kristof tweets that menacing pro-Mubarak mobs have arrived in buses.
There are lots of people saying the army is simply watching as the violence unfolds around them:
I saw an army checkpoint searching barely 5% of a pro-Mub group then waving them all through #egypt #jan25
Tear gas is now being fired, it is not clear who is firing it.
Abdel Halim Qandil, from the opposition Kefaya party, echoed the claims that it is Mubarak's security services who are responsible for the unrest. He told al-Jazeera.
There are no Mubarak protesters. They are thugs, security personnel, dressed as civilians. What is happening in Tahrir Square now is a crime perpetrated by the Mubarak regime. It is another crime perpetrated by him...he must be held accountable.....we cannot stop until we see this murderous regime step down.
An al-Jazeera correspondent estimates he has seen around 100 people carried away from Tahrir Square, with the most seriously injured an unconscious boy, no more than 8-years-old, who was being carried on the back of a man.
A crying female protester told the station that pro-democracy protesters were being prevented from leaving the square and urged people not to credit the pro-Mubarak supporters with the description "protesters".
There is no question in my mind that they police, they are central security forces. These are the same guys that were out in force all last week and they have filtered back in again. They are very very recognisable, they are certain kind of people.
At that point the line cut out.
Three army trucks have been seized by pro-Mubarak supporters and are now using them as a barricade to attack pro-democracy campaigners. Al Jazeera reported that the trucks were seized without any resistance from the army, which is not making its presence felt at all.
Very ominous information coming out of Cairo, with reports of gunfire. Al Jazeera suggests they might be warning shots to keep people away from the museum, which is being defended by a number of military vehicles.
The Egyptian interior ministry is denying charges by anti-government protesters that plainclothes police have been involved in the violence, Channel 4 News reports.
In the clashes at and near Tahrir Square people are literally grabbing anything at hand, rocks, sticks to hurl at their opponents.
Anti-government protesters have shown al-Jazeera the ID cards of plain clothed security police they say they seized from attackers.
The CNN reporter, Anderson Cooper, has reportedly been attacked by pro-Mubarak posters.
George Hale, English editor of the Maan News Agency, tweeted:
Anderson Cooper punched 10 times in the head as pro-Mubarak mob surrounds him and his crew at Cairo rally - CNN manager
Mubarak supporters came in on camels and horses, according to AP.
Several thousand supporters of President Hosni Mubarak, including some riding horses and camels and wielding whips, attacked anti-government protesters today as Egypt's upheaval took a dangerous new turn.
In chaotic scenes, 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.
In the early afternoon around 3,000 Mubarak supporters break through a human chain of anti-government protesters trying to defend thousands gathered in Tahrir.
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.
The two sides began hurling stones and bottles and sticks at each other, chasing each other as the protesters' human chains moved back to try to shield the larger mass of demonstrators at the plaza's centre.
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.
Protesters were seen running with their shirts or faces bloodied, some men and women in the crowd were weeping. A scent of tear gas wafted over the area, but it was not clear who had fired it.
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 did not intervene. Most took shelter behind or inside the armored vehicles and tanks stationed at the entrances to Tahrir.
Spain's Cadena SER radio station's reporters in Cairo are reporting that their car has been surrounded and attacked by pro-Mubarak thugs and they have had to take refuge in a building protected by the army, writes Giles Tremlett in Madrid.
Anti-Mubarak protesters have seized a pro-Mubarak supporter, he says. "So far we are not seeing any lynchings because a number of responsible citizens are shepherding them [pro-Mubarak supporters] to an army checkpoint," he says.
The writer Ahdaf Soueif emails to express concern.
This is urgent news: the Mubarak thugs are now suddenly out in force. I say 'thugs' because their behaviour immediately is radically different from everything we have seen in the last week.
They are in microbuses and trucks and are keeping up a deafening wall of sound with their claxons. They are armed with sticks and various bits of weaponry and are waving them and shouting and honking their horns. They carry large well-made banners - replicas of the banners that are used in the rigged elections, proclaiming for Mubarak.
In Tahrir Square, the army has pulled its positions well back into the square instead of at the peripheries and have stopped guarding the entrances to the square. The army s no longer checking the IDs of those who enter the square nor are they checking them for weapons.
A few minutes ago the Mubarak "supportrs" started attacking our press area in the square where activists have been collecting photo and video evidence of people who have been tortured under the Mubarak regime. As I write this the activists are being attacked with stones and sticks.
"People continue to run away from the square. Many of them have got blood wounds. I could saw one man just brush past me carrying a child ... there appeared to blood on his chest," Jack said.
One pro-Mubarak supporter yelled "liars and Jews" at journalists.
"I've seem one guy with pole with a knife attached to it. It's quite clear some of these people came prepared for a violent confrontation," Peter Beaumont reports.
"There is a fight of some kind of going on right in front of me. I'm assuming that it's pro and anti Mubarak supporters," Peter Beaumont reports from Tahrir Square.
The security services are just sitting on their tanks watching, he says. "You can't help feeling that it has all been heavily coordinated," he says.
• Thousands of pro-Mubarak supporters are taking part in rallies in Cairo and Alexandria. Some of those protesting yesterday are satisfied that the Egyptian president has offered enough concessions, and have switched sides. Others continue to call for Hosni Mubarak to go now.
• The Egyptian military is calling for an end to the protests. "Your message has arrived, your demands became known ... You are capable of bringing normal life to Egypt," a military spokesman said.
• Some signs of normality have returned to Egypt. Internet restrictions have been lifted, al-Jazeera is available again, and the curfew has been eased.
• Ahead of a planned protest in Yemen, president Ali Abdullah Saleh has said he won't seek re-election in 2013. Analysts say he is up to his old tricks.
• The families of those arrested in the protests are demanding answers from the military. Around 150 people gathered outside the army HQ in Alexandria where it is thought the missing are being detained.
David Cameron has echoed Barack Obama's call for an "orderly transition" to "begin immediately".
The prime minister's spokesman said:
Our position has been to repeatedly call for an orderly transition. Our view is also that the process of change needs to begin immediately.
We have set up a phone line for those protesting in Egypt to call in with their accounts of the demonstrations. Tarek Nagar, an architect in Cairo, phoned in to leave his views on Hosni Mubarak's speech yesterday. He said Mubarak's decision not to run for another term would not wash with the protesters:
He's a dictator who's not willing to let go of his own power, he's behaving in a very irresponsible way because he's actually agitating the young people who have been demonstrating, protesting peacefully. They have been attacked by his own brutal security forces and he should have admitted his complete responsibility for the mistakes of the last week or so.
On the other hand the minimum demand that everyone is requesting or asking for is for him to dissolve the parliament to form a committee for a new constitution, immediately abolishing the emergency law and above all for his own resignation immediately. We are demanding and the young people and the youth in the square that a new transitional national government will take over.
You can hear the whole thing below. The number is +44 203 353 2959 if anyone else wants to call.
The families of those arrested in the protests are demanding answers about their loved ones at an army headquarters in Alexandria where they are being detained, writes Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director for Human Rights Watch.
About 150 angry relatives are gathered outside the army HQ in Alexandria, desperate for information about their missing relatives. The army has not produced any lists of those they have detained, and have not allowed anyone into the base to visit the detainees. We tried to gain access, but were refused. One old woman told me she had been there since Saturday, looking for her son, and had no news. The relatives are very concerned about the treatment the detainees are receiving.
As we were there, a group of female relatives of the detained started a protest, shouting 'We want our children, give us back our children!'
The situation is very tense. The army has used the HQ as a detention centre for all of the suspected looters and other troublemakers handed over to them by the neighbourhood security committees since Friday. This is an unfamiliar role for the army, and they are clearly at a loss as to what to do. Many of the detainees are probably innocent, just caught in the wrong neighbourhood without identification.
The army is in a difficult position, as it has no evidence of wrongdoing by most of the detainees and no judicial system to process or release them. But they are the only functioning security institution.
At the very least, the army should publish a complete list of the detainees and allow lawyers to visit them and ensure they are properly treated. And they should release the innocent as soon as possible.
As the internet is back in Egypt, if you're an Arabic speaker you may find this blog easier to follow using this (automatic) translation button.
It doesn't translate photos of placards, though.
Pro-Mubarak supporters claim if there are one million against Mubarak there are 80 million backing him, al-Jazeera reports.
It is showing live pictures of several thousands of the regime's supporters at a rally in Cairo.
Al-Jazeera appears to be available again in Egypt. The channel is no longer showing constant coverage of the unrest.
Egyptian blogger Zeinobia, tweets:
I am currently watching Al Jazeera on Noor Business Channel on Nile Sat
Some of the pro-Mubarak supporters have been bussed-in, but others have switched sides, Peter Beaumont reports.
"I've just been talking to two guys who were with the demonstrators in Tahrir square, and they have changed sides. What they are saying is 'Mubarak has made all the concessions that people are asking for, therefore we should give him time.
"There are certainly people who now, after eight days of demonstrations, are sufficiently concerned to have come over to the pro-Mubarak camp.
"They are chanting Baradei, Baradei get out."
Egyptian bloggers are celebrating, and coming to terms with, getting back online.
Zeinobia founder of the popular Egyptian Chronicles writes this short post:
The Egyptian military is calling for an end to more than a week of demonstrations, AP reports.
A military spokesman says: "Your message has arrived, your demands became known ... you are capable of bringing normal life to Egypt."
Internet service is also returning to Egypt after days of an unprecedented cut-off by the government.
"It's window dressing" protester Ayman Farag says of Mubarak's concessions. Speaking from Tahrir square Farag, a 32-year-old journalist, describes splits among the protesters about what to do next and a change in the mood since Mubarak's statement.
"There are divisions, that's the fear, numbers are going to go down," he said. "People are going to say 'we have achieved something - Gamal Mubarak won't succeed the throne and Hosni is definitely going'. Unfortunately that's not enough because we can't trust this regime, this president. It's all window dressing."
"Mubarak, Mubarak, we love you" the president's supporters chant at an angry demo outside a TV station, Peter Beaumont reports.
"For the last hour or so there has been an increasingly angry demonstrations by pro Mubarak supporters, more of whom are arriving all of the time. They are carrying a policeman on their shoulders and are chanting things like 'Mubarak, Mubarak we love you' and 'al-Jazeera where are you now?'" Peter says.
He says up to 7,000 people involved, amid concerns that they may clash with anti-government protesters later.
"Saleh is famous for doing these stunts where he tells people he will stand down in order to provoke a reaction for people to say 'no we want you to stay', at which point he says 'if you insists I'll stay'. But people are saying this time it could be different because the opposition have been strengthened by the what's being happened in Tunisia and Egypt. Saleh has been forced to give a lot of concessions in the last week."
"Thousands" of people have been involved in a number of pro-Mubarak rallies, according to AP.
The small rallies appeared to be the start of an attempt by Mubarak's 3 million-member National Democratic Party to retake momentum from protesters demanding Egypt's nearly 30-year ruler step down immediately.
The army separated about 20 Mubarak supporters from about 1,000 pro-democracy protesters in Tahrir Square, but the Mediterranean city of Alexandria saw clashes erupt between several hundred protesters and government supporters early today, Al-Jazeera television footage showed.
Several thousand people outside Mustafa Mahmoud Mosque in the upper-class neighbourhood of Mohandiseen waved Egyptian flags and carried a large printed banner with Mubarak's face. Many passing cars honked in apparent support.
Police officers surrounded the area and directed traffic.
300 pro-Mubarak protesters have gathered outside the offices of ABC News in Cairo, according to a Twitter update from its reporter Lara Setrakian.
ABC Biggest threat of violence comes from clashes between pro-Mubarak & anti-Mubarak crowds. One rally FOR Mubarak outside our bureau now #Jan25
Mubarak supporters have clashed with protesters in Tahrir Square, al-Jazeera reports. There have been several scuffles in the last few hours, its reporter in the square said.
Protesters have linked hands around the square to "self-police" it, she said.
Overnight TV footage showed pro-Mubarak supporters clashing with protesters in the port city of Alexandria. My colleague Harriet Sherwood, who is in the city, has been told that 12 people were injured in the violence.
You can read Harriet's Twitter updates, and those of other correspondents in Egypt, on the righthand side of the blog.
Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh has done a Mubarak, by saying he won't seek to extend his presidency.
Eyeing protests that brought down Tunisia's leader and threaten to topple Egypt's president, Saleh also vowed not to pass on the reins of government to his son, Reuters reports.
"No extension, no inheritance, no resetting the clock," Saleh said, speaking ahead of a planned rally in Sanaa today that has been dubbed a "Day of rage".
What's going on Egypt is "incredible exciting", according to deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, who still hasn't mastered the language of international diplomacy.
"It is incredibly exciting what is going on, it reminds me so much of the time when the Berlin Wall fell, the power of the people out on the streets, in a regime which two weeks ago everybody thought was one of the most stable regimes in the region," he told ITV's Daybreak.
He then seem to remember he was deputy prime minister, adding: "I don't think it is really for me or anybody else to start dictating exactly when the transition should take place but clearly it is already taking place, and that holds out at least the exciting prospect of real democracy and real freedom and openness in Egypt for the first time ever."
Egypt's key ally Turkey today urged Mubarak to heed protesters calls. Prime minister Tayyip Erdogan said Mubarak should take a different step. Last night Barack Obama said "change must begin now".
Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei said Mubarak's speech was an act of "deception". Speaking to CNN he said Mubarak was a "dead man walking" and "a person who doesn't want to let go, a dictator who doesn't want to listen to the clear voice of the people."
As the Egyptian president announced that he would stay on until September protesters exploded in anger in Tahrir Square last night. A screen rigged up to show al-Jazeera was pelted with bottles and the cry "Irhal, irhal" went up repeatedly: "Leave, leave."
After a week in the headlights, the regime is showing signs of regaining its nerve and assembling a strategy to overcome its perilous predicament. Whether it can work is another matter.
The survival plan centres on Omar Suleiman, who is head of intelligence, Mubarak's close confidant, and the newly installed vice-president. Right now Suleiman is the most powerful man in Egypt, backed by the military (from which he hails), the security apparatus, and a frightened ruling elite hoping to salvage something from the wreckage.
Suleiman is, in effect, heading a junta of former or acting military officers. Mubarak has been reduced to a figurehead, sheltering behind this clique. But they will not humiliate him. There will be no ignominious flight to Saudi Arabia, like that of Tunisia's deposed president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
Mubarak's fate aside, the regime may also be hoping that recent lawlessness and looting will convince people, particularly Cairo's middle-class, that revolution is too risky and that the protesters have made their point. Likewise, rising food and fuel prices, shortages, lost earnings, closed businesses, falling exports and reduced tourism caused by the unrest will have a growing impact on working people if they persist with street action.
• US-Egypt talks on replacing Mubarak, NYT reports • Mubarak warns of chaos if he is forced out of office • VP says election brought forward to August • Attacks on journalists force cutbacks in coverage • Egyptian PM apologises for violence • Turn off auto-refresh to watch videos or listen to audio اقرا موجز لاخر الاخبار باللغة العربية ترجم هذه الصفحة إلى العربية
Time to wrap up the live blogging for the night. Here's the Guardian's latest wrap-up of the day's events from our correspondents in Cairo, Alexandria, Washington DC and London.
A summary of what we've learned in the last few hours:
• US and Egyptian officials are working on a plan for Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to stand down immediately, and replaced by a three-man junta, according to a report in the New York Times
• Mubarak remained defiant in an interview with ABC News's Christiane Amanpour, saying: "If I resign today, there will be chaos"
• Fighting saw estimates of the death toll around Cairo's Tahrir Square rise to 13, with hundreds more injured, as protesters fortified the centre of the square
• Protesters are gearing up for an expected mass demonstration on Friday
• Attacks aimed at journalists and TV crews forced media off the streets and reduced the coverage of events in central Cairo
Thanks for reading – and we'll certainly be covering Friday's protests.
Senior administration officials said that the proposal is one of several options under discussion with high-level Egyptian officials around Mr Mubarak, though not him directly, in an effort to convince him to step down now.
The officials cautioned that the outcome depended on several factors, not least of all the mood of the protesters on the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities and the dynamics within the Egyptian government. Some officials said there was not yet any indication that either Mr Suleiman or the military were willing to abandon Mr Mubarak.
The US is working on a deal with the Egyptian government for Mubarak to resign immediately in favour of a three-man junta, according to the New York Times in a news item just posted:
The Obama administration is discussing with Egyptian officials a proposal for President Hosni Mubarak to resign immediately, turning over power to a transitional government headed by Vice President Omar Suleiman with the support of the Egyptian military, administration officials and Arab diplomats said Thursday.
Even though Mr Mubarak has balked, so far, at leaving now, officials from both governments are continuing talks about a plan in which, Mr Suleiman, backed by Sami Enan, chief of the Egyptian armed forces, and Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi, the Defense Minister, would immediately begin a process of constitutional reform.
It confirms that Gamal Mubarak is still in Cairo – he was in the room with his father during the interview – which explodes dozens of reports that Gamal had fled to London.
George Soros has an opinion piece on the US and Egypt in the Washington Post:
I am, as a general rule, wary of revolutions. But in the case of Egypt, I see a good chance of success. As a committed advocate of democracy and open society, I cannot help but share in the enthusiasm that is sweeping across the Middle East. I hope President Obama will expeditiously support the people of Egypt. My foundations are prepared to contribute what they can.
The Washington Post is reporting that all four of its staff who had been detained earlier in the day have now been released.
Three Al Jazeera journalists remain in detention while another is listed as missing.
Palkot was covering the protests in Tahrir Square when he was confronted by several pro- and anti-government groups. In the middle of the chaos, Palkot said that 30 protesters, with the help of an Egyptian military officer, fended off a large crowd and allowed Palkot and his cameraman to slip away an alley and take refuge in a small hotel.
The New York Times reports on the front page headline of the state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram on Thursday:
Millions turn out to support Mubarak
CNN shows footage of graffiti in the centre of Cairo. Spray-painted in large letters on a building is a single word: Twitter.
Catching up with the latest comments from the US state department. Anticipating Friday's planned protests, spokesman PJ Crowley said:
"We are bracing for a significant increase in the number of demonstrators on the streets and with that, given yesterday's events, the real prospects of a confrontation."
Crowley also said that elements close to the government or Mubarak's ruling party appear to have been responsible for the recent outbreaks of violence. "I don't know that we have a sense of how far up the chain it went," he said.
Vice president Joe Biden becomes the latest member of the US government to phone his counterpart in Egypt.
Biden spoke to Egyptian vice president Omar Suleiman and told him the Egyptian government is responsible for ensuring that the protests do not lead to violence.
He also said journalists and human rights advocates should be allowed to conduct their work and urged the immediate release of those who have been detained.
Syria's regime seems to be taking no chances of catching the "Tunisian disease", based on this report from Human Rights Watch and Reuters:
Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that Syrian authorities failed to intervene as 15 people who tried to hold a candle vigil in support of the Egyptian revolution were beaten in Old Damascus.
The New York based group quoted activists as saying that 20 men dressed in civilian clothes beat and dispersed 15 demonstrators, including rights defender Suhair Atassi, who assembled in front of a police station in the Thomas Gate district on Wednesday.
Following CNN's cutting its coverage from Cairo, even al-Jazeera has also had to stop its live footage of Tahrir Square.
Wolf Blitzer is on CNN, explaining that the channel has had limited coverage of Egypt today because of the attacks on journalists: "This has made it impossible for us to show live pictures."
CNN's Anderson Cooper – attacked yesterday in the street near Tahrir Square – today had his car attacked and its windows smashed.
Reuters has posted a fascinating series of comments from Egyptians in Cairo on the violence that has engulfed the city after days of protests, showing mixed views on the country's future:
Ragab Abdel Hamid Mansour, 48, boat owner on banks of Nile
"The protests have brought my work to a standstill. My work depends on tourists, and there aren't any tourists coming anymore. Everyone is afraid. I want those protests to end now and even not tomorrow. I can't live. I can't even find a loaf of bread."
Amira Hassan, 55, teacher
"I can't carry on with my ordinary life. I can't even go to my dentist because his clinic is downtown. I want this to end so that I can go to work. It makes no difference to me now whether Mubarak stays or leaves. I just want to see security back on the streets so that I can go on with my life."
Gamal Guemeih, 27-year-old financial analyst
"People are feeling more insecure than ever. Over the years, we have taken our safety and security for granted. Vigilantes are doing a great job, but this is not sustainable."
Ahmed Naguib, 48, doctor
"I can't work anymore. Last night, one of my patients was in labour, and I couldn't reach her at all. For how long will this go on?"
Sayed Ibrahim, 41, state employee
"My work has been closed since the protests broke out. I did not take part in any of the protests, but they are affecting my life. Tahrir Square is in the heart of Cairo, and it connects the entire city with each other, and that's why the protests make it difficult for anyone to move."
Mohyi Mahmoud, 57, shop owner
"My shop is my life, and it's my only source of income. It's been closed for a week now, and even if I open it, no one will come and shop under those circumstances."
Mohamed Abdel Razeq, 38, state employee
"I want Egypt's stability back, and that's why I want Hosni Mubarak to stay. He gave us stability."
Hisham Akram, 40, investment banker
"When Mubarak delivered his last speech, a lot of people were satisfied, but after I lived through the horror in Tahrir square yesterday, if I had a single iota of trust in the system, it's disappeared. We've been stabbed in the back. The thugs they unleashed on us in Tahrir Square were hardened criminals. I want Mubarak out now, his continuation in office is jeopardising the lives of Egyptians."
Raga Mahmoud, 35, marketing executive
"I saw a lot of reports all over, and many of the people that are saying 'enough protests' are not pro Mubarak. They just want security and life back. That is what I'm supporting because it's only for a few months. And I don't trust that if Mubarak leaves. the Muslim Brotherhood won't try to take over. We need time to elect someone like Amr Moussa [the head of the Arab League]. If Mubarak leaves now, which some say he could do tomorrow, then who knows what will happen."
"The Muslim Brotherhood are making interviews left and right ... I'm worried about the Islamist movement happening now in Tunisia that was once more liberal than Egypt and their leader is supporting the Brothers in Egypt. Mubarak only has a couple of months left and I too want him to leave with some pride not when the international government say he must go."
An attempt to crowd-source the names of those who have died in the protests has been launched using a spreadsheet on Google Docs.
"We are attempting to name all of the brave Egyptians who have been killed during the peaceful fight for freedom," the organisers write. And the details are telling, including this entry for a man named Ahmed Ahab Mostafa:
Shot on Friday 28 Jan, died 3 Feb at Al Azhar University hospital in Hussein. Hospital refuses to give the body to his family unless they sign a statement that he died in a car accident.
More on the protests spreading to Yemen, where tens of thousands of protesters staged unprecedented demonstrations, with chants of "Down, down, down with the regime" and signs calling on President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign.
The Associated Press reports from Yemen:
In the capital of Sanaa, several thousand government supporters staged a counterdemonstration, carrying banners warning that the opposition is trying to destabilize Yemen. Military helicopters hovered in some areas, and there was a heavy security presence around the Interior Ministry and the Central Bank.
The marches were largely peaceful, although witnesses said police opened fire in one provincial town, critically wounding a protester. In the capital, scuffles and stone-throwing briefly erupted between government supporters and opposition marchers, but police stepped in and there were no reports of injuries.
NBC's Richard Engel reports that many journalists have been forced to remain undercover today, making it more difficult for cable news channels to cover the protests in Egypt without cameras and reporters out on the street.
Engel says there are more protesters in Tahrir Square tonight, barricading themselves in to offer protection after last night's attacks by "goon squads". Metal shields have been put up around the square, now "turned into a military camp," according to Engel.
The protesters on Tahrir Square have also set up an "interrogation centre" in the subway under the square, Engel reports.
More on the raid on the Hisham Mubarak law centre in Cairo, mentioned below. Among those taken away by members of the police and army is Human Rights Watch researcher Daniel Williams.
"Human Rights Watch is currently unaware of the whereabouts of those who were detained," the organisation said in a statement, adding:
Williams's detention is part of a clear campaign against independent eyewitnesses of the violence in Egypt, including journalists and civil society activists. Human Rights Watch condemned the crackdown and called on the Egyptian government to release those detained immediately.
Egyptian state television, in between showing footage of trees and flowers, has a brief report of the country's prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, telling the interior ministry "not to obstruct peaceful marches on Friday".
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs has called the treatment of journalists "completely and totally unacceptable" during a briefing onboard Air Force One, which is flying President Obama back from Pennsylvania:
I want to say a word for a second on the systematic targeting of journalists in Egypt. This also is completely and totally unacceptable. Any journalist that has been detained should be released immediately.
I think we need to be clear that the world is watching the actions that are taking place right now in Egypt. And I'll reiterate again that the actions of targeting journalists, that is unacceptable, and that those journalists should be, if they are detained, released immediately. I know the President has been briefed on this as part of the daily briefing this morning.
I apologize to everyone who was offended by my insensitive tweet about the situation in Egypt. I've dedicated my life to raising awareness about serious social issues, and in hindsight my attempt at humor regarding a nation liberating themselves against oppression was poorly timed and absolutely inappropriate.
Kenneth Cole, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer
The US military is starting to get more involved, with the Pentagon announcing that officials are gathering details on the attacks on journalists in Egypt. It held back from censuring the hands-off stance of the Egyptian armed forces.
"To date, we have seen them act professionally and with restraint. Again, it's a very fluid situation so we are watching every single day," said Pentagon spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan.
Official reaction in Washington is now coming more stridently, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemning the attacks on protesters and saying that Mubarak's government should immediately begin talks towards political transition:
"I urge the government and a broad and credible representation of Egypt's opposition, civil society and political factions to begin immediately serious negotiations on a peaceful and orderly transition."
Without directly blaming Mubarak's regime, Clinton said: "It is especially in times of crisis that governments must demonstrate their adherence to these universal values."
The deliberate targeting of al-Jazeera and its journalists is highlighted by the tweets from Dan Nolan, a journalist for al-Jazeera English now in Cairo:
Got stranded in Tahrir Square last nite & had to sleep the night. Pretty terrifying night, protestors gave shelter as they defended all nite
Got back to hotel today but its now far too dangerous as Jazeera journos r being hunted down. Shifted to "safer" hotel now but situ not great
2 AJE journos went missing for 6hrs today- now been found altho beaten up. Jazeera won't stop reporting story but re-assessing safety for us
the faces of the guys defending square last nite are images I'll never forget. Freedom really is a struggle people, don't ever forget that!!
my life was pretty much in hands of those protestors defending the square last nite. If pro-Mubarak thugs found me inside, well u know...
ABC News have posted video of Christiane Amanpour discussing her interview with Hosni Mubarak at the Presidential Palace in Cairo. No footage of the interview itself yet.
Some senior members of the US Congress are calling for a halt in foreign aid to Egypt as a way to hasten President Hosni Mubarak's exit from power amid continuing protests against his three-decade rule.
Senator Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the panel that controls foreign aid, said he's prepared to stop all U.S. financial assistance to Egypt – which topped $1.5 billion last year – unless Mubarak steps aside immediately and allows a transitional government to take over.
"If he doesn't leave, there will not be foreign aid; I mean, it's as simple as that," Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, told Bloomberg Television in an interview yesterday. US money "will not go to the Mubarak administration," Leahy said, adding, "that's a pipeline that can easily be turned off."
Here's the tweet from fashion house Kenneth Cole that is currently making the rounds of the internet. It's real:
And of course it has now spawned parody Twitter accounts and a hashtag – #KennethColeTweets – for such hilarious follow-ups as: "Chase down Anderson Cooper in style with our new lightweight canvas loafers!"
Ahdaf Soueif emails from Cairo:
A good friend just saw 8 to 12 people being dragged out of No 1 Souq el-Tawfikiyyah St and bundled into a civilian micro-bus while a military police vehicle waited nearby. The people were being beaten and the street had been told they were "Iranian and Hamas agents come to destabilise Egypt" so the street was chanting against them.
No 1 Souq el-Tawfikiyyah St is the home of the offices of The Hisham Mubarak Legal Aid Centre, The Centre for Social and Economic Rights and The 6th April Youth.
The Hisham Mubarak centre is a partner of Oxfam International, which has put out a statement:
The offices of two Egyptian human rights organisations in Cairo supported by Oxfam in Cairo have been attacked today and several staff members arrested by the Military Police.
The offices of Hisham Mubarak Law Center and the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights were raided at 14:30 and eight people were arrested including both directors, Ahmed Seif, director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center and Khaled Ali, director of the Center for Economic and Social Rights.
They have been taken to an unknown location in Cairo.
Catherine Essoyan, Oxfam Regional Manager for the Middle East and Maghreb:
"We are extremely worried about the fate of these human rights defenders who have been providing critical legal aid and support to their people over the past days of protest. We deplore this assault against Egyptian civil society organisations dedicated to promoting respect for the rule of law. We call for the safe and immediate release of those detained."
"I told Obama: 'you don't understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now'."
That won't go down well in the White House, since it contradicts the Obama administration's insistence that Obama laid down the law to Mubarak. Instead – if Mubarak is to be believed – there was some push back from the Egyptian president which for some reason the White House has kept to itself.
While Christiane Amanpour was allowed to interview Mubarak, her ABC colleagues have been running from pro-Mubarak mobs:
A group of angry Egyptian men carjacked an ABC News crew and threatened to behead them today in the latest and most menacing attack on foreign reporters trying to cover the anti-government uprising.
I've just left the presidential palace in Cairo where I met for about 30 minutes with president Mubarak. He told me that he is troubled by the violence we have seen in Tahrir Square over the last few days but that his government is not responsible for it. Instead, he blamed the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned political party here in Egypt.
He said he's fed up with being president and would like to leave office now, but cannot, he says, for fear that the country would sink into chaos.
Key quotes from Hosni Mubarak, taken from Christiane Amanpour's interview with the Egyptian dictator earlier today (via ABC's Twitter feed):
"I am fed up. After 62 years in public service I have had enough. I want to go."
"I was very unhappy about yesterday. I do not want to see Egyptians fighting each other."
"I never intended to run again, I never intended Gamal to be President after me"
"I don't care what people say about me. Right now I care about my country, I care about Egypt."
The State Department spokesman PJ Crowley has just held a televisied briefing, again condemning the attacks on journalists. "It could well be in anticipation of events tomorrow," Crowley said, in reference to the mass protests planned for Friday.
Mubarak breaks his personal media silence and grants an interview to Christiane Amanpour of ABC news, who tweets:
She's tweeting more details from the interview here.
Here's the latest from the Guardian's Jack Shenker on the ground in Cairo:
A group of reporters from Daily News Egypt, an independent English-language paper, was among those targeted today but pro-Mubarak thugs on the streets. Having ventured out of their offices to investigate a story about rising petrol prices, they were set upon by a group of passers-by in the middle-class neighbourhood of Dokki, west of the Nile, that quickly swelled into a fifty-strong crowd.
"It was terrifying," said Amira Ahmed, the publication's business editor who was caught up in the attack. "They were chanting 'we've found the foreigners, don't let them go' and calling us traitors and spies. When I pointed out to them that I was Egyptian they responded 'your Egypt isn't the same as ours' and began yelling and screaming."
Like many who were caught up in similar incidents today, Ahmed said the most chilling part of the encounter was the mob mentality that quickly took hold over those around them. "We had one French journalist with us who we managed to put in a taxi and get to safety. But by now this wasn't enough; the people who were showing up had no idea why we were the targets but they just took up the cry of 'foreigners' and 'journalists' and joined in with the abuse; there was no leader we could appeal to for reason."
Ahmed and her companions eventually agreed to be handed over to the army as 'infiltrators' to avoid provoking any more violence; on the way to the military checkpoint they were followed by men on motorbikes and one youth who clung to the trunk of their cab. The army took custody of them and eventually released them without harm. "I've never felt unsafe in Egypt before; I always felt that if anything ever happened to me on the street here, other Egyptians would come in to protect me," said Ahmed.
"But today was different and it was horrible. There was no logic to any of it; people are divided and people are raging, and they're casting out for targets to direct that rage against."
This is Richard Adams in the Guardian's Washington DC bureau, where we'll be continuing the live blog. With US journalists among the scores being rounded by Cairo, Egypt remains in biggest news story in the US.
We've compiled a list of all the journalist who have been in some way threatened, attacked or detained while reporting in Egypt. When you put it all into one list, it is a rather large number in such a short period of time.
We are very excited, we are very tired, we've been here for a week...if we can get the some political masss that we had on Tuesday in particular then we are confident we will be able to force a change.
I'm handing over the blog to my colleague Richard Adams now.
Opposition protesters in Syria, where Bashar al-Assad rules over a regime far stricter than in Egypt, are planning protests for tomorrrow. Most observers, however, think his security apparatus will crush any dissent ruthlessly. There are signs tonight that pro-government forces are being mobilised. Stephen Starr, a freelance journalist based in Damascus, says on Twitter: "State-owned cars honking through the streets of Damascus waving flags in support of the government."
A couple of interesting items pointed out by people in the comments section.
The first, from @freebeing, is Channel 4's Gary Gibbon blogging on whether Egypt will follow the China example to dealing with dissidents:
Mubarak will, without doubt, follow the Chinese example, my contact said. By that, he said, he meant that after a few days of watching the demonstrators do their stuff, the clampdown comes. Ringleaders are rounded up and an air of menace is spread. Chinese connections with Egypt are extensive but, as my contact put it, "they wouldn't need a phone call explaining how it works, they've swallowed the book."
The tunnels under the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt, used in the past to smuggle arms and supplies from Sinai into Gaza, are now an important lifeline of supplies for Sinai residents facing acute shortages because of the turmoil in Egypt, the Lebanese daily Al Akhbar reported Thursday. According to the paper, which supports Hizbullah, traders in control of the tunnels have "been working for days" smuggling bread and food in the "opposite direction" - from Gaza into Egypt – because of "supply disruptions" from Cairo to the Sinai.
Danger Room has learned that Amal Sharaf, one of the core members of the April 6 Youth, is among those arrested. Security officials detained the activists Thursday afternoon at Cairo's Husham Mubarak Law Center, an organization that provides legal assistance to detainees. Its director, Ahmed Sief (sometimes spelled Seif), was also taken into custody. An eyewitness, Mamdouh Hamza, described the detentions to Danger Room over the phone from Cairo. Hamza, a professor of civil engineering at Suez Canal University, was part of a crowd of at least 200 people on El Tawfikia #1 Street, right next to the Center. He saw a mini-bus arrive at the Center, and plain-clothes security officers entered the building. They arrested between eight and 12 people, he says. "They also are creating the rumor that the people arrested are from Hamas," Hamza says, "and that they have come to burn Cairo, so the people in the street–they were kicking them [the activists] and hitting them."
Here's an early evening summary:
• Violent clashes have broken out in Cairo again as pro-government supporters have continued their assault against protesters in Tahrir Square opposed to President Hosni Mubarak (see 9.17am). There has been gunfire but it is unclear who is shooting and whether all the gunfire is just warning shots (4.32pm).
• There have been a number of arrests and/or attacks on journalists reported – including those from al-Jazeera (see 2.41pm),the Daily News Egypt (see 12.20pm) and Channel 4 (5.30pm). The violence against journalists came after Egyptian state TV reported there were Israeli spies in Egypt. Some journalists have supposedly been rounded up for their own safety (see 12.37pm). US state department spokesman PJ Crowley said there was "a concerted campaign to intimidate international journalists" (see 1.35pm).
• The Egyptian vice-president, Omar Suleiman gave an interview in which he reached out to the January 25 movement and political opponents while at the same time saying the protesters had been manipulated by "outside forces" and "foreigners" (4.58pm).
• The army, criticised for standing by and watching yesterday's violence, has shown signs of intervening today, forming lines between the two sides and clearing some areas of Mubarak supporters (see 10.59am). However, there have also been accusations that the military is involved in a crackdown against pro-democracy protesters (see immediately below).
• There have been reports of police/army/military police stopping people getting into Tahrir Square and/or taking away food and medical supplies. Between eight and 12 people at the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre were arrested and beaten (see 1.13pm), eyewitnesses said. The activist blogger Sandmonkey was reportedly arrested and beaten (see 11.59am) but has now apparently escaped (3.42pm).
• The Egyptian prime minister Ahmed Shafiq apologised for the violence in Tahrir Square and said it would not be allowed to recur (see 1.53pm). He said the culprits would be found. Shafiq also said he could not say for certain whether the attacks were organised.
• Suleiman and Shafiq met opposition figures in Cairo today. The meeting was described as "cordial but inconsequential" by diplomats (4.38pm).
• Gamal Mubarak, the current president's son, is standing down from the ruling National Democratic party and will not stand in the presidential election (3.31pm). The Egyptian health ministry said 13 people have been killed and 1,200 injured since the outbreak of violence yesterday.
• Thousands of anti-government protesters have gathered in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, to take part in their own "day of rage" against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime (see 8.01am). His offer to step down in 2013 has not pacified the demonstrators.
• Algeria has promised to lift its 19-year-old state of emergency law. It followed pressure from government opponents amid protests in the Arab world.
The Guardian's Mona Mahmood has translated another summary into Arabic. We're working on how to format it correctly so that it aligns to the right, not the left.
استمرت اعمال العنف في القاهرة بين مؤيدي و معارضي النظام المصري, و تم اعتقال عدد من الصحفيين و تعرض عدد آخر منهم للضرب ومن بينهم صحفيون يعملون لقناة الجزيرة و صحيفة اخبار اليوم المصرية, كما تم اعتقال المدون المصري الذي تحمل مدونته اسم قرد الرمال و ضربه ثم اطلاق صراحه
اعتذر رئيس الوزراء المصري احمد شفيق عن اعمال العنف التي جرت في ساحة التحرير ليلة امس و قال انه من غير المسموح تكرار ذلك وان الجناة سوف يكشفون لكنه اضاف انه لا يستطيع ان يؤكد اذا كاننت الهجمات منظمة مسبقا
و صرح نائب الرئيس المصري عمر سليمان للتلفزيون المصري الحكومي ان نجل الرئيس المصري جمال مبارك لن يرشح نفسه للانتخابات المقرر اجراءها في شهر ايلول القادم
قالت وزارة الصحة المصرية ان ١٣ شخصا قتلوا و اكثر من .. ١٢ آخر جرحوا خلال اليومين الماضيين
The response to what vice-president Suleiman's speech said has - unsurprisingly - been very hostile:
The Muslim Brotherhood said in a statment:
"The vice-president's speech does not represent a solution. The people reject the regime."
The April 6 Youth Movement said:
"We are now getting ready for the 'day of departure' [tomorrow]. Mubarak has to step down before any kind of dialogue can take place.
We had arranged to interview a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood in his apartment, but the neighbours – sitting by the door on the street, snarled like guard dogs when we arrived. They didn't want foreigners inside their building, they said, and saw us off.
We retreated down the street to our car. A group of young men approached, armed with baseball bats, sticks and machetes. They were the neighbourhood Popular Committee.
For the past few days, these groups have been smiling and friendly to us but this lot started shouting and banging on the roof of our car. They demanded to see our passports.
I think I know why. Last night and today, Egyptian state TV had been broadcasting of Israeli spies disguised as western journalists roaming the country.
It's a wicked rumour to spread because it puts any westerner – or any Egyptian working with westerners – at risk of a beating or worse. It's cynical to say the least.
This government did a deal with Israel, but it still stirs up anti-Zionist feelings when it suits and that's one reason so many journalists have been attacked in Cairo today.
The Guardian has teamed up with Der Spiegel and Le Monde to bring reports on the shockwaves the events in Egypt are sending through the Middle East. This series of audio reports from Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Jordan and Lebanon is the first pooled dispatch from the team of foreign correspondents, with more to come over the next few days.
And courtesy of my colleague Sam Jones here's a statement from Hilton about why security staff at the Ramses Hilton have been confiscating cameras from film crews staying there. Members of the international press have reported staff knocking on the doors of their rooms and demanding they hand over their equipment.
Due to the gravity, immediacy and dynamic nature of the situation in Cairo, our hotel is implementing additional measures to ensure the ongoing safety and security of our guests and employees, as this remains our highest priority. These measures include a request not to film from the property due to the threat this poses to the reporters themselves as well as others on property. We appreciate your understanding and support during these challenging circumstances.
Grievances? Here is the community organiser [Barack Obama] now using community organisational mentality for a nation of Egypt, which is flooded with the Muslim Brotherhood. This is astounding. We are listening to the biggest mistake in US diplomatic history. This fool. This pinheaded fool running this country either doesn't know his history or is on the side of radical Islam. There's no two ways about it.
Also in highly questionable taste is this tweet from Kenneth Cole, the clothing company, which I will quote in case it gets taken down: "Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://bit.ly/KCairo -KC."
(The company has since apologised, saying: Re Egypt tweet: we weren't intending to make light of a serious situation. We understand the sensitivity of this historic moment -KC.)
Suleiman criticised certain – unnamed – countries for "interfering in our domestic affairs" and warned this would have "a negative impact on our relations with them ... It's very surprising to hear them interfere in our affairs."
He added: "I blame certain friendly states who are hosting unfriendly TV stations who charge the youth against the state."
Suleiman ended his interview with these slightly toe-curling remarks:
I would say to the youth: we thank you for what you did; you were the spark that ignited reform in this time ... Do not succumb to the rumours and satellite TV stations raising you against your country.
"The presidential elections will be carried out in August or September," Suleiman said – September had previously been the only date mentioned.
"It will not go beyond that limit, during which [time] certain constitutional amendments will be carried out."
He added: "The youths were demanding for the dissolution of the people's assembly ... It means we would not be able to really examine or debate ... on the constitutional amendments ... September is a time limit which must be observed, otherwise we will have a constitutional vacuum."
He said two political parties had rejected dialogue, but the Muslim Brotherhood is "hesitant but not rejecting".
Having praised the January 25 movement Suleiman then described the people in Tahrir Square as "representatives of certain political parties, including foreigners".
He promised to hunt down the perpetrators of the violence, which he described as a "conspiracy".
He said the armed forces did not intervene because they were uncertain and not used to such intervention, but they would now be engaged in "implementing the curfew, and protecting civilians against thugs".
Suleiman blamed the violence on "some other opportunists carrying their own agenda. It might be related to outside forces or other domestic affairs". He said it was "a conspiracy".
Their next trick will be to say that the young people in Tahrir are "foreign" elements, that they have connections to "terrorism", that they've visited Afghanistan, that they want to destabilise Egypt. But by now the whole world knows that this regime lies as naturally as it breathes.
Suleiman said: "The object behind this was to create the maximum degree of instability, intimidation and defeat the people of Egypt," but he added: "The 25 January movement is not a destructive movement."
Of the army, he said: "Now the armed forces are changing their duties, hand in hand with the people, to protect the people."
He said Hosni Mubarak had discussed how the protesters' demands could be met:
President Mubarak, when he found out the demands expressed by the January 25 were lawful and objective, he discussed how these needs ... could be met ... He has responded to all the lawful demands. We could also have accepted other demands ... However the time limit is thin and tight.
Vice-president Omar Suleiman is on state TV. He has held out the prospect of the presidential election taking place in August (previously September has always been cited as the date it would be held) but holding it any earlier would leave a "constitutional vacuum".
He says the wishes of the January 25 movement are "acceptable" and blamed outside forces for trying to foster instability.
Ian Black, our Middle East editor, writes:
Omar Suleiman and Ahmed Shafiq, the newly appointed Egyptian vice-president and prime minister respectively, met opposition figures in Cairo today for a meeting that was described as "cordial but inconsequential" by diplomats.
The opening session of the "national dialogue" called for by Suleiman produced a "road map" and a timetable for political reform. It was agreed to form three committees to look at constitutional change, the economy and law and order, but no decisions of substance were taken.
Several opposition movements, including the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, did not attend the meeting, presumably because they firmly oppose dialogue with the government until Hosni Mubarak steps down.
But the feeling in the Egyptian capital today is that Suleiman and other leaders are now digging in behind the embattled president. "They are rattled and under pressure but there is no sign of them giving up in the face of the criticism from foreign capitals," one western official said. "There is a sense of disconnect."
British student Simon Hardy (see 3.53pm) travelled to Cairo out of solidarity with the protesters and to witness a historic event.
These shots rang out about 45 minutes ago and it seemed like two protesters were killed. I don't know who they were ... Some of us are out here from Britain; we wanted to come out and experience what is happening in Egypt. It is the Middle East's 1989. It is important that people can come out here and really see what's going on, because this is absolutely historic.
Hardy, who is a 29-year-old student of international relations and politics, said: "I am experiencing politics as it is," as more shots rang out.
It is not protest tourism, it is a basic act of solidarity. People are glad we are here. It is bit like the international brigades who went to Spain to fight Franco. I don't think those people were tourists.
Asked if he was concerned for his safety, he said: "A little bit, but I've been on demonstrations in Britain in the last few months, when riot police beating people up and acted in a terrorising way."
On Twitter, Wael Abbas is reporting:
Protesters in Gaza have been showing their support for opponents of President Mubarak's regime, Reuters reports. Hamas, which rules the territory, had previously banned any gatherings in support of the Egyptian demonstrations, even though Hosni Mubarak is not an ally of the group.
More journalists have been subjected to heavy-handed treatment:
Egyptian security seize BBC equipment at Cairo Hilton in attempt to stop us broadcasting #Egypt
Reuters has compiled a round-up of international reaction to the situation in Egypt:
German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle:
I spoke to representatives of the opposition including [Mohamed] ElBaradei, and it's completely obvious that this is a matter for the political opinion makers in Egypt to decide for themselves who shapes the democratic transition and how. This requires beginning with a direct exchange of ideas, a peaceful dialogue, and we are counting on progress here today since otherwise I am afraid that - in view of Friday prayers tomorrow - there will be another escalation of the situation.
US president Barack Obama:
We pray that the violence in Egypt will end and that the rights and aspirations of the Egyptian people will be realised and that a better day will dawn over Egypt and throughout the world.
Michael Spindelegger, Austrian foreign minister:
I urge the Egyptian leadership not to let batons do the talking nor to block the media, but to be responsible and to deal with the demands of the demonstrators. The demonstrators and their valid demands cannot be silenced by violence. The political forces in the country must to everything to avoid a further escalation.
Greek prime minister George Papandreou:
Egyptian people want change, democratic rights, liberties. All these need to be established, also constitutionally. It is necessary that this transition to democracy, these changes take place with credibility, stability, that they happen quickly and without violence.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) spokeswoman Caroline Atkinson:
We just don't know yet how the economic situation will develop because it is not yet clear how the political situation will develop. There is an issue of who is in charge of what now.
EU foreign affairs chief Lady Ashton:
I urge the Egyptian authorities to immediately take the necessary measures to ensure that the law enforcement authorities protect the demonstrators and their right to assembly freely. I have made clear that it is the responsibility of the army and law enforcement to protect its citizens. Last night we were sending messages to the Egyptian authorities in phone calls and other messages, saying: "Look, you have to get the army in to protect the people, you have to make sure that we've got ambulances able to get in and out of the square."
Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain - joint statement:
We are observing a deterioration of the situation in Egypt with extreme concern. We condemn all those who use or encourage violence, which will only worsen Egypt's political crisis. Only a rapid and orderly transition towards a broadly representative government will allow Egypt to overcome the challenges that it is facing. This process of transition must start now.
Turi Munthe, the chief executive of international citizen journalism network Demotix, said one of its citizen journalists had been beaten:
Foreign journos – and anyone with laptop or camera – are now targets. One of our guys just got smashed up.
Sounds like even anti-Mubarak protesters have given up on foreign media and assume they're not helping the cause or have their own agenda. Four al-Arabiya reporters have been attacked, possibly because the Arabiya channel is universally seen as pro-Mubarak.
On the violence: "Before every demo, we were told that the anti-Mubarak protestors searched fellow protesters for weapons. That has now fallen apart because pro-Mubarak gang got through, and it's escalated."
An Amnesty International representative was among those arrested in the raid on Hisham Mubarak Law Centre (see 2.44pm).
Amnesty issued this statement:
An Amnesty International representative has been detained by police in Cairo after the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre was taken over by military police this morning.
Amnesty International USA called on President Obama to immediately demand the release of the Amnesty International staff members.
The Amnesty International member of staff was taken, along with Ahmed Seif Al Islam Khaled Ali, a delegate from Human Rights Watch, and others, to an unknown location in Cairo. Amnesty International does not know their current whereabouts.
"We call for the immediate and safe release of our colleagues and others with them who should be able to monitor the human rights situation in Egypt at this crucial time without fear of harassment or detention," said Salil Shetty, secretary general of Amnesty International.
A number of other activists are still being held in the Centre, including a second Amnesty International member of staff.
There is a huge protest going on in Alexandria, which has not yet seen the violence that has been witnessed in the capital.
A British man, Simon Hardy, has called in to relay his experiences in Tahrir Square this afternoon. Phone us on +44 203 353 2959 if you are in Egypt and want to tell your story.
In the last few minutes some snipers on top of the Hilton roof opened fire, maybe seven or eight gunshots. The protesters are saying two people have been killed, one shot in the head and one in the neck.
There are growing numbers of pro-government protesters on Ramses Street and behind the barricades on our side, still thousands of people in the square.
People are saying: "Is there going to be another attack tonight?" Anti-government protesters are saying that if they survive tonight, the demonstration tomorrow will be massive. They are calling it departure day, the day Mubarak will be kicked out of office. Everything hinges on the next 24 hours.
Here's a summary of key events in Arabic, courtesy of my colleague Mona Mahmood:
اندلعت اعمال العنف في القاهرة مرة اخرى بعد ان استمر مؤيدي الرئيس حسني مبارك في هجماتهم ضد المعارضين له في ساحة التحرير
و لقد قتل خمسة اشخاص و جرح اكثر من ٨٣٦ منذ اندلاع اعمال العنف في الليلة الماضية و ذلك حسب تصريحات وزير الصحة المصري و قال احد الاطباء ان سبعة اشخاص قتلوا باطلاقات نارية حيث قتل احدهم بنيران قناص في الساعات الاولى من الصباح
و بعد النقد الذي وجه للجيش المصري للوقوفه كمراقب لاحداث العنف , ابدى الجيش بعض الاشارت لتحركه اليوم حيث قام بتشكيل صفوف عازلة بين المعارضين و المؤيدين للنظام كما قام ايضا بتنظيف بعض الاماكن المخصصة لمؤيدي حسني مبارك
و قال المحتجون الذين يطالبون بالديمقراطية انهم القوا القبض على اكثر من .١٢ يحملون هويات تابعة لسلك الشرطة و الحزب الوطني الحاكم حيث تم الامساك بهم و هم يحاولون مهاجمة معارضي
و بدى الامين العام للامم المتحدة بان كي مون اكثر وضوحا في تصريحاته عندما دعى مبارك لمغادرة السلطة فورا , حيث قال اذا كان هناك حاجة لتغيير النظام فيجب ان يجري هذا الان
تجمع الالاف من معارضي الحكومة اليمنية في العاصمة صنعاء اليوم للمشاركة في يوم الغضب ضد نظام الرئيس علي عبد الله صالح, حيث لم يسهم عرض الرئيس بالتنحي عن السلطة عام ٢.١٣ في ايقاف التظاهرات
The Egyptian health ministry has updated its toll of the number of casualties from the violence in Cairo over the past two days. It now says 13 people have been killed and 1,200 have been injured.
There are also reports a foreigner has been killed in Tahrir Square today:
We have heard from multiple witnesses that Leila Fadel, our Cairo bureau chief, and Linda Davidson, a photographer, were among two dozen journalists arrested this morning by the Egyptian interior ministry. We understand that they are safe but in custody and we have made urgent protests to Egyptian authorities in Cairo and Washington. We've advised the state department as well.
Pro-Mubarak supporters attempted to storm the Hilton hotel, where several foreign journalists are based, according to various Twitter updates:
Mubarak supporters stormed hotels in Cairo, chasing foreign journalists. Army now securing Hilton hotel...
President Mubarak's son Gamal has resigned from the ruling National Democratic party, according to Egypt Daily News.
The Daily News Egypt is reporting on Twitter that, not only is Gamal Mubarak not going to stand for president in September (see 2.33pm), but he has also resigned from the ruling National Democratic Party.
Vice-President Omar Suliman: Gamal Mubarak resigned from the ruling National Democratic Party #jan25 #fb
Here is a mid-afternoon summary.
• Violent clashes have broken out in Cairo again as pro-government supporters have continued their assault against protesters in Tahrir Square opposed to President Hosni Mubarak (see 9.17am). There has been more gunfire but it is unclear who is shooting and whether all the gunfire is just warning shots.
• There have been a number of arrests and/or attacks on journalists reported – including those from al-Jazeera (see 2.41pm) and the Daily News Egypt (see 12.20pm). The violence against journalists came after Egyptian state TV reported there were Israeli spies in Egypt. Some journalists have supposedly been rounded up for their own safety (see 12.37pm). US state department spokesman PJ Crowley said there was "a concerted campaign to intimidate international journalists" (see 1.35pm).
• The Egyptian vice-president, Omar Suleiman, is due to make a statement shortly. He has already told state TV that Hosni Mubarak's son Gamal will not stand in the September elections (see 2.33pm).
• The army, criticised for standing by and watching yesterday's violence, has shown signs of intervening today, forming lines between the two sides and clearing some areas of Mubarak supporters (see 10.59am). However, there have also been accusations that the military is involved in a crackdown against pro-democracy protesters (see immediately below).
• There have been reports of police/army/military police stopping people getting into Tahrir Square and/or taking away food and medical supplies. Between eight and 12 people at the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre were arrested and beaten (see 1.13pm), eyewitnesses said. The activist blogger Sandmonkey was reportedly arrested and beaten (see 11.59am) but has now apparently escaped.
• The Egyptian prime minister Ahmed Shafiq apologised for the violence in Tahrir Square and said it would not be allowed to recur (see 1.53pm). He said the culprits would be found. Shafiq also said he could not say for certain whether the attacks were organised.
• Five people have been killed and 836 injured since the start of yesterday's violence, the Egyptian health ministry has said (see 7.34am). A doctor said seven people had been shot dead, including one killed by a sniper in the early hours of this morning.
• Thousands of anti-government protesters have gathered in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, to take part in their own "day of rage" against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime (see 8.01am). His offer to step down in 2013 has not pacified the demonstrators. • Algeria has lifted its 19-year-old state of emergency law, according to al-Aribaya TV.
Sky News reports that Egyptian vice-president Omar Suleiman is about to make an "important announcement". That's all we know at this stage.
Jack Shenker has sent this photo by Sandro Contenta showing Egyptian ID cards taken from pro-Mubarak protesters indicating membership of the NDP, the ruling party.
"We are seeing live fire, we are seeing bullets ricocheting off the bridge," Peter Beaumont reports in another update on the battle for flyover.
The gunfire appears to have been directed at pro-Mubarak forces on the flyover, he said. "These are pro-Mubarak demonstrators who are trying to throw petrol bombs at the people below them," he said. "We can see someone being carried away who we think has been shot."
It is unclear who is firing the live rounds, Peter said.
Warning shots are fired as Peter Beaumont describes a battle for a key flyover at the entrance to Tahrir Square.
The pro-Mubarak supporters are very very broken up. Some of the opposition supporters have put a barricade up from which they are throwing stones at pro-Mubarak supporters.
In the comments, hszmnedz sends this from her husband in Tahrir Square:
About 50,000-100,000 peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators are still in Tahrir Square, made up of all walks of life: popular rock singers, lawyers, engineers, youth, religious figures, university professors. There is unity between secular and religious, liberal and conservatives.
All are saying we are not anarchists, we are calling for democracy and the rule of law.
About 400 members of the foreign community in Cairo are participating with the peaceful demonstrators calling for freedom for Egypt, chanting "hurreya", which translates to "freedom". For their safety, we are not saying what they are wearing.
Thank you for every one of them.
A nearby mosque has been transformed to a makeshift hospital.
Army still not engaging.
The writer Ahdaf Soueif reports arrests at a law centre:
A good friend just saw eight to 12 people being dragged out of 1 Souq el-Tawfikiyyah Street and bundled into a civilian micro-bus while a military police vehicle waited nearby.
The people were being beaten and the street had been told they were "Iranian and Hamas agents come to destabilise Egypt" so the street was chanting against them.
Number 1 Souq el-Tawfikiyyah Street is the home of the offices of the Hisham Mubarak Legal Aid Centre, The Centre for Social and Economic Rights and The 6th April Youth.
My brother-in-law, the lawyer Ahmad Seif, works at the centre.
Swedish TV has lost contact with correspondent Bert Sundström. He was on foot close to Marriot. Seems to be abducted.
My colleagues Peter Beaumont and Jack Shenker in Cairo send the following about the role of the army in Tahrir Square today:
They were barely visible at first, a glimmer of tan clothing among the ranks of pro-Mubarak fighters lined on a low overpass above the entrance to Tahrir Square. It was from here that rocks, petrol bombs and bullets had been raining down on the anti-regime opposition defending their barricades below.
At 9am first one, then a second, and then dozens of Egyptian army soldiers – the same military forces who had stood back and watched as last night's bloodshed unfolded – finally appeared at this key strategic flashpoint and began driving back those on the bridge. Before them lay a no man's land carpeted with broken bricks and burnt out vehicles that spoke of the extraordinary violence that had played out in the darkness. This was the morning after the night before.
It was the beginning of a day of to-and-fro street clashes in the densely-populated neighbourhoods surrounding the square, as anti-Mubarak protesters fought close-quarter battles to hold Tahrir and, in a hail of warning shots and automatic gunfire, the army sporadically attempted to establish buffer zones.
One thing was clear after a night of fighting that left over 1,000 injured and several dead from gunshot wounds. That is that despite the denials of Egypt's government and interior ministry who claimed these events were not state-orchestrated, all the evidence strongly suggested otherwise.
I'll post the link to the full version as soon as we have it.
Omar Suleiman has confirmed that Gamal Mubarak won't be running for president, according to Reuters citing State TV.
#Egypt vice-president says leader Hosni Mubarak's son will not run for president - State TV
The former minister of the interior, Habib al-Adly, is being questioned for his role in the unrest last Friday, al-Jazeera reports, citing state TV. The minister was responsible for ordering police off the streets, it was reported.
Other ministers in the former government are also being investigated. Their assets have been frozen and travel documents removed, the BBC tweets.
And here, from the comments, is protester marwaa, who has had difficulties getting into Tahrir Square today.
Today I am unable to go down to Tahrir to join my colleagues in this struggle because the NDP thugs who are supposedly "pro-Mubarak" supporters have blocked any entrances. I decided then, to communicate with my friends in Tahrir who are suffering and to keep their experiences posted. At the moment, the thugs have blocked any FOOD SUPPLIES, MEDICAL SUPPLIES, and even BLOOD DONATIONS to people in Tahrir. It has reached the point where they would capture the supplies, empty, and urinate on them on the pavement right in front of the people who need it. Now, all the people in Tahrir have been blocked from medical and food supplies and are very much insisting not to leave (at some points they are not even ALLOWED to leave). "We will stay till we starve if that's what it takes."
Pro-Mubarak forces are being pushed further and further back, Peter Beaumont reports from Cairo. He says forces loyal to the president haven't come out in the numbers that they did yesterday. Some of the groups are only a few hundred strong:
The army has been trying to put themselves in between them. Tanks are not the greatest crowd-control weapons. Tanks are driving in and swinging their turrets around, trying to intimidate people by waggling round the main gun. Occasionally we'll see groups of soldiers run down trying to break up a knot of people, or we will hear warning shots.
He [the prime minister] should be apologising for the violence. We have seen numerous identity cards taken from people captured by the opposition, identifying them as police.
There has been a scathing response on Twitter to the Egyptian prime minister's apology at a press conference (1.53pm), which was broadcast to the nation:
You mother fucker, are blaming us for the shame scene you made on all international TVs, hell no it was you mr PM
More details of the apology by Egypt's prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, for the violence (9.27am), which he has repeated in a press conference. He told State TV:
I offer my apology for everything that happened yesterday because it's neither logical nor rational. Everything that happened yesterday will be investigated so everyone knows who was behind it.
He repeated the apology at a press conference at which he also said:
• The attacks "seemed to have been organised" but "no one had prior knowledge" of them and he could not say for sure they were not spontaneous.
• He was "surprised" to see camels but they must have come from the Pyramids complex and it could have been camel owners upset about the effect of the protests on tourism.
• The banks will be reopened on Sunday.
• The Suez canal will not be threatened.
• No one will be excluded from the dialogue, including the Muslim Brotherhood.
He said: "I promise that what happened yesterday in Meydan Tahrir will not happen again. I'll investigate and promise to publish the results."
Al-Jazeera says two of its reporters were attacked on their way from the airport to central Cairo.
The Guardian's Harriet Sherwood referred earlier (12.38pm) to greater involvement by the Muslim Brotherhood in the protests.
Yes I am asking for the president to go, yes I am asking for changes to be made, and yes I will continue to go back there every day for the same cause but I will NOT accept that religious groups hijack what we have been doing for their own agenda. A large group of the ones organizing them yesterday were people in galabeyas and long beards shouting "Al Jihad fe Sabeel Allah (Jihad in the name of Allah), you have to continue fighting, we will win this war, if you die here today, you will be a martyr and go straight to heaven, don't stop, fight, fight, fight." NO! This is NOT why we were in the streets on Friday being tear gassed and dodging rubber bullets and it is not why we have been going to Tahrir everyday to be heard. The reason why this revolt went through and became successful was because it was not religiously or politically charged. Don't let the ones who have been watching this unfold in the shadows ride this wave and hijack what you have been fighting for.
They arrested my father & all brave human rights lawyers, called them spies for hamas & iran so the ppl would turn against them #Jan25
Both the Associated Press and al-Jazeera and the BBC are reporting gunshots in Tahrir Square and on the nearby Qasr al-Nil bridge. These are being confirmed by people on Twitter. It is not clear who is shooting or who they are shooting at. Hopefully, it is just the army shooting in the air to try to keep order, although even that is a sign of a deteriorating situation.
New video uploaded to YouTube appears to show anti-government protesters throwing stones at pro-Mubarak supporters. Towards the end some try to intervene to stop the fighting. Many of the protesters are using homemade shields.
We reported earlier (11.59am) that the prominent Egyptian blogger and activist sandmonkey had been arrested. Now his blog has been taken offline.
We reported his defiant last post, earlier today at 7.42am.
Pro mubarak supporters getting gradually pushed further back onto Ramses Street hearing shots tanks moving more aggressively
The situation is very fluid, Jack Shenker reports from Cairo:
Key streets and entrance points keep changing hands. There are also urgent appeals going out for medical supplies, blankets and blood donations; people in a position to provide any of those things should monitor Twitter closely for advice on the best way to bring them in; also pick-up and delivery can be arranged.
My colleague Harriet Sherwood explains the difficulties of reporting on the protests in Alexandria.
The situation here in Alexandria is now very difficult for journalists. Egyptian national TV has been broadcasting that there are Israeli spies disguised as western journalists, and people on the street are very suspicious.
People who are prepared to speak to us are being denounced by fellow protesters. We have been surrounded several times this morning by angry crowds and have had to retreat.
In general the protests here appear to be diminishing and many people are alarmed by the scenes from Cairo that they have seen on TV. But there are also signs of more involvement by the Muslim Brotherhood.
Talking to people away from the protests, a very mixed picture emerges. A lot are saying that Mubarak's speech on Monday night has swung them towards giving reform a chance. Many speak of wanting security and stability and are very nervous about the volatility of the situation.
There are police on the streets of Alexandria for the first time since I got here 48 hours ago. But they seem to be focusing on directing traffic, and neighbourhood security is still very much in the hands of locals.
Journalists are being rounded up for their own safety, the Associated Press news agency suggests:
The Egyptian military has started rounding up journalists, possibly for their own protection, after they came under attack from supporters of President Hosni Mubarak who have been attacking anti-government protesters.
An Associated Press reporter saw a group of foreign journalists being detained by the military on a street near Tahrir Square, the scene of battles between supporters of Mubarak and protesters demanding he step down after nearly 30 years in power.
Foreign photographers reported a string of attacks on them this morning by Mubarak supporters near Tahrir Square. One Greek photographer was stabbed in the leg.
The thugs don't seem to be present in the same numbers [today]. The army are not taking any active measures. I'm keeping in touch with my family. They told me on the phone that the prime minister has apologised for the violence. I don't know what to make of it. There were rumours that the prime minister was going to resign. We don't know how close these rumours are to the truth. We think the president is directly responsible for what happened yesterday. This apology is a nice gesture, but if the prime minister really wants to show that he is on the side of the people he should resign. Mubarak must be held responsible for this. I hear some people say we will march to the presidential palace. I hope we do that.
Shahira Amin quit her job as a senior reporter at Nile TV yesterday and has been telling al-Jazeera why:
I can't be part of the propaganda machine; I am not going to feed the public lies ... They [Nile TV] are showing the Mubarak supporters, calling them 'the Egyptians'. that is what they are showing all day. They are not showing what's happening in Tahrir Square ... People are dying here, everything is distorted.
Amin added that she had received threats in the past for her insistence on broadcasting the "truth".
"I have had calls from state security. I have had people tell me this is the last time I do this or else."
In the comments, hszmnedz reports from Tahrir Square:
Just in from Tahrir/Liberation Square.
My husband is back again in the square with the peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators.
He tells me that all entries to the square from the north and east are being manned by the pro-Mubarak thugs who are using violence to prevent more peaceful demonstrators from going into the square.
So far, safe entry to the square is from (a) Cornishe el Nil by the Arab League building, (b) Talaat Harb Street, and (c) Bab el Louk Street.
Our diplomatic editor Julian Borger has more on what Ban Ki-moon told journalists at a briefing in London.
What we have learned from the situation in Tunisia, Egyptian and Yemen is that world leaders should listen more attentively to the aspirations of their people ... There should be full reform in all the countries in the region, fully reflecting the wishes of the people.
In particular, Ban said: "President Mubarak should listen attentively to what his people are saying."
He suggested three underlying causes for the turmoil in the region: "The most productive generation, the young generation, has not been given much opportunity in the form of jobs. The skyrocketing prices of commodities, particularly food, are adding to the dissatisfaction of the general population. Then there is the democracy deficit. All these have been lacking in the region."
The counter-extremism thinktank Quilliam has said the west could restore its image in the Middle East if its leaders use their influence to force Mubarak to go now. Director Maajid Nawaz said:
To avert the risk of Egypt sliding into civil war as happened in Algeria in the 1990s, the West should pressure Mubarak to stand down immediately. Any delay risks discrediting moderate democratic reformists and empowering radicals in their places. This is also a once in a decade chance for the West to publicly support the Egyptian people and to thereby restore the image of the West in the Middle East.
More on those Vodafone texts. In a statement the company said they were powerless to prevent these "unacceptable" texts being sent out.
Under the emergency powers provisions of the Telecoms Act, the Egyptian authorities can instruct the mobile networks of Mobinil, Etisalat and Vodafone to send messages to the people of Egypt. They have used this since the start of the protests. These messages are not scripted by any of the mobile network operators and we do not have the ability to respond to the authorities on their content.
Vodafone Group has protested to the authorities that the current situation regarding these messages is unacceptable. We have made clear that all messages should be transparent and clearly attributable to the originator.
Protester AmrSabry describes his hopes and fears in an email to our letters page:
I was one of those people you saw on the streets, last Tuesday, then on Friday, and then February 1. My last visit to Tahrir Square on February 1 was like a dream, the most beautiful dream I do not even have the ambition to see in my sleep.
After yesterday's very scary crackdown I am shocked to the bones. Mubarak has been enslaving the Egyptian people for the last 30 years, we are enslaved to the nightmarish hordes of the night, the security, the police, we are enslaved to his businessmen, to his thugs. I have seen a corridor leading to the light of day, I tasted freedom for one day, and it was like discovering a sixth sense.
Tonight the Egyptian people all will not sleep, fear is occupying their beds, a large monster, but the millions who has come out on February 1, can give you a definition to freedom, that I am sure you don't even know exists, you the people of the civilised world.
SandMonkey, the high-profile Egyptian blogger, a key chronicler of the protests who we have quoted frequently, has been arrested according to this tweet from @RamyYaacoub:
I just called @SandMonkey's phone and a man answered and he asked me who I am, I said where is monkey, he said your cunt friend is arrested
Here's a summary of events so far today:
• Violent clashes have broken out in Cairo again as pro-government supporters have continued their assault against protesters in Tahrir Square opposed to President Hosni Mubarak (see 9.17am).
• Five people have been killed and 836 injured since the start of yesterday's violence, the Egyptian health ministry has said (see 7.34am). A doctor said seven people have been shot dead, including one killed by a sniper in the early hours of this morning.
• The army, criticised for standing and watching yesterday's violence, has shown signs of intervening today, forming lines between the two sides and clearing some areas of Mubarak supporters (see 10.59am).
• Pro-democracy protesters say they have detained 120 people with IDs associating them with the police or the ruling NDP party (see 9.50am). Most were caught while attacking demonstrators.
• The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, came very close to calling for Mubarak to leave office immediately (see 10.35am), saying: "If there is a need for change, it should happen now," said Ban.
• Thousands of anti-government protesters have gathered in the Yemeni capital Sana'a to take part in their own "day of rage" against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime (see 8.01am). His offer to step down in 2013 has not pacified the demonstrators.
It is pretty tense. Every time I tried to speak to someone I was surrounded by a crowd asked if I was a spy for or a spy on behalf of America or Israel. We had to make a fairly hasty exit. So it is not a pleasant atmosphere, but we haven't seen violence on the scale of Cairo.
People are shocked by what has been happening in Cairo.
Has anyone used the English-to-Arabic translate button for this page? One of my colleagues in the office, a fluent Arabic speaker, says it's not very accurate and was concerned that it devalued our reporting. We were thinking of removing it, but we'll keep it up if people think it's useful.
The British telecommunications company Vodafone is being accused of sending out text messages urging pro-Mubarak supporters to "confront" protesters.
According to this Flickr gallery, put together by Sherief Farouk and Riham Nabil, this is what some of them said.
The Armed Forces asks Egypt's honest and loyal men to confront the traitors and criminals and protect our people and honor and our precious Egypt.
Youth of Egypt, beware rumors and listen to the sound of reason - Egypt is above all so preserve it.
To every mother-father-sister-brother, to every honest citizen preserve this country as the nation is forever.
The Armed Forces cares for your safety and well being and will not resort to using force against this great nation.
A spokesman for Vodafone said that the group was aware of the texts, but would not say how long it had known about them. He refused to comment further, saying that a statement was being prepared.
An update on the protests in Yemen from Christoph Wilcke of Human Rights Watch.
On the eve of what the opposition promised would be the largest demonstration yet against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, security forces sealed off Liberation Square in San'a, the capital, erecting tents they claimed were for "mass weddings" the next day, a source in San'a told Human Rights Watch.
When demonstration organizers discovered armed men in the tents, they moved the protest to San'a university, where thousands protested peacefully on Thursday morning, a participant told Human Rights Watch.
He said it was the biggest protest yet, attended by international and local media, and took place without incident and in the absence of security forces. Security forces had briefly detained a number of members of opposition parties the night before who were distributing leaflets and putting up posters for the protest. Several days ago, security forces beat protesters and journalists who were expressing solidarity with Egyptian demonstrators in front of the Egyptian embassy in San'a.
More confirmation that the army appears to be intervening today, from AP.
Egyptian army tanks and soldiers moved to end violence between anti-government protesters and supporters of President Mubarak in Cairo's central square today after standing by for nearly a day as the two sides battled with rocks, sticks, bottles and firebombs.
Hours after automatic gunfire hit the anti-government protest camp at Tahrir Square, killing at least three protesters, soldiers carrying rifles could be seen lining up between the two sides around 11am (9am GMT). Several hundred other soldiers were moving toward the front line.
Four tanks cleared a highway overpass from where Mubarak supporters had hurled rocks and firebombs onto the protesters.
Journalists have been arrested this morning, according to recent Twitter updates.
Nicholas Kristof, from the New York Times, talked to pro-Mubarak supporters before they threatened to break his camera.
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon gets even closer to calling for Mubarak to go now. He said:
President Mubarak's announcement that he will stay until the end of his term and will not run for re-election - I'm not sure that will satisfy the demands of his people. If there is a need for change, it should happen now."
The government authorities should ensure that peaceful demonstrations should be protected without any violence. We were concerned to see attacks on peaceful demonstrations.
I saw a guy with bullet wound to his head with his brain coming out of his forehead. It was the darkest night yet.
But he claimed Mubarak's tactics will not work
These people are not moving. We are a group of unorganised people from all walks of life and all religions and all ages. The strength of our convictions for a desire for social justice, and political justice is what has hold us together.
The leaders of the British, French, German, Italian and Spanish governments have issued a statement calling for "quick and orderly transition to a broad-based government."
It just stops short of calling on Mubarak to resign.
Here's the statement:
We are watching with utmost concern the deteriorating situation in Egypt.
The Egyptian people must be able to exercise freely their right to peaceful assembly, and enjoy the full protection of the security forces.
Attacks against journalists are completely unacceptable.We condemn all those who use or encourage violence, which will only aggravate the political crisis in Egypt.
Only a quick and orderly transition to a broad-based government will make it possible to overcome the challenges Egypt is now facing. That transition process must start now.
Egypt's vice-president Omar Suleiman has held a dialogue with the country's political parties and national forces in a bid to end the protests, according to Reuters.
The prime minister Ahmed Shafiq has apologised for the violence and has promised an investigation.
The report on al-Jazeera appears to be confirmed by Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas who tweets:
Egyptian prime minister apologizes for yesterday's events, calls them a mistake
Reuters, doesn't yet have the apology line, but it reports:
Egypt's cabinet denied that it had a role in mobilising supporters of President Hosni Mubarak against anti-government protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square and said it would investigate those behind violence.
"To accuse the government of mobilising this is a real fiction. That would defeat our object of restoring the calm," cabinet spokesman Magdy Rady told Reuters. "We were surprised with all these actions," he said.
Prime minister Ahmed Shafiq said the violence would be investigated, state television reported.
"The government will take the measures it can to identify who was behind this and try to deal with this," Rady said.
Rady also said that the army, sent to the streets on Friday after police lost control of protests, had not intervened because it could have been interpreted as taking sides.
"There is faction here and faction there, they (the army) cannot take a side. If they interfere in one side that will defeat their purpose. It would complicate matters more than helping it," Rady said.
Jack was describing the stand off between the pro and anti Mubarak supporters when another attack began, and the army did not intervene.
After about seven and half minutes he says:
People are starting to throw stones, lots of stones. This definitely started from the pro-Mubarak side. They have rushed into the no-man's land. The army are not intervening, in fact they are moving back. The pro-Mubarak side are pelting the anti-Mubarak protesters with rocks. The anti-Mubark supporters are throwing them back. Amazingly there is civilian in plain clothes, standing in the middle of no-man's land appealing for both sides to stop
.
Those pro-Mubarak supporters were throwing stones at the crowds, according to this story filed by Peter Beaumont and Jack Shenker just before the army moved in.
The sound of gunfire continued to ring out across central Cairo this morning, as anti-Mubarak protesters held their ground against pro-government assaults.
Following a dramatic night of fighting on streets and rooftops around Tahrir square and the Egyptian museum, violence continued to rage well after dawn. Local news channels reported that four had been killed in the latest clashes, though doctors on the ground told the Guardian that the death toll was higher.
Eyewitnesses who spent the night in Tahrir said there were major shooting incidents at 11pm and 4am local time, the latter involving a sniper equipped with a laser sight. Seven protesters were reported to be confirmed dead at a nearby makeshift medical centre, with three other bodies still unrecovered.
"We had over a thousand injured through the night, including several dead from gunshots," said Dr Dr Ibrahim Fata, a professor of surgery and one of more than 70 doctors who have volunteered to help treat those injured at the square. "It's like a war situation in here; some of the pro-change resistance did not bring their wounded to us because they didn't want to leave their positions. I haven't slept in the last day and a half."
As Dr Fata was speaking the Guardian witnessed a man with a broken spine being brought in on a corrugated iron stretcher, whilst others walked around swaddled in bandages. Some protesters had taped cardboard boxes to their head to serve as a crude helmet.
The shootings came after protesters seeking an end to President Hosni Mubarak's three-decade-long dictatorship were attacked yesterday by supporters of the Egyptian leader, many of whom were found to be carrying police IDs. Molotov cocktails were thrown from buildings and several fires burnt through the night.
By morning it was clear that the pro-change protesters had succeeded in repelling the assaults and holding Tahrir, their main rallying point throughout this ten-day uprising. At a barricade on Meret Basha street, approximately 50 metres from a flyover on Abdel Munim Riyad square, another aid station treated those wounded in the fighting.
About a thousand pro-Mubarak militants continued to mass on the flyover, throwing stones at the crowds below, though it was clear that they were increasingly outnumbered with up to four thousand anti-regime protesters inside the square and many more gathering as mid-morning approached.
Some sections of the roadway are so littered with debris and torn apart by those seeking rocks to throw that they are now impassable. But social organisation amongst the pro-change forces remains strong, with groups cooking breakfast over fires and handing out food amongst the crowds.
A retired Egyptian general told the BBC that the troops stand ready to fire at pro-Mubarak supporters, if they attack protesters today.
This seems to confirm what Peter Beaumont has been seeing on the ground. The general claimed the army could turn on Mubarak as early as tomorrow.
About ten minutes we started seeing soldiers telling the pro-Mubarak demonstrators to leave the bridge [near the entrance to the square]. Within no more than six or seven minutes the entire bridge was cleared with only one warning shot fired...
I do think it is hopeful, every time we have seen the army intervene in this crisis it has led to a significant lessening of the tension. The problem is we don't know what the orders are. But they have intervened, and for now at least the battle of Tahrir is Square is over.
Thousands of anti-government demonstrators have gather in Yemeni capital Sana'a to take part in a "day of rage" against the
They claim that President Ali Abdullah Saleh's offer to step down in 2013 was not enough.
If you are in Egypt, I am calling on all of you to head down to Tahrir today and Friday. It is imperative to show them that the battle for the soul of Egypt isn't over and done with. I am calling you to bring your friends, to bring medical supplies, to go and see what Mubarak's gurantees look like in real life. Egypt needs you. Be Heroes.
He had this to say about the violence:
You watched on TV as "Pro-Mubarak Protesters" – thugs who were paid money by NDP members by admission of High NDP officials- started attacking the peaceful unarmed protesters in Tahrir square.
They attacked them with sticks, threw stones at them, brought in men riding horses and camels- in what must be the most surreal scene ever shown on TV- and carrying whips to beat up the protesters. And then the Bullets started getting fired and Molotov cocktails started getting thrown at the Anti-Mubarak Protesters as the Army standing idly by, allowing it all to happen and not doing anything about it.
Dozens were killed, hundreds injured, and there was no help sent by ambulances. The Police never showed up to stop those attacking because the ones who were captured by the Anti-mubarak people had police ID's on them. They were the police and they were there to shoot and kill people and even tried to set the Egyptian Museum on Fire.
The Aim was clear: Use the clashes as pretext to ban such demonstrations under pretexts of concern for public safety and order, and to prevent disunity amongst the people of Egypt.
If you're an Arabic speaker you may find this blog easier to follow using this (automatic) translation button.
ترجم هذه الصفحة إلى العربية
The Egyptian health ministry says five people have been killed as the violence for the control of Cairo's Tahrir square continues.
"Most of the casualties were the result of stone throwing and attacks with metal rods and sticks. At dawn today there were gunshots. The real casualties taken to hospital were 836, of which 86 are still in hospital and there are five dead," health minister Ahmed Samih Farid told state television.
This morning shots were fired at the anti-government protest camp in Tahrir Square, but the protesters continue to occupy the area.
Graphic accounts of the violence continue to emerge, as questions are asked about why the army did not prevent the violence. Guardian video producer Mustafa Khalili was one of the hundreds of people injured in yesterday's clashes. He wrote:
I was bleeding heavily. People took me to a makeshift medical centre run by nurses who had obviously come straight from hospital to help, where they bandaged my head. They said I needed stitches, but there were so many other injured to look after.. There must have been more than 50 injuries, some of them horrific. I saw one guy whose left eye was bleeding, men with broken arms, broken teeth where they had just been hit in the face by rocks
There were no police, no security forces. The army was there, but was not intervening. The two sets of protesters were left to fight it out.
Anderson Cooper from CNN, two Associated Press correspondents and a Belgian reporter were all set upon as hundreds of young pro-government supporters attacked crowds demanding Mubarak's immediate resignation.
Mubarak was never quite a dictator in the Saddam Hussein or Robert Mugabe mould. His rule was more akin to the semi-enlightened despotism of an 18th-century European monarch. But at bottom, it always depended on coercion and force. Today, the pretence of reasonableness was torn away. His dark side showed for all to see.
Mubarak's speech to the nation on Tuesday night was widely misinterpreted. The president was, by turns, angry, defiant and unrepentant. He offered no apologies, proposed no new initiatives, gave no promise that his son Gamal would not succeed him, and instead lectured Egyptians on the importance of order and stability (which he alone could assure).
As he tries to reassert his primacy, Mubarak can rely on the conservative Arab states of the Gulf, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Algeria, and on any number of African governments that have no wish to encourage popular revolution. Even old enemy Iran is privately ambivalent on this score.
He can offer negotiations to the opposition and hope to gain advantage from their refusal, so far, to participate. And if all this fails, the regime can always let loose its thugs and hooligans, just to emphasise that without state-imposed order, only chaos, not democracy, reigns.
• 'Day of departure' protest rally takes place in Cairo • Hundreds of thousands gather in Tahrir Square • US and Egypt reportedly in talks on replacing Mubarak • Mubarak warns: 'If I resign today there will be chaos' فيما يلي ملخص لأحداث اليوم حتى الآن ترجم هذه الصفحة إلى العربية
Things remain quiet in Cairo for the time being – quiet enough for al-Jazeera to start running cricket items – other than a few bursts of gunfire in warning from the army, so it's time to wrap up the blog for the night. Here's a summary of the latest events:
• Thousands of protesters remain in Cairo's Tahrir Square after a day that saw largely peaceful mass demonstrations throughout the country
• Greek prime minister George Papandreou is to visit Egypt on Sunday to deliver a message from the EU to President Mubarak face to face
• Al-Jazeera's offices in Cairo were destroyed and the Arabic channel's bureau chief was taken into custody by security forces, continuing official attacks on the Qatari network
• Barack Obama says "some discussions have begun" about the transition of power within Egypt, an apparent confirmation of reports aimed at replacing Mubarak
• Egypt's health minister said 11 people are dead, and 5,000 injured, since the start of the protests – a lower estimate than many others which put the dead at 100 to 300
Thanks for reading today. You can follow the Guardian's continuing coverage on our World news site.
On his radio show yesterday, Rush Limbaugh appeared to be mocking the capture of two New York Times journalists in Cairo – until he heard that a Fox News journalists had been beaten up.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is being breathlessly reported that the Egyptian army ... is rounding up foreign journalists.
I mean, even two New York Times reporters were detained. Now, this is supposed to make us feel what, exactly? How we supposed to feel? Are we supposed to feel outrage over it? I don't feel any outrage over it. Are we supposed to feel anger? I don't feel any anger over this. Do we feel happy? Well, do we feel kind of going like, 'neh-neh-neh-neh'?
I'm sure that your emotions are running the gamut when you hear that two New York Times reporters have been detained along with other journalists in Egypt. Remember now, we're supporting the people who are doing this.
Then Limbaugh is informed about the Fox News journalist:
Fox News' Greg Palkot and crew have been severely beaten and are now hospitalized in Cairo. Now we were kidding before about the New York Times, of course. This kind of stuff is terrible. We wouldn't wish this kind of thing even on reporters.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have announced that several of their staff members have been released but that others with Egyptian nationality remain in custody.
HRW said in a statement:
"We are delighted our international colleagues have been released," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "But the Egyptian lawyers and rights monitors held should be freed at once."
Those released among more than 30 people arbitrarily arrested on February 3, 2011, were Daniel Williams, a Human Rights Watch researcher; Amnesty International researcher Said Haddadi and a female colleague; and two foreign reporters.
Remaining in detention are Ahmed Seif Al Islam, the former director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre, and at least nine other lawyers associated with the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre or volunteers from the Front to Defend Egypt's Protesters.
"The Egyptian government should never have arrested human rights monitors and journalists in the first place," said Roth. "The Egyptians still being held have a vital role to play as Egypt's crisis and serious human right abuses continue. The authorities need to free them without further delay."
The Economist's print edition has posted its coverage of events in Egypt, although it's already slightly out of date because of the demands of print deadlines:
As Egypt's powerful state regroups its forces and continues to capitalise on fears of insecurity, Mr Mubarak's men may have their way. Still, even within his army, which has so far remained loyal to the president, many may believe that only Mr Mubarak's departure can calm Egypt's streets. The president could possibly announce an early retirement on health grounds. But if there is one quality Mr Mubarak has shown during his three decades of rule, it is stubbornness.
Whatever the outcome, it is already clear that Egyptian society as a whole has evolved. Despite the ugly clashes of recent days, the change has mostly been peaceful. Egyptians have graphically demonstrated that they will no longer accept the old rules. They are moving, in the words of Fahmi Huweidi, a popular columnist sympathetic to the Muslim Brothers, from pharaohism to democracy.
More details on the destruction of al-Jazeera's office in Cairo today. The channel said in a statement:
"The Al Jazeera Network has reported that its office in Cairo has been stormed by gangs of thugs. The office has been burned along with the equipment inside it. It appears to be the latest attempt by the Egyptian regime or its supporters to hinder Al Jazeera's coverage of events in the country."
The New York Times has just posted an account by its two journalists and their driver who were arrested and handed over to the notorious Mukhabarat secret police. It's a chilling glimpse of what many Egyptians have been through:
We had been detained by Egyptian authorities, handed over to the country's dreaded Mukhabarat, the secret police, and interrogated. They left us all night in a cold room, on hard orange plastic stools, under fluorescent lights.
But our discomfort paled in comparison to the dull whacks and the screams of pain by Egyptian people that broke the stillness of the night. In one instance, between the cries of suffering, an officer said in Arabic, "You are talking to journalists? You are talking badly about your country?"
Horrific video circulated yesterday of a vehicle speeding through Cairo and hitting several people. Now the US embassy has put out a statement:
We have seen a video that alleges a US embassy vehicle was involved in a hit and run incident that injured dozens in Cairo. We are certain that no embassy employees or diplomats were involved in this incident. On January 28, however, a number of our US Embassy vehicles were stolen. Since these vehicles were stolen, we have heard reports of their use in violent and criminal acts. If true, we deplore these acts and the perpetrators.
Al-Jazeera's Arabic channel bureau chief Abdelfattah Fayed and another staff member have been arrested by Egyptian police, the channel is reporting.
Al-Jazeera is also showing some footage of pro-Mubarak counter-demonstrations that went on today. They included people waving signs saying "Go to hell America".
It sounds like a quiet night in Tahrir Square, although there are reports of fighting on the bridges which the army intervened to stop.
"It's remarkably quiet," says an al-Jazeera reporter near the square, with thousands of people still inside. The army tanks have pulled back and the thugs patrolling the overpass have disappeared.
So why did the State Department license the sale of American-made tear gas to be used by the Egyptian police, when the State Department itself has documented the police's history of brutality? When I asked this question, I received the following response, in full:
"The US government licensed the sale of certain crowd dispersal articles to the government of Egypt. That license was granted after a thorough vetting process and after a multi-agency review of the articles that were requested."
Noticeably absent in that answer was anything about the Egyptian police. When I pressed further and mentioned this WikiLeaks cable — written by US Ambassador Margaret Scobey describing "routine and pervasive" police brutality and torture in Egypt—the response was immediate.
"I cannot provide any authentication of anything that has been published by the website WikiLeaks," Thompson said.
Glenn Beck is on Fox News, in his daily slot, worrying about the consequences of a socialist-Islamic revolution in Egypt – and showing clips from an Islamist speaking at a British Socialist Workers Party meeting in 2008. This is disturbing to Beck: "People continue to bury their heads in the sands!"
Anyone who knows anything about the SWP in Britain will know how ridiculous this is.
It is past midnight in Cairo and Tahrir Square is still filled with protesters, with sporadic outbreaks of violence as reports of pro-government infiltrators circulate.
The Egyptian health minister has told state television that 11 people have died since the protests started. That a little different from the UN's suggestion that the death toll could be as high as 300.
Once again Syria's government is taking no chances. It has been revealed that state security arrested a 75-year-old member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Ghassan al-Najar:
Najar issued statements through the internet as street protests in Egypt intensified this week, calling for people to assemble in public squares across Syria after Friday prayers and again on Saturday. Similar calls were issued on anti-Syrian government Facebook pages.
No protesters showed up on Friday, and Syria was calm.
Reuters also reported that Najar has heart disease, quoting a supporter: "If they don't release him soon he will probably die."
Evan Hill, a producer for al-Jazeera English who lives in Cairo, tweets an interesting development: Egyptian state television suddenly taking a more sympathetic attitude towards the protests:
Evan also reports that there's talk of a possible strategy "that will walk Mubarak down from the presidency".
It appears that the curfew in Egypt has been loosened, as reported earlier, and now runs from 7pm to 6am local time. Although as al-Jazeera viewers will know, it is a curfew that seems to be regularly ignored in Cairo.
European leaders have taken a more cautious stance than David Cameron, in a joint statement at the conclusion after a one-day EU summit in Brussels today. But the AP reports this development:
In Greece, Prime Minister George Papandreou said he would visit Egypt to deliver a message from the 27-nation bloc to embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Papandreou said he expected the visit to take place Sunday. He refused to say what was contained in the message, saying it wouldn't be appropriate to reveal any details before meeting Mubarak.
Respected Middle East blogger Marc Lynch – @abuaardvark – has some thoughts about the results of today's events:
"More to do" presumably means more protests, possibly this weekend.
Thank you Haroon, this is Richard Adams in the Guardian's Washington bureau, where we are again following all the action in Egypt and elsewhere.
Sad news in the form of more details on the death of Ahmed Mohammed Mahmoud, an Egyptian journalist shot and killed while covering the protests. The Associated Press reports:
State-run newspaper Al-Ahram says an Egyptian reporter shot during clashes earlier this week has died of his wounds, the first reported journalist death in 11 days of turmoil surrounding Egypt's wave of anti-government protests.
Al-Ahram says Ahmed Mohammed Mahmoud, 36, was taking pictures of clashes on the streets from the balcony of his home, not far from central Tahrir Square when he was "shot by a sniper" four days ago. It says in a report on its website that he died Friday in the hospital. The paper says Mahmoud worked as a reporter for Al-Taawun, one of a number of newspapers put out by the Al-Ahram publishing house.
Everyone walking to Tahrir is carrying something: blankets, cartons of water, medical supplies. Lots of us are taking mobile charge cards. As we get to the middle of the bridge we're approached by three men and we know from their body language they're not friends. We automatically form into a tight phalanx. They're trying to grab the blankets and first aid bags and shouting that we have to be searched, that these things have to be delivered to an "official station". We shout louder. In fact we scream: "Get away from us! Get away from us!" This is the first time I've screamed in the streets. I think it's the first time I've even said these words.
I'm handing over the blog to my colleague Richard Adams now.
Asked directly whether Mubarak should go, Obama said he had spoken to the Egyptian president twice since the protests began:
Each time I have emphasised the fact that the future of Egypt is going to be in the hands of...Egyptians but I have also said in light of what's happened over the past two week, going back to the old days is not going to work....in order for Egypt to have a bright future, which I believe it can have, the only thing that will work is moving an orderly transition process...a representative government that is responsive tot he Egyptian people....what I have suggested to him is he needs to listen to those around him in his government, he needs to listen to the Egyptian people and make a decision about a future that is orderly, that is meaningful and serious.
Obama didn't change his public stance on Egypt noticably in that press conference with the Canadian prime minister. Despite the fact that the US is supposedly manouvering behind the scenes for Mubarak to go (7.32am) he did not say that in public. Some selected quotes from what he said:
Attacks on reporters are unacceptable, attacks on human rights activists are unacceptable, attacks on peaceful protesters are unacceptable.
Everybody should recognise a simple truth, the issues at stake in Egypt will not be resolved through violence or suppression.
There needs to be a transition process that starts now. It must respect the universal rights of the Egyptian people.
Barack Obama has just finished speaking about Egypt: "There needs to be a transition process that starts now."
Speaking of journalists being arrested (8.16pm), the blogger Wael Abbas, who was arrested today (4.56pm), was just on al-Jazeera. He said he was arrested three times today and painted a frightening picture of the area around Tahrir Square, which itself is calm. He said:
"The thugs of the NDP are stopping foreigners and arresting them."
He also accused state radio of inciting the thugs.
The Egyptian government has just hit back at the international accusations relating to attacks on journalists in the last few days. In a statement, the ministry of information said:
Statements issued by a number of international sources alleging an official policy against international media are false. Acts of violence against journalists, or any person are unacceptable. International media have been, and are always welcome in Egypt...In instances international media have been detained for questioning by the authorities, the ministry of information, represented by the state information service, has worked closely and successfully with authorities to expedite the process of their release. Regrettably, international journalists have been endangered by the same conditions that have threatened all Egyptians in areas of the country where there have been major disturbances and a breakdown of security.
Al-Jazeera has just reported that the curfew is being relaxed further (I think this is the second time it's happened). It is currently 5pm to 6am. Al-Jazeera wasn't sure but thought it was being changed to 7pm to 7am....not that the curfew has had much impact so far.
The Egyptian health ministry says 5,000 people have been injured in the recent violence.
Pratap Chatterjee, a senior fellow at the Centre for American Progress, has highlighted Washington's role in arming Mubarak's regime on Comment is Free:
Egypt has received over $70bn in economic and military aid approved by the US Congress in the past 60 years, according to numbers compiled by the Congressional Research Service. Maj Gen Williams is the man in charge of the $1.3bn in annual US military aid supplied to the country.
Specifically, the aid money pays for US-designed Abrams tanks assembled in suburban Cairo under contract with General Dynamics. Boeing sells Egypt CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters, Lockheed Martin sells F-16s, Sikorsky Aircraft sells Black Hawk helicopters. Lockheed Martin has taken in $3.8bn from Egypt in the last few years; General Dynamics $2.5bn; Boeing $1.7bn; among many others.
In addition, hundreds of Egyptian military officers come for short training courses to the US each year. Two days after Livingston and Miner met with the US officials in Cairo, the embassy sent a cable to Washington with a list of Egyptian officials approved to take a three-week military training course in the US in February 2010. Under the "Leahy law" – a human rights requirement named after Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont that prohibits US military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights – the embassy must, as a matter of routine, vouch for the prospective trainees.
One of the training courses listed in the cable made public by WikiLeaks was listed as one in how to handle explosives. The WikiLeaks cables show that numerous officials working for "state security", aged between 30 and 50 with ranks from major to lieutenant colonel, were given clean bills of health to take a variety of such specialised military training programmes....
So, when protesters in Cairo last week were struck by tear gas canisters fired by Egyptian security officials, it was not surprising that pictures taken by ABC TV would show that the canisters were manufactured in the US. Nor does it seem that surprising that a journalist from the Sydney Morning Herald would find 12-gauge shotgun shells with ''MADE IN USA'' stamped on their brass heads when he visited the wounded in a makeshift casualty ward in a tiny mosque behind Tahrir (Liberation) Square.
The photographs show that the tear gas comes from a company named Combined Systems Inc (CSI), which describes itself as a "tactical weapons company" and is based in Jamestown, Pennsylvania. A similar picture from the protests in Egypt was posted on Twitter of a "Outdoor 52 Series Large Grenade" grenade made by CSI, which is designed to discharge "a high volume of smoke and chemical agent through multiple emission ports". (CSI did not return calls for comment.)
Although CSI markets these products as "less-than-lethal", several incidents indicate that they can cause injury and death. Bassem Abu Rahmah, a Palestinian man, was reportedly killed on 17 April 2009, when a CSI 40mm model 4431 powder barricade penetrating tear gas grenade struck him in the chest, according to a report by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem. Nels Cooper Brannan , a US marine deployed to Fallujah, Iraq, unsuccessfully sued CSI for injuries caused by an allegedly defective MK 141 flashbang grenade that caused serious damage to his left hand when it exploded accidently.
A policeman took away the car key, and about 50 men in plainclothes and five policemen started pounding on our car. They asked our nationality -- we were all Egyptians -- and accused us of being Palestinians, Americans and Iranians. And, they said, traitors to Egypt. For about 30 minutes, though it seemed more like an hour, the crowd grew, reaching between 100 and 200. They smashed the back windshield, shattering glass all over the car and in our clothing. Men got onto the roof of the car, jumping and yelling. We tried to hold it up with our hands so it wouldn't fall on us.
Then uniformed policemen took our ID cards and searched the car, our bags and our pockets. They took both my mobile phones and Mahmoud's Blackberry, promising to give them back. A policeman looked me in the eye and said: "You will be lynched today," running his finger across his neck. Others spat on us. They hit the two men in our group in the face through the broken windows, scratching Mahmoud and punching my other male friend. Someone pulled my hair from the back. An army officer was standing right next to the car as well. Several of us screamed during the hail of blows and grabbed his hand, asking for protection. He just looked at us and told us not to be afraid.
Some more of what the White House press secretary said:
The whole world watches the action of all of those in Egypt and they speak volumes about the seriousness with which the government looks at an orderly transition.
The government of Egypt must undertake through negotiation with a broad base of those not currently in the government, direct negotiation that guides us towards a fair and free election. It's clear that without those concrete steps....we are simply going to continue to see more...unrest.
The White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, is giving a briefing. He says the people protesting in Egypt "aren't going anywhere" without Mubarak and his government taking "concrete steps" towards free and fair elections. He has rejected attempts to get him to expand on what those concrete steps are [he used the expression "concrete steps" on multiple occasions.
Egypt's vice president Oscar Suleiman will meet a group of prominent independent figures tomorrow, promoting a solution to the country's crisis in which he would assume the president's powers for an interim period, one of the group said, reports Reuters They seem to think Suleiman taking over is "the only way forward" - I'm pretty certain there are an awful lot of protesters who would not agree with that:
Diaa Rashwan told Reuters he and others had been invited to see Vice President Omar Suleiman to discuss solutions to the crisis based on an article of the constitution that would allow President Hosni Mubarak to hand his powers to his deputy. Mubarak would stay on in a symbolic position under the proposal being promoted by Rashwan and a group of Egyptians calling itself the "The Council of Wise Men"... Handing powers to Suleiman offers a potential compromise between protesters' demands for Mubarak to leave office immediately and his stated decision to stay on until the end of his term in September. Responding to speculation that such a scenario might happen, the prime minister said on Friday that it was unlikely the president would hand presidential powers to his newly appointed deputy, Al Arabiya television reported. "We need the president to stay for legislative reasons," Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq was quoted as saying in a headline.
"The Council of Wise Men" are focusing on Article 139 of the constitution, which says the president may appoint one or more vice presidents, "define their jurisdictions and relieve them of their posts". But Article 82 could present a legal complication. It says that while the president is able to delegate powers to a deputy, that person is not allowed to request constitutional amendments or dissolve the parliament or shura councils. If that article holds, it would be impossible for a Suleiman-led administration to carry out the constitutional reforms promised by Mubarak in response to the protests. Without constitutional changes, a presidential election in September would have to run under the same rules that opposition parties say stack all the cards in favour of Mubarak's ruling party and effectively rule out an effective rival bid.
Ahmed Kamal Aboul Magd, a prominent lawyer and one of the so-called Wise Men, said he had met Suleiman on Friday and proposed Suleiman take Mubarak's powers. He said the vice president had not discussed it. Amr Hamzawy, a prominent political analyst and also a member of the council, said the solution would bring about a transitional government. "The council demands that the president hands all presidential powers to Vice President Omar Suleiman for the transitional period of power, ending with Mubarak's term," Hamzawy said.
Suleiman, 74, was appointed by Mubarak last week - the first time he had appointed a deputy in three decades in charge of the Arab world's most populous country. It is the post Mubarak held before he became president. Rashwan said opposition figures had expressed support for the proposal to switch powers to Suleiman. "The only way forward is for Mubarak to give up power to Suleiman," he said. "The opposition leadership is so divided that no clear option is available outside the ruling establishment," he added.
People here [in Tahrir Square] feel secure and they know they've got to keep fighting and they know what they're fighting for and the longer we are here the clearer the message.
There are still huge numbers of pro-democracy protesters in Alexandria.
After Mubarak said Obama did not understand Egyptian culture (7.32am) Egypt has now turned its ire to the UN, Reuters reports:
Egypt has told the United Nations it is unhappy with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's public criticism of the Egyptian government and his calls for change, according to a spokeswoman for Egypt's UN mission. Ban this week urged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his government to take "bold measures" to address the concerns of people demonstrating for change. He urged Mubarak's government to view the demonstrations "as an opportunity to engage in addressing the legitimate concerns of the people." Egypt's mission to the United Nations in New York expressed its annoyance with Ban, who made public remarks about Egypt while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as well as during visits to Britain and Germany. "Egypt has verbally complained about the characterization of the SG (secretary-general) of the situation in Egypt," Nihal Saad, a spokeswoman for the Egyptian mission, said in an e-mail late on Thursday. "The remarks made by the SG, whether in Davos or London, were viewed as raising the bar above all the other remarks that have been made by other member states, including those who criticized Egypt," she added. U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq confirmed that U.N. officials had discussed Ban's remarks with the Egyptian mission and added: "We stand by what he has been saying."
Egyptian PM Ahmed Shafiq has been talking on al-Arabiya defending Mubarak's right to stay in office and he said it was "unlikely" he would hand over to his vice president Omar Suleiman.
I don't think that a president after 30 years....after all these years of public service..these five months are not going to make much difference.
The whole point is that they do make a difference to the protesters.
Some sad news. Al Ahram journalist Ahmed Mahmoud who was shot during protests on January 29 has reportedly died.
The Egyptian blogger and journalist, Wael Abbas, has been released after being arrested (4.56pm) by the army.
army released us, but getting stopped by every single checkpoint, rabbena yestor!
3.Dissolution of The People's Assembly and Shora Council
4. Formation of a national transitional government
5.An elected Parliament that will ammend the Constitution to allow for presidential elections
6. Immediate prosecution for those responsible of the deaths of the revolution's martyrs
7. Immediate prosecution of the corrupters and those who robbed the country of its wealth.
In an interview with al-Jazeera Arabic, Mohamed ElBaradei has apparently denied telling an Austrian newspaper that he would not stand for president (5.10pm).
From @draddee, who has been prolifically tweeting on the protests since they began:
lBaradei Just denied the quote carried by the Austrian paper that he will not run: "I will run if called to it" #jan25
You can listen now to the latest summary set of interviews with reporters from a group of media organisations who have teamed up with the Guardian to provide comprehensive coverage of events in Egypt.
Enric González of El País in Cairo says:
The majority of regular people who are not going to the square are watching TV very anxiously. They cannot buy tomatoes or eggs and they can't go to work and they are waiting for something to happen. They want some normality. The Tiananmen [square] option is still open, although it's very unlikely.
Here's the latest summary of events so far today:
• Hundreds of thousands of anti-Mubarak protesters have again gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square to call on the president to resign on what they have termed "a day of departure".
• The Egyptian army is manning checkpoints at all entrances to the square, searching people for weapons before allowing them in. No pro-Mubarak protesters are being allowed into the square, following days of clashes between the two groups. The atmosphere — in the square at least — has been relaxed and peaceful, although skirmishes and gunfire were reported later in central Cairo (5.18pm).
• The Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei has reportedly said he will not run for the Egyptian presidency in future elections (5.10pm). However, Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, who was in Tahrir Square today has reportedly suggested he is considering running for president (3.37pm).
• Youth activists in Egypt have drawn a list of four very specific demands that they want to be met, including the dismantling of the ruling NDP government, a new constitution and the creation of a committee to have responsiblity for appointing a transitional government (5.05pm).
• EU leaders, meeting in Brussels, have called on the Mubarak regime to begin genuine reform of the government immediately, saying "this transition process must start now". (2.52pm)
Simon Hardy, a British student, who has providing us with useful updates today (see 4.02pm and 2.03pm) on his failure to reach Tahrir Square and clashes near his hostel has provided us with an update:
Five or six men who live in this block are outside armed with sticks and other weapons to defend the apartments against Pro-Mubarak supporters, who have assembled down the road. We have just seen a shopping trolley being wheeled past with 100s of Molotov cocktails in it... the men are stopping and asking drivers for petrol for their bombs... there are some tanks rolling by...
Very interesting news being reported on Reuters that Mohamed ElBaradei has said he will not run for president. It comes via an Austrian newspaper (ElBaradei was living in Vienna before he returned for the protests). He reportedly said:
No, I will not take part in presidential elections. The best I can do is act as an agent for change. Naturally I want to play a part in the future, but who stands in the election, that's really not so important at the moment.
Jack Shenker has been speaking to people within the youth movement in Egypt, mainly based online, who have told him they have four very specific demands. They do not represent everyone but they do constitute an important part of the opposition:
• the removal of Hosni Mubarak and the "whole apparatus of the Mubarak regime";
• a committee which will appoint a transitional government, the committee to be made up of 6 named senior judges, six representatives from their youth movement and two members of the military
• a council to draw up a new constitution, which would then be put to the people in a referendum
• elections at national and local level in accordance with the constitution.
One of the soldiers warned us about the senior man in plain clothes, telling us that he's "mad" and that we were unlucky to walk into the wrong checkpoint. "I'll make a deal with you," Ahmad, the "mad" officer said, after an hour and a half: "I'll let you go but I'm afraid for you." He repeated this several times. "You come near the square again things won't be so good next time. Do you understand? Go far away from here." A soldier walked us to the edge of their cordon and waved us out.
It is then that our problems really began. Hailing a taxi, we were stopped immediately by an armed group. Two men jumped into the car. One took our passports while the other cradled a large machete. Behind us two men jumped up onto the bumper. Within minutes we were taken to another group of soldiers who released us after once again checking our documents.
We tried again to head back to the hotel, but in the midst of a contested revolution this was no mean feat. The city reeked of paranoia and violence. Every hundred yards or so someone from the groups along the road - men with knives and scaffold poles - put their body in front of the car to stop us and demanded to see our passports.
Another soldier prevented us reaching the hotel and sent us in another direction. We could see the building where we were staying close to Tahrir Square but suddenly we found ourselves among a crowd of pro-Mubarak supporters. There was a tank 100m distant, but we were where the heaviest clashes of the day before took place, beneath a series of overlapping underpasses leading to the 6 October bridge. It remains perhaps the most dangerous spot in the city for foreign journalists. We reversed quickly, in the knowledge that these were the same groups who had been beating up reporters, and found ourselves immediately surrounded by a new crowd. The same barked questions were fired our way. By now we have decided to try an escape the city centre and head to another hotel in Zamalek, on the river's other side.
More men got into our car. They said they were leading us to the hotel but in Arabic we understood them to be saying they would take us to the army once again, this time to the ministry of defence. We were questioned once more, this time by soldiers at the state-run TV station, getting more scared and frustrated in the knowledge that we were within a couple of hundred metres of our destination and relative safety.
The investment bank, Credit Agricole, has put the cost to Egypt of the political crisis so far at at least $3.1 billion (£1.9), the Associated Press reports:
Credit Agricole, in one of the first assessments quantifying the damage to the economy, said the crisis is costing Egypt at least $310 million per day. The bank also revised down its forecast for 2011 GDP growth to 3.7% from 5.3% and said the Egyptian pound could see a depreciation of up to 20 percent... Credit Agricole expects that Egypt's gross public debt to GDP will revert to 85% in 2011 and 97% by 2014, compared to earlier estimates of around 70% for the next three years. The budget deficit could reach 12.3% this year from an estimated 8.2%, the bank said. The Egyptian pound could fall by as much as 20 percent relative to the U.S. dollar in the short-term, dragged down by a drop in investments and an increase in capital outflows, the report said. That would bring the pound down to about 7 pounds per dollar, based on the current exchange rate of around 5.85 pounds to the dollar.
One of the Guardian's Middle East experts Brian Whitaker has responded to a question in the comments section from @blueblossom in an answer which is worth sharing:
I suppose what I'm wondering is - if there were elections conducted in a reasonably free and fair manner later this year, which parties/groupings could do well? Presumably the Muslim Brotherhood would be the largest party by far? Or would a reorganised NDP make a strong showing? Perhaps it's near impossible to say at this stage?
Whatever happens to Mubarak, there has to be a presidential election no later than September. The Brotherhood have said they will not contest that. In the absence of any inspirational leaders who can galvanise popular opinon, my feeling is that the presidency will probably be won by a compromise candidate -- the one regarded as least objectionable by the largest numbner of people.
There is no requirement for parliamentary elections until 2015, since a new parliament was (fraudently) elected last year for a fixed term of five years. To dissolve the parliament legally before 2015, there would have to be a national referendum.
This means that Egypt may be lumbered for several years with a parliament that is overwhelmingly dominated by Mubarak's NDP party. One option would be to investigate the fraud in last year's election and disqualify some of the NDP members, presumably triggering by-elections in their constituencies.
For the Brotherhood to have any prospect of becoming the largest party over the next few years, therefore, either parliament would have to be dissolved by referendum or a very large number of NDP members would have to be disqualified and their vacant seats won by the Brotherhood.
(This is based on my reading of the Egyptian constitution. Anyone who has a different interpretation, please post in this thread.)
There were moving scenes in Tahrir Square a few minutes ago as the tens of thousands people gathered there once more prostrated themselves in prayer.
There's clearly been the sound of demonstrations and there's been gunshots in the last half hour, maybe four or five....The impression I get is, in the streets around Tahrir, there are clashes happening between the pro and anti-Mubarak forces.
There has been some discussion in the comments below the blog about the presence (or otherwise) of women. This picture shows female anti-Mubarak protesters.
Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, who was in Tahrir Square today (see 12.19pm and analysis at 1.14pm) is considering running for president, al Masry al Youm reports.
Amr Moussa says he expects Mubarak to remain in his post until his term ends in seven months, though "there are extraordinary things happening and there is chaos, maybe he will make a different decision."
Moussa says he believes it would be impossible to organize new elections quickly. He also says he would consider a role in a transitional government. Asked about a potential run for the presidency, he responded, "Why say no?"
Moussa spoke to France's Europe 1 radio on Friday. He also said any new government in Egypt "cannot ignore the Muslim Brotherhood," the country's largest opposition group.
Cheers rang round Tahrir Square as, not for the first time since the protests began, a (false) rumour circulated that Mubarak has stepped down.
Rumors run rampant in Tahrir Square. I heard Mubarak had stepped down multiple times today. #jan25 #egypt
Four aides of the former interior minister Habib al-Adli have been arrested, al-Jazeera reports. Adli had a travel ban imposed on him yesterday and his bank account frozen.
Here's a summary of events in Arabic:
•تجمع مئات آلاف من المحتجين على حكم مبارك في ميدان التحرير في القاهرة اليوم الجمعة الذي اسماه المحتجون "يوم الرحيل" وطالبوا الرئيس المصري بالاستقالة. و قام الجيش المصري بمراقبة نقاط السيطرة و تفتيش الناس بحثا عن الأسلحة قبل السماح لهم بالدخول الى الميدان و لم يسمح لمؤيدي مبارك بالدخول.
• كانت الأجواء مريحة بعد صلاة الجمعة حيث استمع الناس الى الخطب والصلوات ، في حين قام آخرون بعزف الموسيقى.
• يجتمع زعماء الاتحاد الاوروبي في بروكسل اليوم . و قال رئيس الوزراء البريطاني ديفيد كاميرون ان نظام مبارك سيفقد كل مصداقية إذا قام بقمع المتظاهرين بالقوة اليوم ,لكن رئيس الوزراء الايطالي سيلفيو برليسكوني قال انه يأمل في "استمرارية الحكومة المصرية" ،و وصف مبارك على انه "من أكثر الرجال حكمة ".
• وبحسب ما ورد فان كبار المسؤولين الامريكيين و المصريين يجرون محادثات حول استبدال مبارك على الرغم ان مبارك حذر من أنه إذاأستقال الان ، فستعم الفوضى، وقال مبارك لشبكة الاخبار الامريكية اي بي سي نيوز الليلة الماضية " لقد سئمت , بعد ٦٢ سنة في الخدمة العامة ، طفح الكيل عندي , اريد ان ارحل ثم اردف قائلا لكن ليس الان.
Our Middle East expert Brian Whitaker is selecting the best of the Egyptian blogosphere and posting the links on the right of this page. It's well worth keeping up with his choices. The latest one points to the Angry Arab News Blog, which has been listening closely to the music being played in Tahrir Square in Cairo. He reckons that the most-played singer is Abdul-Halim Hafidh.
He was Nasser's chief singer and he sang a lot for the Egyptian revolution and for Nasser (in addition to love songs). Late in his life, he sang poems by Syrian poet, Nizar Qabbani but his song "A letter from under the water" is just silly. I like his earlier songs like "Maw'ud" (Expecting).
According to the well connected blogger and activist sandmonkey there is talk among those gathered in Tahrir Square of a march to the presidential palace.
Some protesters are demanding a march on the presidential palace and people are discussing it. #jan25
There has been talk of such a march on previous occasions without it materialising.
Members of the crowd are chanting in favour of a march to the presidential palace, al-Jazeera says.
It seems that despite international pressure, Hosni Mubarak is determined to stick to his plan to remain in power until elections in September. CNN's Hola Gorani has interviewed the Egyptian finance minister Ahmed Abdul Gheit, who told her that "outside forces cannot dictate the transition of power" and that Mubarak will stay on for now. Abdul Gheit repeated Mubarak's assertion that he will "die on Egyptian soil" – interpreted as a reference to the Tunisian president Zine el Abidine Bewn Ali, who fled the country after being toppled.
European Union leaders have called on the Mubarak regime to begin genuine reform of the government immediately. The EU's 27 leaders issued this joint statement during a summit in Brussels:
The European council is following with utmost concern the deteriorating situation in Egypt. All parties should show restraint and avoid further violence and begin an orderly transition to a broad-based government. The European council underlined that this transition process must start now.
An interesting detail from Reuters's latest update:
There was a festive, weekend atmosphere as secular, middle-class professionals and pious, generally poorer, members of the mass Islamist movement the Muslim Brotherhood, mingled, sang and chanted under banners and ubiquitous Egyptian flags. Members of the Christian minority were also taking part.
While the mood of today is celebratory, it is worth remembering that hundreds were injured in the clashes earlier in the week. The health minister has been on Al-Arabiya television, and said that the official death toll has risen to eight, with 915 people injured. There are 86 people still in hospital, according to the minister, whose interview was noted by the Daily News Egypt.
The Guardian's Mustafa Khalili is stationed beside Tahrir Square, amid 2,000-3,000 anti-Mubarak protesters who are facing off against some 50 pro-Mubarak demonstrators.
Al Jazeera is reporting that top military officials are taking a close interest in troop deployment around Tahrir square. One of their correspondents, Jacky Rowland, told the network how she saw a very senior army official arrive in a limousine at the 6th of October bridge – one the entry points to the square – to inspect troops there before being driven off slowly.
There are hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of Alexandria, according to Channel 4's Lindsey Hilsum:
@lindseyhilsum: Alexandria protestors singing 'there's an end to every dictator' to the tune of the national anthem.
@lindseyhilsum: Our guys on the street tell us there are hundreds of thousands out in Alex - along the corniche and beyond. #egypt
@lindseyhilsum: Anti-govt protestors still streaming past our window in Alexandria and I can't see an end to the demo. #egypt
@lindseyhilsum: In Suez, there are tens of thousands of pro-democracy supporters on the streets, Ayman Nour, leader of the Ghad party, told CNN.
Our correspondent in Damascus, who we are not naming, reports that anticipated protests in the Syrian capital have not materialised.
Twitter traffic reporting protest activity appears to be generated externally, while reports that the Syrian internet has been shut down, as apparently reported on the BBC, are incorrect.
Usual numbers of plain clothes security and uniformed police are stationed at government locations around the capital.
Simon Hardy, a British man who we spoke to yesterday, called in to say he too has failed to get entrance to Tahrir Square:
We are downtown, literally only 10 minutes from Tahrir Square but it's impossible to get anywhere. Almost every third junction, they are manned, not by the anti-government protesters as they had been about a week ago but by a mixture of soldiers, young men with quite large sticks and other weapons, and other men who ask you questions in the style of police officers but they are not wearing any uniforms.
We tried to get through various checkpoints but it's very intimidating....Literally just down the road there is probably a million people protesting against the regime but around the area if you're not Egyptian getting anywhere is very difficult at the moment.
Some 200 students partly inspired by events in Egypt, have staged short-lived protests in Sudan, Reuters reports.
Police beat and teargassed students who tried to rally outside Sennar university on Thursday afternoon, before officers moved in with batons and then surrounded the compound, witnesses said.
Sudan has used armed riot police to disperse a series of demonstrations by young Sudanese across the north of the country in recent weeks. Protests earlier last month focused on food prices and human rights abuses and broadened to include calls for political change after images of massed protests in Cairo, Tunis and other cities were broadcast across the world.
The protests, many around universities, have so far not been supported by wider parts of the population and have failed to gain momentum. Also on Thursday police arrested dozens of people near the scene of a planned protest in the capital's Khartoum North suburb, said witnesses. The demonstration, which had been publicised on the internet, did not take place.
Sudan is facing an economic crisis marked by soaring inflation. It is also vulnerable politically after the south of the country - the source of most of its oil - voted overwhelmingly to secede last month.
The Muslim Brotherhood has said it would not field a presidential candidate or seek ministers in a new cabinet, ABC reports. Christine Amanpour, who interviewed Mubarak yesterday, is interpreting the move as calculated to soothe western fears of an Islamist government succeeding Mubarak.
Moslem Brotherhood tells ABC party won't field pres cand or seek ministers in new cabinet. Will talk w/ VP Suleiman. Trying to calm fears.
We reported earlier that soldiers were searching protesters as they entered Tahrir square. Here is a picture of that. .
There are reports of skirmishes in Talaat Harb Square in Cairo – @evanchill, an al-Jazeera producer, tweets:
Rock throwing betw protesters and mub supporters has erupted in talaat harb square 40 meters ahead of me
Talaat harb square east of tahrir is chaos now but the barricade itself not under attack, the fighting is in the street
Sky News producer Tom Rayner, who appears to be in Tahir Square, reports that army helicopters are circling above as the "call to prayer again rings out". Separately, there have been unconfirmed reports of groups of protesters moving towards the presidential palace, but @jan25voices reports on Twitter that the "bulk of demonstration not moving right now".
Meanwhile in Alexandria, where protesters have also gathered, Nic Robertson of CNN reports the mood is "almost celebratory but serious, trucks with huge speakers belting out nationalist tunes from Nasser era".
Al Jazeera is reporting that their Cairo office has been stormed by "gangs of thugs". The news channel says its office and the equipment inside has been set fire.
"It appears to be the latest attempt by the Egyptian regime or its supporters to hinder Al Jazeera's coverage of events in the country," Al Jazeera said in a statement.
"In the last week its bureau was forcibly closed, all its journalists had press credentials revoked, and nine journalists were detained at various stages. Al Jazeera has also faced unprecedented levels of interference in its broadcast signal as well as persistent and repeated attempts to bring down its websites."
Britain and the US have criticised what the US called a "concerted campaign" to intimidate foreign reporters in Egypt. Earlier we heard that the Guardian's Peter Beaumont and Jack Shenker were interrogated by the Egyptian army – despite reports the army had been instructed to assist foreign media – before being threatened by machete-wielding vigilantes.
Climbdown The Obama administration arm-twists Mubarak into quitting immediately and handing over power to a transitional government headed by his deputy, Omar Suleiman. That would oversee constitutional and legislative changes to pave the way for new parliamentary and presidential elections. With much talk by the regime of the need for an "honourable" solution, Mubarak is persuaded by Suleiman and the military that he needs urgent medical treatment abroad followed by a period of convalescence in distant Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea.
Protests subside The Egyptian government plays the stability card, arguing that an "orderly transition" is already under way, that constitutional changes will take time, and that Mubarak's sudden departure will only make matters worse. Regime is likely to warn that the banned Muslim Brotherhood is orchestrating violence or will hijack popular protests. It may appeal to US concerns over regional issues, including respecting Egypt's peace treaty with Israel and confronting Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls Gaza.
Violence escalates Large-scale bloodshed today or on subsequent days hardens the mood in the US, which suspends or halts its annual $1.3bn (£808m) in military aid to Egypt – a grave and likely game-changing blow to the position of the military. Likely to be accompanied by warnings about crimes against humanity so that continued repression carries a personal price tag for key regime figures.
Standoff Protests continue without either serious violence or Mubarak's formal departure while dialogue between government and opposition gathers momentum and constitutional changes start to look convincing, leading to splits in an already divided and largely leaderless protest movement. The opposition has only a negative platform – that the president leave. Negotiations over a transition would be complex.
Brian Whitaker provides some context on Amr Moussa's presence in Tahrir Square today – as reported at 12.19pm.
Moussa's unexpected appearance in Tahrir Square is interesting, and perhaps significant.
He served Mubarak for many years as Egypt's foreign minister before becoming head of the Arab League. There were suggestions at the time that Mubarak had kicked him sideways because the president was becoming jealous of Moussa's popularity (he was generally regarded as adopting a fairly tough position regarding Israel).
About the time of his removal from the foreign minister, a pop song containing the line "I hate Israel and I love Amr Moussa" became a hit in Egypt.
There have been tensions between religious groups in Egypt in recent months. Today, religious leaders have stressed their unity. We told at 12.41pm how at Friday prayers in Tahrir square, the Catholic cardinal in Egypt reportedly linked hands with a Muslim cleric. Al-Jazeera English now reports that Christians in Alexandria formed a security cordon around the Muslims while they knelt for Friday prayers.
Al Jazeera is reporting that more than 100,000 protesters have gathered in Damanhour, about 100 miles north west of Cairo, to demand that Mubarak resigns (via Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi).
The channel is also reporting that people are continuing to head to Tahrir Square in Cairo and the crowd is growing all the time.
Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary general, has said the situation in Egypt recently has taken "a deeply troubling turn".
He spoke out against the "violence and intimidation" and said it "should stop".
The restrictions on the media were "utterly unacceptable".
Our correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, who is based in Beirut, has sent this analysis of how the events this week in Egypt are playing out across the region:
Massive waves of euphoria are sweeping through the region now, my friends in Baghdad, Sanaa, Beirut and Damascus tell me as they sit glued to their TV screens.
Tunisia was the start but Tunisia was far away, people said; it's small and relatively educated compared to the rest of the Arab world – but Egypt is something else. For almost two centuries Egypt was the heart of the Arab world, influencing it with cinema, music, journalism and ideology.
A Yemeni official I talked to yesterday was so enthusiastic he called what is happening "the great Arab revolution" that will sweep away corrupted regimes – including his own, he said. "Those regimes that have been running their states like fiefdoms, looted by army generals, tribes and the sons and cousins of the president will go. After decades of stagnation the people are awake now and the days of these decayed presidents are numbered."
The Iraqis I have talked to all expressed a sense of shame. A friend told me on the phone from Baghdad: "We Iraqis looted and gutted our museum in 2003 while the Egyptians protected theirs. They protected houses and public buildings while Baghdad was reduced to rubble within days of the fall of the regime. Egyptians love their country; they are patriotic; we weren't."
One Egyptian embassy official put his hands on his knees and said with a shy smile: "You know the president thinks he is like a big father. He treats the people like they are his children: 'go to sleep', and they all sleep, 'wake up', and they all wake up. Things have changed: the people are no more children, and you can't boss them around. If you don't talk to them in the language of democracy you will be swept away."
Arab kings and presidents are scrambling to appease their people: Jordan's king dismissed his government, Algeria's president said he will end emergency laws, the Yemeni president pledged not to run again. But for us Arabs, the biggest change has already happened. The holy image of his deity the ruler, surrounded by fearless, mustachioed mukhabarat officers, has been shattered.
From the comments, hszmnedz again; she has been speaking with her husband in Tahrir Square.
Eyewitness reports in Tahrir Square confirm the presence of Amr Moussa in the square with the pro-democracy demonstrators. He is the current secretary general of the Arab League and former minister of foreign affairs, is a liberal politician.
The Catholic Cardinal in Egypt was witnessed hand in hand with a Muslim cleric, both in their religious dress with the pro-democracy demonstrators. He was speaking about national unity, stating that the myth of sectarian strife is only made by the failing government security apparatus and urge people to unite as Egyptians. The Muslim cleric also stated the same.
I've just spoken to Peter Beaumont, whose efforts to get into Tahrir Square have been frustrated by both the army and armed vigilantes. He and Jack Shenker were picked up by the army, made to kneel facing a wall and interrogated. They then had to deal with machete-wielding vigilantes. Although the square itself is calm, he says, things around the periphery are very different.
We were taken at a checkpoint and led to the ministry of the interior … We were held for two hours … and we were both warned that if we came anywhere near the square again, things wouldn't go so nicely for us.
Peter's report comes as Reuters files a story saying that the Egyptian army has been instructed to assist foreign media and help protect them from groups who have attacked and beaten journalists. Britain and the US have criticised what the US called a "concerted campaign" to intimidate foreign reporters.
Magdy Rady, a spokesman for the Egyptian cabinet, said:
I spoke to the prime minister about journalists' problems. He was very much disturbed. He contacted the armed forces and instructed them to facilitate the job of the foreign media and stop any interference in their job. The army will help you in areas where you have contact with people.
It is notable that within Tahrir Square there is currently no violence and no sign of pro-Mubarak activists.
Al-Jazeera is investigating the hacking of its news website. The channel says the hacking was carried out "apparently by opponents of the pro-democracy movement in Egypt". The channel says its website has been under "relentless attack" since the Egyptian uprising began.
A press release from the station says:
For two hours this morning (from 6.30am–8.30am Doha time), a banner advertisement was taken over and replaced with a slogan of "Together for the collapse of Egypt" which linked to a page criticizing Al Jazeera.
A spokesman for Al Jazeera said that their engineers "moved quickly to solve the problem".
The putative opposition figurehead Mohamad ElBaradei and another prominent opposition figure, Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, have both been seen either in or on their way to Tahrir Square, according to a number of accounts.
Here is a lunchtime summary:
• Hundreds of thousands of anti-Mubarak protesters have gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Protesters are calling today the "day of departure", as they continue to demand the Egyptian president step down. The Egyptian army is manning checkpoints at all entrances to the square, searching people for weapons before allowing them in. No pro-Mubarak protesters are being allowed into the square, following days of clashes between the two groups.
• After Friday prayers in the square this morning, protesters have now begun to call for Mubarak to leave, but there is a relaxed atmosphere so far, in contrast to the scenes from previous days. Protesters are listening to speeches and prayers, while others are playing music. Many are engaged in preparing rudimentary shields and helmets, mindful of the violence seen in the square yesterday.
• EU leaders are meeting in Brussels for the first time since the Middle East unrest began. The summit is to charge Lady Ashton, the Labour peer and EU's foreign policy chief, with coming up with a policy package for promoting and entrenching democracy in Egypt. Going into the summit David Cameron said the Mubarak regime would lose all credibility if it cracked down forcefully on today's protests, while Silvio Berlusconi faced criticism after he said he hoped for "continuity in government", describing Mubarak as "the wisest of men".
• The US and senior Egyptian officials are reportedly in talks over replacing Mubarak. The New York Times reported that the White House, the state department and the Pentagon have been involved in discussions that include an option in which Mubarak would given way to a transitional government headed by the Egyptian vice-president, Omar Suleiman.
• However Mubarak has warned that "if I resign today, there will be chaos". In his first major interview since protests began, the embattled Egyptian told ABC news last night: "I am fed up. After 62 years in public service, I have had enough. I want to go." He said Barack Obama, by calling for Egypt to begin the transition to democracy "now", did not understand Egyptian culture, warning that trouble would ensue if he left office immediately.
Mohamed ElBaradei (left), the Egyptian opposition figurehead who some see as a potential next president, has just been on al-Jazeera. Here's a rundown of what he said, courtesy of Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, a columnist for the National.
It is time for Mubarak to leave now. It is time that you listen to your people's demands. Leave with dignity … We will secure your exit. The whole world wants Mubarak to step down. He has no legitimacy … No Egyptian wants what's happening to continue. He served his country, made mistakes, but now it is time to leave … Mubarak is a military man; he should be able to tell when it's time to leave.
Note the inclusive language: "Everyone is sidelined in Mubarak's Egypt today, the [Muslim] Brotherhood, the Copts, all people are repressed in this dictatorship."
And the soothing assurances: "This trick that the Muslim Brotherhood will take over Egypt is not true; they don't have a majority in Egypt … There will not be theocracy in Egypt (Wilayat Faqih like Iran) after Mubarak leaves."
The Associated Press news agency is reporting that protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square are chanting "Leave! Leave! Leave!" Many also cried "Allahu akbar!" and "Today is the last day." One banner reads "game over" in English.
A cleric at the prayers in the square declared: "We want the head of the regime removed," and praised the "revolution of the young".
The news agency reports a festive atmosphere with soldiers keeping order.
British nationals in Egypt who wish to leave should ring the Foreign Office on 00 202 2791 6000 if in Egypt. Callers from the UK should phone 020 7008 8765.
In the comments, tsalem, who identifies him/herself as an Egyptian, says he/she is "dismayed" by Ayatollah Khamanei's comments (see 11.03am).
I do not think he understands what is going on in Egypt - and that these kinds of statements just inflame things further. No major political entity (including the Muslim Brotherhood) are advocating for the setting up of an "Islamic" regime in the style of Iran. No one I know personally or online or have heard in the media has mentioned anything resembling this. This is just the Iranian establishment kicking the secular regime that supported the Shah in Sadat's days.
Also as a Muslim - I do not agree with his comments at all. I believe we have the necessary institutions that keeps Islamic thought alive and pervasive in society, whilst embracing a range of views and our Coptic brothers and sisters. I do not believe we need an Islamic leadership (which incidentally is against my personal Islamic beliefs).
The entire episode in Egypt is centered around corruption, cronyism, free speech, and social injustices that exist in Egypt. And the uprising is about forcing the government of the day to deal with these issues, and asking them to step down to make way for future politicians that advocate and espouse the ideas that will address these issues.
In Brussels, the Guardian's Ian Traynor says that Silvio Berlusconi's controversial description of Mubarak as "the wisest of men" has revealed the extent of the fissures before the EU summit on Egypt.
David Cameron, on the other hand, is taking a tougher line on the situation in Egypt that is far more in tune with the US stance.
Egyptian state TV may be covering the demonstrations in Tahrir square (see 11.38am) but it is billing the scenes as "demonstrations to support stability", according to draddee on Twitter. State TV is living in an "alternate reality", he says.
Silvio Berlusconi (left), the embattled and scandal-plagued Italian prime minister, has praised Hosni Mubarak and said the Egyptian president should remain in place during the country's transition to democracy. Berlusconi told reporters in Brussels:
I hope there can be continuity in government. I hope that in Egypt there can be a transition toward a more democratic system without a break from President Mubarak, who in the West, above all in the United States, is considered the wisest of men and a precise reference point.
Berlusconi was one of the five European leaders who issued a joint statement yesterday saying they were "extremely concerned" about the situation in Egypt and calling for "a rapid and orderly transition towards a broadly representative government".
Egyptian state TV is now showing footage of the protests in Tahrir Square.
The Guardian's Mustafa Khalili is in Tahrir Square, where he says there is a much more relaxed atmosphere than in the previous few days. Mustafa reports that there are "hundreds of thousands" of protesters there, and says the army checkpoints leading to the square are so far succeeding in keeping pro-Mubarak supporters out, meaning there have been no clashes so far.
Inside the square demonstrators are listening to prayers and speeches, while others are playing musical instruments in what Mustafa describes as a "carnival atmosphere".
Brian Whitaker, the Guardian's Middle East expert, is responding to your questions.
blueblossom asked:
Is it possible for the Guardian or someone else to provide some info on opposition parties other than the Muslim Brotherhood? Last time I heard about Wafd, it was in connection to Nasser. What form does the party take now? What's their ideology? How organised are they?
Brian Whitaker responded:
The Wafd and the Tagammu are the largest recognised opposition parties in parliament, with six and five seats respectively (out of 518 seats in total). To remain legal, opposition parties have to stay on good terms with Mubarak. Partly for that reason, they are generally uninspired and uninspiring.
There's also al-Ghad ("Tomorrow") founded by Ayman Nour who contested the last presidential election and ended up in jail for doing so, and a few others. Basic information can be found via the Wikipedia page on the recent parliamentary election.
It's worth pointing out that a lot of the younger Egyptians regard these parties as irrelevant and are more attracted towards non-party activism or movements like Kifaya ("Enough").
The Associated Press news agency has more detail of the protests going on today in Cairo.
Protesters demanding President Hosni Mubarak's ouster packed Cairo's central square in huge numbers Friday, waving Egyptian flags, singing the national anthem and cheering, appearing undaunted and determined after their camp withstood two days of street battles with regime supporters trying to dislodge them.
Thousands more flowed over bridges across the Nile into Tahrir Square, a sign that they were not intimidated after fending off everything thrown at the protesters by pro-Mubarak attackers stones, firebombs, fighters on horses and camels and automatic gunfire. The protesters passed through a series of beefed-up checkpoints by the military and the protesters themselves guarding the square.
The crowd, well over 10,000, was the biggest since Tuesday, when a quarter-million turned out. They chanted, prayed and unfurled a long banner in the national colors of red, black and white. A man sitting in a wheelchair was lifted wheelchair and all over the heads of the crowd and he pumped his arms in the air.
The atmosphere was peaceful, the news agency reports.
Al-Jazeera has been showing images of the protests in Alexandria right now.
Some of the shouts going round Tahrir Square, courtesy of Twitter:
Hosni Mubarak is baatel [illegitimate].
NDP [ruling party] is baatel.
Thugs are baatel.
Habib Al Adli is baatel.
Killers are baatel.
Down with Mubarak.
Tens of thousands of people are also singing the national anthem, Biladi Biladi Biladi (My Country).
لا زالت القوات المسلحة المصرية تقف على الحياد وسط دراما مأساوية تشهدها البلاد، حيث يستحثها من قريب متظاهرون مناوئون للنظام الحاكم ينشدون الديمقراطية ويطلبون دعمهم وحمايتهم، في وقت يحاول فيه قادة الجيش أن يضمنوا بقاءهم في الجيش بذات السلطة والنفوذ والمكانة التي يحظون بها ما إن تنحى حسني مبارك عن العرش.
وقد دعا زعيم المعارضة محمد البرادعي الجيش للتدخل على الفور في الوقت الذي اضطرت فيه قوات الجيش بميدان التحرير للوقوف في وجه الموالين للنظام والمؤيدين لمبارك. وقد أعلنت الولايات المتحدة وكذا الاتحاد الأوروبي عن رغبة صريحة تتبلور في ضرورة تدخل عسكري من أجل ضبط الأمن وعودة النظام.
وتعقيباً على تنصيب رئيس المخابرات العامة المصرية السيد عمر سليمان نائباً لرئيس الجمهورية، يقول دبلوماسيون غربيون بأنه هو وبقية الشخصيات الأخرى البارزة التي يأتي على رأسهم وزير الدفاع المشير محمد حسين طنطاوي، ورئيس أركان الجيش الفريق سامي عنان يرفضون الضغوط التي تمارسها الولايات المتحدة على الرئيس مبارك من أجل التنحي قبيل انتخابات الرئاسة المقبلة في سبتمبر المقبل التي تعهد بعدم الترشح لها ثانية.
BBC Arabic has a live audio-feed of Tahrir Square, where a sermon by al-Qaradawi, an exiled Egyptian opposition leader, is being broadcast. The anti-Mubarak rhetoric is striking.
Al-Qaradawai says a "hated leader" must leave and that a people cannot be led by force. He adds: "O Pharaoh [Mubarak], the time of the Pharaohs is over … Millions of people don't want you. As long as this man is there, Egypt will not be stable."
Al Qaradawi went on: "Do you have a drop of mercy in you? Yesterday snipers killed ten protesters [in Tahrir Square], aren't these your children?"
Egyptian blogger sandmonkey, who was arrested during previous protests, described Tahrir Square during the prayers a little earlier:
The scene of Tahrir right now is incredible. Millions of people praying. Reverence. Very powerful. It looks like Mecca in haj. #jan25
But he pointed out:
This is powerful, but will surely be used as propaganda by the regime to claim that they are letting people protest in peace.
At Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also told worshippers Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak betrayed his people and the uprising against his rule is the appropriate response.
Khamenei accused Mubarak of making Egypt, a close US ally, do America's bidding, particularly in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"America's control over Egypt's leaders has ... turned Egypt into the biggest enemy of Palestine and turned it into the greatest refuge for Zionists," Khamenei said.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace agreement with Israel and Mubarak has been a key mediator between Israel and the Palestinians.
"This explosion we see among the people of Egypt is the appropriate response to this great betrayal that the traitor dictator committed against his people," Khamenei said, without mentioning Mubarak by name.
My colleague Ian Traynor in Brussels sends this report on the EU's reaction to the upheaval in Cairo.
In Brussels, EU leaders are meeting for the first time since the Middle Eastern upheaval erupted and are under pressure to flex any muscles they might have after what has been seen as a lacklustre European response so far.
A draft statement prepared for the summit, which may be toughened up depending on the post-Friday prayers scenario in Cairo, calls for "an expeditious and orderly transition" to democracy in Egypt. The statement failed to mention the M-word – Mubarak, the embattled Egyptian president.
Martin Schulz, the leader of the centre-left in the European parliament, lambasted the EU for its perceived weakness.
"On foreign policy issues, the EU too often behaves like a frightened rabbit in the headlights of a car," he said. "The EU summit should make a clear statement that Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's time is up. They need to be much tougher and make it clear that Europe will not tolerate Mubarak clinging desperately to office."
Going into the summit, David Cameron said the Mubarak regime would lose all credibility if it cracked down forcefully on today's protests. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, made similar comments.
The summit is to charge Lady Ashton, the Labour peer and EU's foreign policy chief, with coming up with a policy package for promoting and entrenching democracy in Egypt. The statement said she would be traveling soon to Egypt and Tunisia.
The leaders are to discuss the Middle East drama over lunch.
Mohamed ElBaradei (left), the Egyptian opposition figurehead who some see as a potential next president, has said Hosni Mubarak should now step down with dignity. Mubarak "should hear the clear voice coming from the people and leave in dignity", the former UN International Atomic Energy Agency chief said.
ElBaradei dismissed concessions so far by Mubarak, calling them "piecemeal", adding "it's a question of trust, and the trust is gone."
He told reporters that there should be a year-long transition to democracy under a temporary constitution with a presidential council of several people, including a military representative.
Meanwhile, Egyptian state TV seems to be ignoring the protests and showing placid scenes.
The crowd is waving Egyptian flags and chanting the words of the Egyptian national anthem.
My colleagues on the Guardian's video desk have sent this video of the protesters' night in Tahrir Square last night.
Friday prayers have finished in Tahrir Square and the demonstrators are chanting "He's leaving, he's leaving".
The Daily News Egypt is reporting that the numbers flocking to Cairo's Tahrir Square exceed those attending last Tuesday's "million man march". Protesters claimed over a million people attended that protest in the square.
The Associated Press has more on the talks between the Obama administration in the US and "top Egyptian officials", which revolve around the idea of Hosni Mubarak immediately resigning and an interim government being formed before "free and fair" elections later this year.
US officials said the creation of a military-backed caretaker government was one of several ideas being discussed between the Egyptian regime and the Obama administration. The American officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the continuing sensitive talks.
Among the options was a proposal for Mubarak to resign immediately and cede power to a transitional government run by vice-president Omar Suleiman, the officials said.
The news agency also has a report from Tahrir Square:
Many of those arriving brought fresh bread, water, fruit and other supplies, and the atmosphere was relaxed. Long lines formed at tables of people handing out tea and bread. Around the square were makeshift clinics, set up in the entranceways of stores, including a KFC. At one, a man received an injection in his arm. Above another was the sign of an interlocking crescent and cross.
The pro-Mubarak crowds that have attacked demonstrators and foreign journalists did not have a visible presence.
Ayman Nour, a former presidential candidate who is a member of a new committee formed by various factions to conduct any future negotiations on the protesters' behalf once Mubarak steps down, said that he hoped the demonstration today "leads to Mubarak's departure". Nour said:
The chaos is organised by his ruling party. There is a fifth column inside the regime that led the looting and violence.
It seems we might have tempted fate by reporting that Eric Feijten, cameraman from Nederlandse Omroep Stichting, had been released after being arrested on Wednesday. EricFeijten:
They arrested me again, fuck
Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian vice-president, has said force will not be used against the pro-democracy protesters today.
More on Iranian reaction to the Egyptian uprising. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (left) told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran that he saluted what he termed an "Islamic liberation movement" in the Arab world. Khamenei advised the people of Egypt and Tunisia to unite around their religion and against the west. Iran's supreme leader said:
The awakening of the Islamic Egyptian people is an Islamic liberation movement and I, in the name of the Iranian government, salute the Egyptian people and the Tunisian people.
Egypt's defence minister, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, has paid his first visit to Tahrir Square, Reuters reports.
Tantawi, accompanied by senior army officials, spoke to the army at the square's northern entrance, near the Egyptian Museum.
Here is a YouTube video of some of the chants protesters on Wednesday, one of which sounds like: "Condoleezza, Condoleezza, go get Mubarak a visa." One commenter offers a slightly updated take on this: "Hillary, Hillary, take Mubarak to the distillery." (Thanks to Daniel873 in the comments for this.)
Salon.com, the US culture online magazine, reports that while for most people in the US it was an "easy call" to support anti-Mubarak demonstrations, "there are a handful of politicians and pundits who are actively decrying the protests – and even, in a few cases, explicitly supporting the Mubarak regime".
Sometimes the argument comes in the form of: "I support democracy, but only if I agree with the results." Sometimes it's about Israel, which has a peace treaty with Egypt. Sometimes it's distaste with protest leader Mohamed ElBaradei, who angered conservatives during his stint at the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Often it has been fear of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has a role in the protests. (The group, it should be noted, was actually late to join the movement. And it is hardly the only group behind the protests.)
David Cameron today urged the regime in Egypt to act on international calls for an orderly transition to democracy, my colleague Hélène Mulholland writes:
The prime minister arrived in Brussels this morning to comment on the crisis in Egypt, saying the steps taken so far by the regime "have not met the hopes of the people".
He said: "If we see on the streets of Cairo today state-sponsored violence by thugs hired to beat up protesters, the regime will lose any remaining credibility it has in the eyes of the watching world, including Britain."
He went on: "We have been clear that Egypt should be taking steps to show there is a clear, credible transparent path towards transition.
"So far the steps taken have not met the hopes of the people. EU leaders today have to come together to show they support that orderly transition."
Lady Ashton (left), the EU's foreign policy chief, has just been on al-Jazeera. She said "what seems to be happening is he [Mubarak] is moving towards some kind of national dialogue". She said the key thing was to keep people safe and avoid the violence of the last few days.
Asked whether Mubarak should step down now, she said: "It is for the Egyptian people and government to move forward together."
She said the Egyptian government had to make the Egyptian people feel there is a "plan in place" to meet some of their demands, and she had discussed this with Omar Suleiman, the vice-president, yesterday.
Mubarak should step down and delegate his power to the vice president to start a dialogue with a newly formed opposition coalition, observed by a neutral UN delegation, to (a) establish a constitutional assembly to amend articles 77, 78 and 88 of the Egyptian constitution to enable Egyptians to be candidates for presidency of the republic. The president should be from the people, elected by the people and cannot run for more than two terms, (b) the state of emergency in effect for over 25 years should be lifted, (c) establish monitory bodies for future elections from the judicial system, (d) establish a national coalition body to monitor the transition during the next 6 months, (e) organise elections according to international standards, (f) permanently set guidelines for establishment of legal political parties that are not vetted by the national democratic party but by an independent neutral body, (g) establish the rule of law and independent judiciary, (h) elect a new parliament representative of all parties as the current parliment is based on forged elections.
On Wednesday a cameraman from Nederlandse Omroep Stichting, the Dutch news website, was reported missing, leading to frantic calls from the news organisation to try to ascertain his whereabouts – police and the ministry of security apparently refusing to confirm he was in custody.
Thankfully Eric Feijten was released last night, NOS's head of foreign news has confirmed:
NOS cameraman Eric Feijten was arrested last night [Wednesday] when he arrived at Cairo airport. He was blindfolded and held for hours in a room. Later they transported him to a military compound, and another and another. He was beaten and threatened. Finally after 17 hours without drinking or eating, he was released in a small hotel near the airport. He immediately called the news desk.
A head of the ministry of security had told us just minutes earlier they knew where he was, but that they wouldn't be so "friendly" the next time. How much proof do you need for this harassment being state organised?
Our correspondent in Damascus, who we are not naming, sends this update on the situation in Syria, where it is uncertain how the public will respond to online calls for protests in the capital and in the northern city of Homs and north-eastern city of Qamishle. Fear of the Mukhabarat intelligence forces will be a strong deterrent for any would-be protesters. There have even been rumours the Mukhabarat created the Facebook pages calling for demonstrations, presumably to flush out rebels.
Syrians woke to a calm and rainy day in Damascus this morning, with so far, no signs of unrest.
Over 15 Facebook groups have emerged this week rallying people to take to the streets for a "day of rage" today and tomorrow, calling for solidarity with Egypt and an end to emergency law in the country.
As of yesterday, one of the largest Facebook protest sites, the "Syrian day of anger for a Syrian popular movement", dominated by Islamist sentiment, listed 2,500 members, with only 312 confirmed attending.
Others, like the "Syrian revolution page", calling for demonstrations inside Damascus and outside Syrian embassies in Canada, the UK, France, Sweden, Denmark, Qatar and the UAE had registered over 14,000 "likes".
Our correspondent goes on to say that, with security tightened around the country and Facebook and other networking sites blocked, turnout is expected to be low. As mentioned above, fear of the Mukhabarat is also expected to damp down enthusiasm. Human Rights Watch this week reported secret police beat and arrested a members of a peaceful vigil held in support of the Egyptian uprising, outside the gates of Bab Touma in Damascus. Most people believe any demonstrations will be met with force and quickly suppressed.
"You would have to have a death wish to go anywhere near the parliament today," reported one civil rights supporter.
Under emergency law, in place in Syria since 1963, all protests are banned.
But on Wednesday, up to thirty people carrying pro-government placards and Syrian flags marched through the Old City in support of the President, Bashar al-Assad.
Despite complaints of human rights abuses and widespread corruption in the country, Assad, a UK-trained ophthalmologist, enjoys widespread popular support in Syria.
"So we'll see today if #Syria's demos calling for change are are a reality or a Facebook page created by Mukhabarat," said one Twitter message.
Others said they believed most of those calling for protests are coming from outside the country.
Ian Lee, a reporter based in Egypt, tweets this news from Tahrir Square:
If you're an Arabic speaker you may find this blog easier to follow using this (automatic) translation button.
ترجم هذه الصفحة إلى العربية
Reuters is reporting thousands gathering in Tahrir Square, Cairo, with protesters shouting "Today is the last day ... Today is the last day." Pop songs are being played over speakers. Many of the crowd had remained over night, either keeping vigil or sleeping in tents or on the ground.
But the crowd are worried by the army's removal of the barricades that had been erected after pro-Mubarak demonstrators had attacked the anti-Mubarak protesters two days ago, leaving at least 10 dead and more than 800 wounded. Omar el-Mahdi, 28, told the news agency:
Protesters ran to argue with the army, but an officer said: "We are on your side, but we have orders from above to clear all barricades." This will open the way for thugs to come in unhindered.
Organisers have called on people to march from wherever they are towards the square, the state television building and the parliament building, which are all within a mile of one another.
Mubarak supporters on the main highway from Alexandria blocked cars from entering Cairo to prevent anti-Mubarak protesters from joining the demonstrations, a witness said.
Protesters had formed human chains to guard the square and were checking the bags and identification cards of people as they entered to keep out pro-Mubarak supporters.
Protesters said barbed wire had been put out at all 12 entrance points to the square.
Protester Shaaban Mindawy, 24, said the army, working with police, had been trying to prevent people from entering the square since Thursday evening.
"The officers were very stubborn," Mindawy said, having found a way in from a side street. "The army was confiscating food and medical supplies that people were trying to bring inside. The officers were telling people that thugs may attack them and take their money."
Things have settled down in the capital for now after yesterday's "day of rage". President Ali Abdullah Saleh's supporters are touting yesterday's protests as a major success both for the president and the country.
"Yemen's demonstrations sent a clear message that this is a democracy," said Tariq Shami, the ruling party spokesman. Yemen's coalition opposition, the JMP, on the other hand, vowed that yesterday's protests, the biggest Saleh has faced in his 32-year-rule, marked the beginning not the end of popular dissent against him.
"These demonstrations will continue every Thursday until the government and the president come to a consensus with the people of Yemen," said Mohammed al-Sudal, an opposition MP for the Nasserite party.
Pro-Saleh tribesmen could be seen in Sanaa's Tahrir Square late last night singing and dancing. The tribesmen, who some people believe were bussed in from outside the capital, have been camped out there for two nights now.
Nasser Aray Dee, a Yemeni journalist, said it was unlikely there would be any Friday prayers protests today as both sides will be busy chewing qat, a mildly narcotic leaf enjoyed by 80% of Yemen's male population.
Jack Shenker sends this from Cairo:
I'm standing with about 2,000 protesters in a queue to get into Tahrir Square. Spirits are high and people are queuing patiently – not usually a common sight in Egypt – all the way across the Kasr Al Nile bridge. The army are searching people as they enter for weapons, but are letting people in. This is just one entrance to Tahrir Square; there will be similar queues all the way round.
Tariq Ramadan, professor of contemporary Islamic studies at the University of Oxford, has just been speaking on al-Jazeera.
It's a revolution and we have to listen to the people saying: "Enough with Murbarak and his regime. What we want now is more freedom and democracy."
He said the protests in Egypt were "coming from people on the ground". The west was being inconsistent in its support for democratic values. "We are supporting democracy when it suits us, not abiding by our own values ... This is the time to support the people in Egypt."
He said the Egyptian protests were not led by the Muslim Brotherhood – the group formed by his grandfather in 1928. Arguing this is "completely an ideological projection to protect geopolitical interests".
Slavoj Zizek of Birkbeck University also poured scorn on the idea that the revolt was linked to radical Islam.
My colleagues Jack Shenker, Peter Beaumont and Mustafa Khalili in Cairo have filed their first report of the day. They say Cairo is holding its breath for what may be the "day of departure" for Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president.
Egyptian protesters trying to topple the 30-year reign of Mubarak have called on their supporters to fill every square in the capital on Friday.
With internet once again reconnected and mobile phone services largely resumed, organisers have once again been able to mobilise the hundreds of thousands who have flooded the capital on several days during the 11-day crisis.
The reporters say Mubarak's comments to ABC TV that he was fed up and wanted to resign (see 7.32am), may embolden the opposition, "which feels it is close to toppling him, amid a rapid draining away of international support for the president".
In anticipation of further violence, soldiers were this morning for the first time carrying riot equipment and setting up checkpoints at key installations and bridges.
Those camped out inside the square refused to bow to regime pressure as they prepared for their biggest push yet. "Things are relatively quiet now; we have basically created a liberated republic within the heart of Egypt," said Karim Medhat Ennarah. "We have our own makeshift hospitals, our own security services who direct efforts to protect the square, our own food supply chains. People are exhausted but exhilarated."
Our reporters also noted that 24 journalists were detained in 24 hours yesterday, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, and human rights activists were also targeted. I'll post the link to the full story as soon as we get it.
Getting ready to go to Tahrir. I hope to make today my first in a democratic Egypt. #jan25 #egypt
The Guardian's Harriet Sherwood reports:
The demonstration in Alexandria, Egypt's second city, is expected to be very big today, surpassing the 100,000-plus who came out on to the streets on Tuesday.
There have been signs that the Muslim Brotherhood, which has a strong presence in the city, has been organising for today's protest. A vehicle with speakers has been exhorting people to make a stand, and anti-regime activists have been visiting the mosques calling on people to join the protest.
"Tomorrow will be big," said Ahmed Mohammed, 27, a government employee who was protesting yesterday. "We have demands. They are old demands, but nobody listened until now."
The demonstration is expected to begin after Friday prayers and converge, to begin with, on Alexandria's seafront.
The mood, which was buoyant on Tuesday, has steadily turned more aggressive and edgy as pro- and anti-regime protesters have staged furious verbal confrontations and western journalists have been accused of being Israeli spies.
But, although Alexandria was the scene of bloodshed and violent clashes last Friday, it has not since seen street battles like those in and around Tahrir Square in Cairo.
There is still a strong army presence guarding key buildings in Alexandria, and tanks could be heard moving through the streets in the early hours of this morning. Police made a reappearance yesterday, but restricted their role to directing traffic.
Ebtisam Muhammed, a 22-year-old anthropology graduate, feared that the protests were now being manipulated by "dark forces". "They're doing this to bring the temple down," she said.
Anti-government protesters are today hoping they can force Mubarak from office, on a day they have dubbed "departure Friday" or the "day of departure". Fridays after midday prayers are traditionally an explosive point in Middle Eastern countries, with masses taking to the streets after attendance at mosques.
Last night the New York Times reported that the White House, the state department and the Pentagon have been involved in discussions that include an option in which Mubarak would given way to a transitional government headed by the Egyptian vice-president, Omar Suleiman.
Even though Mr Mubarak has balked, so far, at leaving now, officials from both governments are continuing talks about a plan in which Mr Suleiman, backed by Lt Gen Sami Enan, chief of the Egyptian armed forces, and Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi, the defence minister, would immediately begin a process of constitutional reform.
The proposal also calls for the transitional government to invite members from a broad range of opposition groups, including the banned Muslim Brotherhood, to begin work to open up the country's electoral system in an effort to bring about free and fair elections in September, the officials said.
Senior administration officials said that the proposal was one of several options under discussion with high-level Egyptian officials around Mr Mubarak in an effort to persuade the president to step down now.
They cautioned that the outcome depended on several factors, not least Egypt's own constitutional protocols and the mood of the protesters on the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities.
Some officials said there was not yet any indication that either Mr Suleiman or the Egyptian military was willing to abandon Mr Mubarak.
Mubarak was defiant yesterday, the Guardian's team reported, insisting he intended to remain in office until the autumn election, and even going so far as to suggest he wanted to relinquish power.
He said that while he was fed up after six decades of public service and wanted to leave, he feared that an early departure would lead to chaos.
In his first major interview since protests began, Mubarak told America's ABC News: "I am fed up. After 62 years in public service, I have had enough. I want to go."
Mubarak expressed no sense of betrayal over Barack Obama's call on Tuesday for him to begin the transition to democracy "now". But there was a hint of resentment when he said Obama did not understand Egyptian culture and the trouble that would ensue if he left office immediately. "If I resign today, there will be chaos," he told ABC's Christiane Amanpour.
You can follow all the latest from our team in Egypt here.
The men at the barricades have not had to repel a serious attack since Thursday night. Since "Bloody Wednesday" (as the protesters now call it), they have worked out simple systems of communication to tell each other when there's a threat nearby (whistle for more help, bang metal when you think you see something, wave your hands above your head to tell the incoming crowd that the situation is controlled). Alarms went out twice that night – both times when the army turned over the ignition of the tanks near the Egyptian Museum, presumably to inch a little closer to the square and encroach on the protesters' space. Both times, a crowd gathered to sit in front of the tanks. After the second time, a few protesters just decided to spend the night curled in among sprockets and treads of the tank, their bodies interlaced so that even a slight movement would grind up their bodies. At four in the morning, the protesters with their bodies in the tank were snoring. The tanks haven't been turned on since.
Protesters have called this "the Week of Steadfastness," and there is plenty here. But there is a sense of siege, too, with a lurking fear that the optimism of the people here may eventually succumb to grimmer realities. Near fires offering more smoke than flame, men debated whether Mr. Mubarak would leave tomorrow or the day after. Neither is probably the answer, as the government begins to gain its footing in the face of a 13-day uprising.
Is it premature to anoint Wael Ghonim as the face and rallying point that Egypt's pro-democracy protesters have been waiting for?
AP explores the question, adding more detail of Ghonim's gripping interview on Dream TV this evening, following his release after 12 days in detention:
The unmasking of Ghonim as the previously unknown administrator of the Facebook page that started the protests could give the crowds someone to look to for inspiration to press on.
Whether Ghonim forcefully takes up that mantle remains to be seen, but he said repeatedly in Monday night's interview that he did not feel he was a hero.
"I didn't want anyone to know that I am the administrator," he said. "There are no heroes; we are all heroes on the street. And no one is on their horse and fighting with the sword."
He looked exhausted and said he had been unable to sleep for 48 hours, but not because he was being mistreated.
He said he was snatched off the streets two days after the protests first erupted on January 25. After he left a friend's house, four men surrounded him, pushed him to the ground and took him blindfolded to state security. He said he spent much of the following days blindfolded, with no news of the events on the street, being questioned.
In contrast, he said, in his release he was treated with respect. Just before he was freed, he said, he was brought before Interior Minister Mahmoud Wagdy – installed only days earlier in a government reshuffle – in his office. The minister "talked to me like an adult, not like someone of strength talking to someone weak" and then the new head of the [ruling] National Democratic Party escorted him home.
"This is because of what the youth did in the street," he said in the interview on private station Dream 2 TV.
He said his interrogators were convinced that foreigners were backing the movement, but Ghonim asserted it was just young Egyptians "who love this country." He also sought to debunk the government's accusations that the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Mubarak's most bitter rival, was involved in planning the protests.
He referred to his arrest as a "kidnapping" and a "crime" but also sounded conciliatory, saying "this is not a time for settling accounts or cutting up the pie; this is Egypt's time."
He did forcefully place blame for the country's ills on Mubarak's National Democratic Party and said the good among them should abandon it and start something new to earn the people's respect.
"I don't want to see the logo of the NDP anywhere in the country," he said. "This party is what destroyed this country. The cadre in this country are filthy."
For fuller accounts of the Wael Ghonim interview tonight, the Twitter feed of Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi has verbatim tweeting of the interview, although with this caveat:
The New York Times's live blog has rearranged the @SultanAlQassemi tweets into a more readable format here.
Germany's Spiegel Online reports on talk of a German spa town as a possible venue for Hosni Mubarak to spend his remaining years in retirement:
The United States government's scenario for an end to the political chaos in Egypt appears to be this: President Hosni Mubarak travels to Germany for a "prolonged health check" that would offer the 82-year-old a dignified departure. Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that secret talks to that effect were being held between the US government and Egyptian military officials.
According to information obtained by Spiegel Online, plans for a possible hospital stay in Germany are far more concrete than had been assumed so far. Talks are already being held with suitable hospitals, particularly with the Max-Grundig-Klinik Bühlerhöhe in the southwestern town of Bühl near Baden-Baden, Spiegel Online has learned from sources close to the clinic. The hospital management declined to comment.
German politicians seem open to the possibility of a Mubarak "retirement" in the country, at least the ones quoted by Spiegel Online:
"We need a peaceful transition in Egypt. If Germany can make a constructive contribution in an international framework, we should receive Hosni Mubarak – if he wants that," said Andreas Schockenhoff, a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party.
Elke Hof, security policy spokeswoman for the business-friendly Free Democratic Party, the junior coalition partner to the CDU, said: "I would welcome an early departure by Mubarak if this can contribute to stabilizing the situation in Egypt.
AP has more on Wael Ghonim's electrifying interview with Mona Shazli on Egypt's Dream TV, after the young Google executive was released day following 12 days in captivity:
Wael Ghonim, a marketing manager for the internet company, sobbed throughout an emotional television interview just hours after he was freed. He insisted he had not been tortured and said his interrogators treated him with respect.
"This is the revolution of the youth of the internet and now the revolution of all Egyptians," he said, adding that he was taken aback when the security forces holding him branded him a traitor.
"Anyone with good intentions is the traitor because being evil is the norm," he said. "If I was a traitor, I would have stayed in my villa in the Emirates and made good money and said like others, let this country go to hell. But we are not traitors," added Ghonim, an Egyptian who oversees Google's marketing in the Middle East and Africa from Dubai.
This screenshot of Wael Ghonim's emotional breakdown on Egyptian television comes via the Twitter feed of @SultanAlQassemi, who has been tweeting live quotes of Ghonim's interview.
The Guardian's Jack Shenker has more on the dramatic TV appearance just now by Wael Ghonim:
Egyptian activist Wael Ghonim - released today from detention - has just given a television interview about his experiences and served up a tour de force of calm but explosive political passion.
The internet is already abuzz with talk of Ghonim's performance, which ended with him being overcome with emotion as he was shown images of some of those who died in the uprising. Many are saying the regime will regret the day they ever allowed him out, others are calling for the Google employee to run for president, and everybody agrees that his TV appearance is certain to boost crowds in Tahrir tomorrow.
Ghonim was an administrator of the highly influential "We are all Khaled Said" Facebook group, and spent up to 12 days in captivity. Protesters are working on an English language translation of his interview now, and I'm sure we'll see it posted online by the morning.
Wael Ghonim – the Google executive arrested on 27 January and released earlier today – has had an extraordinary appearance on Egyptian television, we're trying to get more details.
In the meantime, Reuters reports this:
Ghonim was later shown on ON TV on his way to a close relative's home conversing energetically in a car with Hossam Badrawi, the new secretary general of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party.
Ghonim told ON TV: "Please don't make me a hero. I'm not a hero. I have been asleep for 12 days. I hope that we would be able to put an end to all the rubbish in this country. The rubbish really needs to be cleaned up."
Ghonim added that the initial intention behind the organised protests in Egypt was that they be peaceful.
Reuters speaks to members of the Muslim Brotherhood about taking part in talks with the current regime:
"We are assessing the situation. We are going to reconsider the whole question of dialogue," the Brotherhood's Essam el-Erian told Reuters. "We will reconsider according to the results. Some of our demands have been met but there has been no response to our principal demands that Mubarak leave".
During a short inspection tour of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Dr Zahi Hawass ... announced that the restoration of 70 objects has begun and will be completed within five days; these objects were broken during the failed looting attempt on Friday, January 28, 2011. The statue of Tutankhamun standing on the back of a panther and a New Kingdom wooden sarcophagus, both damaged by the criminals, are included in this restoration project.
Dr Hawass also announced that steps are being taken to reopen all of the Egyptian archaeological sites to visitors. During his statements Dr Hawass asserted that the sites of Memphis, Saqqara, and Abusir are secure and safeguarded by the army and honest Egyptian people.
The two mummies that were reported as damaged at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, were in fact unidentified skulls dating to the Late Period; these two skulls are not royal mummies. They were being temporarily housed in the storage room next to the CT scanner lab, which is in the grounds of the museum. The skulls were there to be used to test the CT scanner.
Human Rights Watch now estimates at least 297 people have been killed since protests in Egypt began two weeks ago, based on visits to seven hospitals in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez and interviews with doctors and morgue inspections, according to organisation's Cairo researcher Heba Morayef.
Morayef told the Associated Press that said the estimate is preliminary and is expected to rise:
She said a majority of deaths were caused by live fire and in most cases, doctors were reluctant to release names. She said she did not have a breakdown of how many of the dead were protesters.
The researcher said she counted 232 deaths in Cairo, including 217 who were killed through January 30 and an additional 15 who were killed in clashes between government supporters and opponents in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protests, on February 2 and 3.
In addition, 52 deaths were reported in Alexandria and 13 in the city of Suez east of Cairo, she said.
Good afternoon from Washington DC, where events in Egypt continue to be at the forefront of policy makers' minds.
In a press briefing this afternoon, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs (in his last week in the post) answered several questions on the subject. He repeated that the US administration is talking to "a whole host of players throughout the Egyptian government," and not just Mubarak and his camp.
On a slightly different tack, Gibbs also said the White House was watching the effect the protests in Egypt might be having on Egypt and the international economy, although without giving any details.
"We continue to monitor what impact all of these actions might ultimately have on the global economic recovery," Gibbs said said, adding that there were no signs of any effect on shipping through the Suez Canal.
Elsewhere, a new opinion poll by Gallup shows strong bipartisan support from US voters towards the Egyptian protesters:
Most Americans support the protesters who have called for a change in the government in Egypt, with 82% saying they are sympathetic to the protesters (including 42% who are very sympathetic), while 11% are unsympathetic.
An excellent video has been posted by Omar Robert Hamilton of how they say "goodbye" and "see you tomorrow" in Tahrir Square.
I'm going to hand over the blog to Richard Adams now.
Here's a summary of events so far today:
Pro-democracy protesters are continuing their occupation of Tahrir Square, despite the commencement of talks between the vice president Omar Suleiman and some opposition politicians.
The activist and Google executive Wael Ghonim has been released by the government. He was arrested on January 27 and there were fears for his safety (6.15pm)
More arrests of activists have been reported (10.46am), including independent film maker Samir Eshra and Abdel-Karim Nabil Suleiman, who blogs under the name Karim Amer. Amer was the first blogger to be prosecuted in the country, when he was jailed for four years in 2007 for insulting Islam and the president (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/feb/23/news.newmedia). He was released in November last year.
Egypt's new cabinet has announced a 15% rise in public sector salaries and pensions (3.26pm). It appears to be another attempt to an attempt to draw the sting from the public protests that have convulsed the country.
A symbolic funeral has been held in Tahrir Square for the first journalist to be killed in the unrest, Ahmad Mohamed Mahmoud, a photographer with Al-Ta'awun (11.14am).
More on the release of the activist and Google activist Wael Ghonim, who was arrested on January 27. He said the new secretary general of the party was responsible for his release
He has tweeted:
Gave my 2 cents to Dr. Hosam Badrawy. who was reason why I am out today. Asked him resign cause that's the only way I'll respect him #Jan25
Many people have been quick to point out that there are still many others being held.
Barack Obama has said Egypt is "making progress" on meeting the requirements of the international community. The US president made the brief comment in response to a reporter's question. The Egyptian vice president Omar Suleiman has begun talks with opponents of the Mubarak regime but many of the protesters, and those who claim to represent them, have said there can be no progress until the president stands down.
Iran's two leading opposition figures, Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karrubi, have reportedly called for a rally in support of the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings. Iran's Green movement was forced to call off protests against its own regime, which began in June 2009, in the face of brutal government repression, so one might imagine any planned fresh demonstration would not be welcomed by the Tehran government. But it's more complex than that, as the Iranian regime has actually praised the demonstrations in Egypt as an "Islamic awakening", despite the secular make-up of the protesters. Ya Libnan reports that Moussavi and Karrubi have written to Iran's interior minister asking permission for a rally on February 14. They said:
In order to declare support for the popular movements in the region, particularly with those of the freedom seeking movements of the people of Egypt and Tunisia against dictatorships, we request a permit to invite the people for a rally.
What does the aftermath of revolution feel like? Egyptians can only dream at the moment but one of our commenters below the line, @HendTunis, has been painting a picture of what life is like in Tunisia at the moment in two posts:
Our main street has been renamed "Martyr Mohamed Bouazizi", instead of "7Novembre"- the day on which ZABA (Zine Abidine Ben Ali) achieved his coup ousting the former president Habib Bourguiba in 1987. Even the new Nfidha airport changed its name, not officially yet, but the people with their banners and buckets of paint are renaming the boulevards all over Tunisia.
Still in the thick of the revolt, I can't really see the whole picture: it was, and still is- a mixture of:
+liberal slogans for citizenship rights, democracy and freedom
+leftist spirit with trade unionists, unemployed and impoverished people calling for wealth redistribution and workers' rights
+68 France as my students, many of them wrapped in Che Guevara flags, criticized the educational system and that is THEIR turn to change society and culture. They ve started making films, documentaries, plays...
+at the same time, many images are a reminiscence of the Palestinian Intifada: Martyrs, hurling stones, burning tyres, singing Marcel Khalife's and Julia Boutros's songs... very 1980s that is.
We haven't finished yet. We are all speaking out and criticizing. As a Tunisian journalist said: under Ben Ali we used to complain from constipation, now it's freedom of speech diarrhea. But, that's a bit healthy I think. A good sign against any regression -dictatorial, religious or jingoistic- is a real free press. The minister of culture on TV yesterday, the UNESCO scholar Ezzedine Bach Chaouech, urged journalists to be the watchdogs and bulwarks of this uprising. A journalist answered he'd immolate himself if anyone or any party would confiscate what we have done. I think many will be ready to do it. Every institution should be under scrutiny, corrupt CEOs are being sacked by their own employees, Interior Ministry high-ranked officials were fired -46 of them... Many changes but we are still asking for more.
The UK prime minister David Cameron spoke to Egypt's vice president today and continued to urge immediate tangible reforms, the Press Association reports.
Prime Minister David Cameron today urged Egypt's vice-president Omar Suleiman to take "bold and credible steps" towards an "irreversible" transition in the crisis-hit country. In a call with Mr Suleiman today Mr Cameron said the authorities needed to show the promised reforms were "urgent and real".
He revealed details of the call in a statement to MPs, in which the prime minister also called for a more "hard-headed" approach to European assistance in future in the light of the record of the Egyptian government:
The EU needs to look hard at its role in this region. We have spent billions of pounds, of euros, of taxpayers' money in Egypt and in neighbouring countries with carefully crafted association agreements and action plans. We've offered funds, access to our markets and other assistance in exchange for progress on the rule of law, democracy and human rights. But in Egypt there has been little or no progress on torture, the judiciary, democracy or ending a state of emergency that has lasted for 30 years. I believe it is time for Europe to take a more hard-headed approach, where the conditions on which we give money are real and insisted upon. I reaffirmed this message in a call at lunchtime today with vice-president Suleiman and urged him to take bold and credible steps to show the transition they are talking about in Egypt is irreversible, urgent and real.
Inside the Hisham Mubarak center office, we were ordered to sit on the floor with our hands above our heads. The plainclothes men and a uniformed policeman rampaged through the office, breaking windows and hurling insults at those on the floor. "You're from the Mossad," the policeman yelled at me, referring to Israel's intelligence agency. "You're a spy." I responded, "No, I'm with Human Rights Watch."
Soon, everyone had been bound with white plastic handcuffs, arms pulled behind their backs. We would remain like that for about ten hours. The agents confiscated our bags, which mostly held computers but also wallets, money, passports, and other documents.
We were led to a landing on the second floor landing, where we sat for several hours, subject to a chorus of insults from the agents but also strangers who came up from the street—one man slapped a young member of our group, another pushed someone to the ground. "Welcome to Egypt," said a youth to me, sardonically, and pointed the group of handcuffed people around me. "This is Egypt!" he said.
Inji Amr, an Egyptian economist and novelist has written a guide on how Egyptians can do their bit for the economy amid the unrest. Here's a sample:
• Don't panic. Panic is bad...Your money isn't going anywhere, no need to try to withdraw it all. Lets make sure there is enough liquidity to go around to guarantee normal business operations.
• Only buy dollars if they are essential for your business operations...A stable exchange rate reflects very positively in the global arena and will make recovery much faster once things are settled.
• Support the small guy. For example, the fruits and vegetables in the market are very perishable, when you buy, buy from the small guy with the wooden carts on street corners rather than the hypermarkets of the world.
• Go local... Some of the non-Egyptian players in the market have temporarily relocated, some have withdrawn their funds and business for good. This has created an opportunity in the market (I realise that's an incredibly cup-half-full way to look at it).
• Be fuel-efficient. Limit the use of your motor vehicle, car pool, walk or bike.
• Spend your vacations in Egypt. Tourism sector may have been hit for a while, but there is absolutely no reason why we Egyptians shouldn't take the opportunity to get to know our country better.
Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has made a speech lauding the Egyptian protesters opposed to Mubarak. Given that his organisation is no friend of Mubarak, or indeed Israel, the state which the Egyptian leader counts among his allies, Nasrallah's comments are no real surprise. Reuters reports:
"Your movement will entirely change the face of our region for the interest of its own people," Nasrallah said in a televised address to a conference in Beirut, held to support the popular uprising in Egypt. "You are going through the battle of Arab dignity, restoring the dignity of Arab people," he said. Mubarak's government is suspicious of Hezbollah's links to Iran and backs the Shi'ite group's political rivals in Lebanon. Last year an Egyptian court sentenced Hezbollah member Sami Chehab to 15 years in prison on charges of planning attacks in the country. Hezbollah said Chehab escaped from jail last week in the chaos of the Egyptian uprising. Nasrallah told the Egyptian protesters that his group did not seek to intervene in their "internal business" or influence their decisions. But he praised their achievements, saying they were as significant as the 2006 war in which Hezbollah fought Israel to a standstill, and said he wished he could be with them in Cairo's Tahrir Square - epicentre of the protests. "What you have done is no less significant than the historic steadfastness the Islamic Resistance achieved in 2006 and the resistance in Gaza in 2008," he said, referring to the Israeli military assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza.
The Muslim Brotherhood has put a link to Wikileaks on its official website. This is a particularly interesting as the Muslim Brotherhood, which held talks with vice president Omar Suleiman yesterday, was criticised by Suleiman in documents published by Wikileaks yesterday, apparently to coincide with those discussions.
In one cable it was reported that Suleiman had "asserted that the MB [Muslim Brotherhood] had spawned '11 different Islamist extremist organisations', most notably the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Gama'a Islamiya [Islamic Group]". In another, which used the spelling Soliman, it said:
The principal danger, in Soliman's view, was the group's exploitation of religion to influence and mobilise the public. Soliman termed the MB's recent success in the parliamentary elections as 'unfortunate', adding his view that although the group was technically illegal, existing Egyptian laws were insufficient to keep the MB in check.
In news that is unlikely to have much impact on the protesters in Tahrir Square, there has been another relaxation of the curfew. It has been shortened by an hour, so it now runs from 8pm to 6am, rather than 7pm to 6am.
Germany has suspended arms exports to Egypt because of human rights concerns, Reuters reports.
"In view of the current situation in Egypt... the processing of these applications is now suspended. The economy ministry is also investigating permits that have already been granted," the economy ministry said in a statement on Monday. Germany sold some 22 million euros ($30 million) worth of armaments to Egypt in 2010, after selling 77.5 million euros worth in 2009, said the ministry, which is responsible for approving all arms exports. Published reports have said at least part of the arms exports included submachine guns that were intended for police use. Early into the crackdown on demonstrators last month, Germany threatened to cut development aid to Egypt - one of the largest recipients of German aid - if authorities did not abandon violence.
The Mubarak government's attempts to mollify protesters continue with an announcement today that public sector salaries and pensions are to increase by 15%. From the Associated Press:
Newly appointed Finance Minister Samir Radwan says some 6.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($960 million) will be allocated to cover the increases, which will take effect in April for the 6 million people on public pay rolls. In the past, public sector employees have been a pillar of support for the regime, but in recent years as prices have soared, their salaries have stagnated in value forcing the government to periodically announce raises to quell dissatisfaction.
False alarm. Reports that the activist and Google employee, Wael Ghonim, has been released turned out to be unfounded. Apologies for the earlier post (it's one of the perils of using unconfirmed reports on Twitter).
It seems that if Mubarak resigns there is no legal way to amend the constitution. If he does stand down how can a new/amended constitution be legitimised to allow for new elections? Presumably there were similar problems in Afghanistan and Iraq. How did the US/"Coalition of the willing" deal with them then?
If he simply resigns, the constitution cannot be amended until after the next presidential election, ie the election would have to be conducted under the old (unfair) rules. However, that situation could be avoided if Mubarak signed a presidential decree delegating all of his powers to his vice-president before resigning. Another option would be for Mubarak to leave the country without resigning.
There was an interesting article in the Washington Post at the weekend, which discussed the legal/constitutional situation and what needs to be done about it.
The reason for trying to observe the constitutional rules is that it provides a degree of legitimacy for the next Egyptian president/government. That didn't happen in Iraq or Afghanistan, but in those countries a new regime was being established by force.
I'd like to ask about the future of religious – and other – minorities in a post-dictatorship Egypt. The Copts and even less respected 'non-indigenous' Christian groups have long faced persecution and intimidation in Egypt, and whilst it is clear that a lot of this was in the form of pressure for or via the regime, one fears for their safety in a situation whereby a popular religious majority takes the stage. We can only hope that those who experience freedom in the coming days will also see the sense in extending the benefits to all of their neighbours, I'm just not clear how likely that actually is. Given the flow of Christians out of Iraq, the West Bank and so on, a further clamp-down in Egypt would be disastrous.
Regarding the future of religious - and other - minorities in a post-dictatorship Egypt, it's worth pointing out that Muslim-Christian relations among the protesters seem to have been pretty good, with a general atmosphere of tolerance.
The basic approach of the Mubarak regime towards sectarian conflict was one of denial or, if denial became no longer possible, trying to quieten it down without addressing the underlying problems.
What's needed is some rational debate about minorities' issues, to try and resolve them rather than sweeping them under the carpet. But the next Egyptian government is going to have a whole lot of pressing issues to deal with, and somehow I doubt that it will treat this as a priority.
The Brotherhood is not the Taliban but in my opinion it's still a negative force in Egypt. That said, I think it should be allowed to function as a lawful political party – which would actually allow its policies to be scrutinised more closely than in the past and, hopefully, be challenged.
Yesterday on Al Jazeera English, Rashid Khalidi said for there to be democracy in Egypt "the key structural change is the dismantling of the police state apparatus". He said this has occurred in Tunisia. So, has it? What could have been done in less than four weeks in Tunisia to rid the country of such an ingrained repressive institution? In your judgment, what change has there been?
There have been some big improvements in Tunisia, but we can't yet say that freedom of expression etc have become firmly established. It's going to take a while and people will have to keep up the pressure to ensure there's no backsliding.
The last 60 years in the Middle East have witnessed an abject failure of secular regimes to deliver any kind of substantive democracy, progress or dignity to the majority in the Arab world. With that in mind, do you think an Islamist government could offer a viable alternative, either in Egypt or in the wider Middle East? Could the "Islamic Democracy" of Turkey be a suitable model?
Food prices have hit record levels in recent weeks, according to the United Nations, and soaring prices for staples such as grains over the past few months are thought to have been one of the factors contributing to an explosive mix of popular unrest in Egypt and Tunisia.
The crises in those countries have served as a stark example of what can happen when food prices spiral out of control and add to existing political problems, said Lester Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute. "It's easy to see how the food supply can translate directly into political unrest," he said.
It reports that the party, which won three seats in 2000 elections, issued a statement saying it won't take part in negotiations unless Mubarak resigns.
In his meeting with political parties o Suleiman rejected all talk of Mubarak's resignation before his term ends.
The party said that Suleiman's position jeopardizes the very idea of dialogue and disregards protestors' demands.
The Nasserist party, the statement went on, believes the January revolution has destroyed the legitimacy of Mubarak's regime and that the revolution genuinely represents all Egyptians.
Here's a YouTube tour of the tent city that has emerged in Tahrir Square. What it is striking is how mixed the crowd - young and old, most in western dress, but some not. There's even a Liverpool fan wearing a top with Stephen Gerrard's name on the back.
Chris McGreal, in Cairo, has photographed the security forces arresting three "opposition" supporters at the foreign ministry building. He writes:
I just took this picture on a street in Cairo, discreetly with my camera phone, hence the strange angle [it has been rotated] and rubbish quality. It is of government security agents arresting three men inside the foreign ministry and bundling them in to the back of a pick up and hauling them off. The agents are all wearing body armour and carrying automatic weapons. When I asked a guard on the gate at the ministry who they were, he said "opposition".
In a landmark case for freedom of expression in Egypt, a young blogger has been jailed for insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak, drawing angry condemnation at home and abroad. Abdel-Karim Nabil Suleiman, 22, a former law student at Cairo's Al-Azhar University, was sentenced to four years in prison by a court in Alexandria yesterday after being arrested last November over eight articles he posted on his blog.
Suleiman was expelled from Al-Azhar for criticising the curriculum and attacking religious extremism. At the university's urging he was then charged with spreading information disruptive of public order, incitement to hate Muslims and insulting the president. Hafiz Abu Saada, of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, said: "This is a strong message to all bloggers who are put under strong surveillance that the punishment will very strong."
Suleiman was one of several bloggers arrested last year, most of whom have connections to Egypt's pro-democracy reform movement. Others were freed but he was put on trial - a sign of the sensitivity of his writings on religion. He was first detained in 2005 after criticising Muslim rioters in a post about sectarian clashes in his neighbourhood headlined The Naked Truth of Islam as I Saw it.
He also described some of the companions of the prophet Muhammad as terrorists and likened Mr Mubarak to the pharaohs who ruled ancient Egypt. Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said: "This sets a chilling precedent in a country where blogs have opened a window for free speech. The Egyptian government should abide by its commitments to uphold free expression and release Suleiman without delay." Amnesty International called it "yet another slap in the face of freedom for expression in Egypt".
The price of North sea Brent crude oil has once more risen above $100 a barrel on worries that the unrest in Egypt could spread to other countries in the region, with warnings that it could go much higher, Reuters reports:
A senior Kuwait official said over the weekend oil prices could exceed $110 per barrel if the turmoil in Egypt continued, while Venezuela said prices could more than double to $200 if the Suez Canal closed. Iran, which holds the rotating presidency of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said it saw no need for an emergency OPEC meeting even if oil prices hit $120. "The risk of Egypt contagion to the region brings a geopolitical price premium to the markets," said Christopher Bellew, a broker at Bache Commodities Limited. "As long as there is uncertainty, we will certainly hold the levels and there is scope to go higher."
Here's a summary of events so far today:
Pro-democracy protesters are continuing their occupation of Tahrir Square, despite the commencement of talks between the vice president Omar Suleiman and some opposition politicians.
More arrests of activists have been reported (10.46am), including independent film maker Samir Eshra and Abdel-Karim Nabil Suleiman, who blogs under the name Karim Amer. Amer was the first blogger to be prosecuted in the country, when he was jailed for four years in 2007 for insulting Islam and the president (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/feb/23/news.newmedia). He was released in November last year.
A symbolic funeral has been held in Tahrir Square for the first journalist to be killed in the unrest, Ahmad Mohamed Mahmoud, a photographer with Al-Ta'awun (11.14am).
The Egyptian government is to try to raise £1.5bn from the financial markets today. The sale was originally scheduled to take place last week but was postponed because of the protests (10.38am).
The first Egyptian cabinet meeting since the protests began and Mubarak rejigged his cabinet his currently taking place.
Mubarak maybe finished but the regime is alive and kicking, Middle East analysts point out.
Issandr El Amrani on his Arabist blog highlights two recent articles.
First Joshua Stacher is assistant professor of political science at Kent State University, writing in Foriegn Affiars:
Contrary to the dominant media narrative, the Egyptian state did not experience a regime breakdown. The protests certainly rocked the system and had Mubarak on his heels, but at no time did the uprising seriously threaten Egypt's regime. Although many of the protesters, foreign governments, and analysts have concentrated on the personality of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, those surrounding the embattled president, who make up the wider Egyptian regime, made sure the state's viability was never in question. This is because the country's central institution, the military, which historically has influenced policy and commands near-monopolistic economic interests, never balked...
There is no doubt that the post-Mubarak era is afoot, but it is not necessarily a democratic one. The Egyptian military leaders that are governing the country seem content to leave Mubarak in his place so Suleiman can act as the sitting president. Indeed, even leading government officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have begun to direct their concerns to Suleiman's office. Hence, as the protesters in Tahrir Square -- and the non-protesters facing empty refrigerators and wallets at home -- have begun to feel the state's squeeze, the regime has so far maintained its ability to control how the conflict is unfolding.
Similarly Nabil Shawkat writing on Ahram Online:
Mubarak is now out of the picture, perhaps by orders of his vice president. He is not going to be part of the future of this country. He will either leave Egypt in an "honourable" way, or just be pushed to the back to sign papers and rolled out on occasion to repeat a few well-rehearsed phrases. Mubarak is no more. His son is no more. His party is no more. But the spirit of his rule, the essence of his regime, and the methods of his era are far from over.
Dr Ahmad Zaafan, pharmacologist, and his fiancee Oula Abdul Hamid, both camping in Tahrir Square in Cairo since January 28, announced on Sunday their marriage at a special ceremony attended by more than 300,000 people.
The couple said they decided to tie knot after they spent the past 10 days along with their friends in the square.
"I am worried because my parents could not come to attend the party, but happy that all Egyptians and Arabs have witnessed my marriage and we both received blessings and congratulations from all over the world," Zaafan said. Oula said she would not find a better gathering to attend her wedding party than those camping in the square. "I am very happy about the idea of tying the wedding knot in this holy square which is witnessing the rebirth of our nation."
The tunnel operators in Rafah, at the southern end of Gaza, say supplies have been badly affected by the unrest in Egypt. Many of the tunnels are not working today - and it's also oddly quiet on the other side of the border with little evidence of the Egyptian army.
Of those I spoke to, only one tunnel operator was not supportive of the protests in Egypt. "They're crazy," he said. Change is not always good, was his message. "Look what happened here - we got Hamas."
After two weeks of protests, Mubarak has said he will not run again for president, his son has been ruled out as next in line, a vice president has been appointed for the first time in 30 years, the ruling party leadership has quit and the old cabinet was sacked. Perhaps more importantly, protesters now go onto the streets almost with impunity in their hundreds of thousands. Before the wave of protests began on January 25, even a few hundred would have met a crushing police response.
These are staggering gains won from Egypt's leadership which had stifled any opposition voice almost completely, with the exception of a few hardy independent newspapers.
Yet the government has so far dodged the protesters' main demand that Mubarak must go now. The state-owned al-Gomhuria newspaper seemed to sum it up on today it had a banner headline reading "New Era" above a photo of Vice President Omar Suleiman meeting the opposition while he stood under a picture of Mubarak.
Where does the government stand?
Although the hard core of the opposition has refused to budge on letting Mubarak stay on, some more pragmatic elements have said rather that the president, at the very least, should delegate his powers to vice-president Suleiman.
The government has rejected both demands. Instead, it has persuaded opposition representatives who joined the dialogue to adopt a government statement as the basis for talks that puts the establishment in the driving seat.
The statement, issued after the first round of talks on Sunday, referred to the president "ending his current term" in September when an election is due. This means the government is dictating a departure timetable.
Protesters have demanded an end to emergency law, in force for decades, which they say has been used to stifle dissent. The government statement said lifting it depended on "security conditions", rather than conceding the principle that it go now.
Sidestepping a call to dissolve parliament, the statement said the government would accept court rulings against fraudulent results in the last election in November 2010, a vote rights groups dismissed as a sham. But that falls far short of holding another election to replace the parliament that is now overwhelmingly dominated by Mubarak's ruling party.
How united is the opposition?
Two broad trends seem to be emerging between youths - who can reasonably claim to have been the driving force for the protests - and the more formal opposition groups ranging from liberals and leftists to Islamists, which are more pragmatic and more ready to engage in political horse-trading.
One of the strongest voices in the opposition ranks is the Muslim Brotherhood, which took a backseat in the early part of the protests. It is now talking with the government, a step unthinkable before January 25.
The state has long demonised the group, particularly to the West, as seeking to install a Sunni theocracy, similar to Shi'ite Iran which the West fears.
But within the opposition there is little common ground. Even their demand that Mubarak quit before they agree to talks with the government is no longer the unifying call it was. The Brotherhood, seen as Egypt's biggest organised opposition group which had ruled out talking to the government before Mubarak went, changed its tune and joined discussions. Among the Brotherhood ranks, some now grumble that its leadership has caved in too easily to government trickery.
The youth camped in Cairo's Tahrir Square have not budged. "We reject these talks. Mubarak must leave," accountant Sayed Abdel Hadi, 28, said as he wrote an anti-Mubarak slogan on the road. But these youths also lack a clear leadership and now face the challenge of regaining the momentum of the masses when many Egyptians are desperate for a return to normal life.
What happens next?
The talks with the government could easily get bogged down in constitutional details about whether Suleiman could take over presidential powers and still deliver the reforms needed to hold a free and fair presidential election. There is a debate over two articles, one that says a vice president who has been delegated powers cannot dissolve parliament or change the constitution and another which says the president can appoint a vice president and "define their jurisdiction", possibly suggesting a deputy could be given full presidential powers.
Such a debate could take months, once again playing into the government's hands and ensuring Mubarak stays until September. As that period extends, Egyptians who wanted immediate change may become restless again and return in numbers to the streets. After showing goodwill in joining talks, opposition groups could pull out of them if the government does not give enough ground. They have already said the government position is too rigid and a walkout might provoke further street action.
The resilience of the economy could also be a factor. If investors punish the Egyptian pound, that would swiftly lead to higher food prices, exacerbating an inflation problem that brought many Egyptians on to the streets in the first place. The speed at which tourism recovers will also be key, as that industry accounts for 11 percent of gross domestic product.
Financial markets have been relatively stable so far. Protests continue but are calm, and the dialogue has reassured investors, while the pound has weakened but only modestly. The stock market has yet to re-open and is likely to be hit when it does. But falls may focus on companies with links to the establishment and the size of a drop will probably be influenced by the fate of the pound.
It is clear some kind of watershed has been reached when the Kansas City Star publishes a cut-out-and-keep guide to the "easiest way to get al-Jazeera English".
The Qatar-based channel's acclaimed coverage of the Egyptian crisis has been referred to as the broadcaster's "CNN moment", doing for al-Jazeera English what the first Gulf war did for CNN, pushing it to the forefront of the public's consciousness. Put simply, must-see TV. Now the challenge is to translate the plaudits into the major cable or satellite distribution deal the channel has long sought without success in the US.
From around 1pm the Guardian's Middle East expert Brian Whitaker will be going into the comments section to answer questions about the unrest in Egypt. Please post your questions below.
The situation in Egypt, as a friend from Alexandria described it to me in an email this morning, is "quite fluid and extremely scary". It's also very difficult to work out what is really going on behind the scenes.
Vice-President Suleiman increasingly behaves as if he were president, while the president himself, fading from view but not resigning, continues to haunt the scene as a ghost behind the curtains.
In some areas the Mubarak regime appears (repeat: appears) to be retreating step by step – as seen from the resignations yesterday of the president's son, Gamal, and other senior figures in the ruling party.
While the street protests are being tolerated, probably in the hope that the demonstrators will eventually wear themselves out, the old repressive tactics – arrests and so on – continue in the background. In the words of my friend's email, "The witch hunt has already started."
None of this suggests the emerging "transitional" leaders are committed to rapid and meaningful change, that they will do anything other than drag their feet all the way to the scheduled presidential election in September, or that they will not attempt to retrench if given half a chance.
The Egyptian government will try to raise £1.5bn from the financial markets later today, according to my colleague Graeme Wearden on our business desk
Today's auction of 15bn Egyptian pounds (£1.56bn) worth of government debt should indicate whether the ongoing protests against Hosni Mubarak have spooked investors. Analysts believe Egypt will find enough buyers, but may have to pay a much higher interest rate than before. The sale was meant to take place last week, but was postponed after the crisis escalated.
A failed auction would be a serious problem, as Egypt needs the money to pay off earlier debt which is about to mature. The country is running a deficit of around 8% of GDP for this year, so is reliant on government borrowing to close the gap.
One potential hitch is that many Egyptian banks may avoid the auction because they don't whether their reserves are going to be depleted as customers rush to withdraw their savings. There were long queues at many branches yesterday as banks opened for the first time in a week.
Young protesters guarding the rooftops around Tahrir Square discuss their motivates, in this fascinating subtitled video, translated through Dotsub. One man describes how the group take it in shifts to guard the roofs, he also talks about how the protesters gained courage from events in Tunisia.
The man, who has a business degree, describes his frustration at not being able to find a job and his anger at the level of bribery in Egypt.
It is not clear whether this is just bureaucratic, or whether it is a deliberate strategy to diminish the reporting from the square. Certainly the government is trying to marginalise what's going on in the square with the talks that are taking place and to suggest, over State TV, that the protesters are now out of step with what is happening in the rest of the country.
The army made an attempt to clear burnt out cars [on Tahrir Square]. What they have been trying to do, is persuade protesters to move the barricades. The protesters saw that as an attempt to neuter the protests. That attempt now seems to be on hold, because the protesters have made it quite clear they will resist it. The government is keen to avoid any physical confrontation while these talks are going on. The problem for the people in the square is to maintain relevance. One of the ways to remain relevant is to keep the numbers up, to keep the square closed down, and to say that their central demand that Hosni Mubarak has to go mustn't be abandoned by the opposition groups claiming to speak in their name.
The German papers are full of speculation today that Mubarak might seek exile in Germany, writes Helen Pidd, our Berlin correspondent.
Mubarak has been here before: last year he spent time in a hospital in Heidelberg after having his gall bladder removed, as well as a benign tumour from his bowel. A spokeswoman for the Heidelberg University Clinic is quoted as saying: "Like any other patient, he can come any time." But she insisted she had not yet received an official request from the federal government or foreign office.
Yesterday, the tabloid Bild am Sonntag suggested that the coalition government was willing to let Mubarak come to Germany. Today, a politician from the ruling CDU party said the government would potentially allow the 82-year-old dictator to seek treatment in Germany. "If only for humanitarian reasons, of course we would let Mubarek undergo treatment in a German hospital," the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag, Ruprecht Polen, said to the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.
The opposition are aghast. Jürgen Trittin, chairman of the parliamentary Green party, said: "Egyptians expect us to help them in their transition towards democracy. They certainly don't expect us to offer a fallen despot help in fleeing his country."
On German TV last night, the foreign minister Guido Westerwelle defended his government's policy of cooperating with Mubarak. ""The constructive role of Egypt in the peace process can not be ignored. Those who do that are over-simplifying the issue. That is a very hypocritical stance," he said on the state-owned ZDF channel.
I've just arrived in Gaza to check out the reaction to the Egyptian protests here. There are long queues for fuel at gas stations as there is now a major shortage. Trade through the tunnels has dried up since the start of the uprising as the roads on the Egyptian side are dangerous and most economic activity - including the black economy - has ceased. There are also shortages of cigarettes and construction materials.
I'm heading to the tunnels in Rafah later so I will send an update. My fixer tells me that generally the mood in Gaza is supportive of the protests. Many Gazans have family connections in Egypt. But the official Hamas position is ambivalent.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the opposition National Association for Change, has tried to show he is on the side of the protesters in Tahrir Square.
In an interview with the New York Times' Roger Cohen he said: "I talked to the people from the square, I mean the young people, and they say they will have a week of perseverance. They are not letting go."
He added: "They need to see his [Mubarak's] back." Cohen dutifully noted down his answers in a Moleskin notebook.
Cohen reported that ElBaradei has put forward the idea of a three-member council, that could include vice-president Omar Suleiman, to oversee the transition to a new government.
Dear friends, I wanted to thank each and every one of you personally from the bottom of my heart for the overwhelming and heartfelt support you showed over the past 24 hours. My family and I are grateful for your love and support. Please keep those still detained in your hearts and prayers. Now, back to work!! Love Ayman
Barack Obama has put further pressure on the Egyptian government to implement democratic reforms, but once he again stopped short of calling for President Hosni Mubarak to resign now.
"What I want is a representative government in Egypt and I have confidence that if Egypt moves in an orderly transition process, that we'll have a government in Egypt that we can work with together as a partner," he told Fox News.
Obama said: "Here's what we know - that Egypt is not going to go back to what it was... The Egyptian people want freedom, they want free and fair elections, they want a representative government, they want a responsible government. So what we have said is you have to start a transition now."
Frank Wisner, President Barack Obama's envoy to Cairo who infuriated the White House this weekend by urging Hosni Mubarak to remain President of Egypt, works for a New York and Washington law firm which works for the dictator's own Egyptian government.
Mr Wisner's astonishing remarks – "President Mubarak's continued leadership is critical: it's his opportunity to write his own legacy" – shocked the democratic opposition in Egypt and called into question Mr Obama's judgement, as well as that of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
After disappearing in Egypt more than a week ago, leaving an ominous message on his Twitter account, Wael Ghonim, who leads Google's marketing efforts for the Middle East and North Africa, is expected to be released by Egyptian authorities to his family on Monday afternoon, a friend of the Ghonim family said Sunday night.
"We are not confident, but we are hopeful," said Habib Haddad, a Boston-based businessman and a close friend of Mr. Ghonim who has been helping lead efforts in recent days to help locate his friend, among many in Egypt who have gone missing in the two-week-old revolt there. "At this point in time, it is important to be hopeful and confident but not to call for celebration yet."
• Vice president Omar Suleiman invokes threat of 'coup' • Hundreds of thousands of protesters rally in Tahrir Square • Thousands start new night-long protest at parliament ترجم هذه الصفحة إلى العربية
Time to wrap up the live blog for the evening with another quiet evening in Egypt after the biggest crowd of protesters so far.
Here's what we have learned in the last few hours – and a late night tweet from Wael Ghonim.
• Vice president Omar Suleiman ominously warned of "a coup" and described the protests as "very dangerous" during a private meeting on Tuesday
• Protesters are spending the night in front of Egypt's Parliament as well as Tahrir Square, as increased numbers show no signs of the movement waning
• In an interview with the Guardian, a Muslim Brotherhood leader gives Mubarak a week to stand down before further action
• US vice president Joe Biden told Suleiman in a phone call the US wanted "prompt, meaningful, peaceful, and legitimate" reforms
• Industrial action around the Suez Canal has had no impact on the canal's operation
The protests in Egypt have sparked an appetite for news among American TV viewers, with the evening news programmes getting their biggest viewing audiences for years.
The latest TV ratings from Nielsen reveals that NBC's Nightly News had its biggest weekly average audience in six years last week. NBC's news anchor Brian Williams presented the programme from Cairo for NBC's top-rated newscast. ABC and CBS also reported the best news ratings for a number of years.
Here's a brief video clip from al-Jazeera of the protesters now occupying the front of Egypt's parliament building this evening.
Meanwhile, the previous centre of the protests in Tahrir Square appears to be covered in tents as a village springs up.
Based on Omar Suleiman's "coup" remarks reported today, it comes as no surprise to read this tweet from al-Jazeera's online producer Evan Hill in Cairo.
CNN's Ben Wedeman is reporting on Suleiman's comments, and says that Mubarak is slowly being edged out of government with Suleiman emerging as the "strong man" of the regime.
It's worth remembering that it was Suleiman who provoked anger on Monday with his claim that Egypt was not ready for democracy, and that his promised reforms have not yet come with a timetable.
In the most disturbing development in days, during a private meeting today vice president Omar Suleiman warned of a coup "to protect Egypt" – the Associated Press has a piece reporting further details of Suleiman's hostile comments:
Vice President Omar Suleiman warned Tuesday that "we can't put up with" continued protests in Tahrir for a long time, saying the crisis must be ended as soon as possible in a sharply worded sign of increasing regime impatience with 16 days of mass demonstrations.
Suleiman said there will be "no ending of the regime" and no immediate departure for President Hosni Mubarak, according to the state news agency MENA, reporting on a meeting between the vice president and the heads of state and independent newspapers.
He told them the regime wants dialogue to resolve protesters' demands for democratic reform, adding in a veiled warning, "We don't want to deal with Egyptian society with police tools."
At one point in the roundtable meeting, Suleiman warned that the alternative to dialogue "is that a coup happens, which would mean uncalculated and hasty steps, including lots of irrationalities. We don't want to reach that point, to protect Egypt."
Pressed by the editors to explain the comment, he said he did not mean a military coup but that "a force that is unprepared for rule" could overturn state institutions, said Amr Khafagi, editor-in-chief of the privately-owned Shorouk daily, who attended the briefing. "He doesn't mean it in the classical way."
"The presence of the protesters in Tahrir Square and some satellite stations insulting Egypt and belittling it makes citizens hesitant to go to work," he said. We can't put up with this for a long time, and this crisis must be ended as soon as possible.
He warned that calls by some protesters for a campaign of civil disobedience are "very dangerous for society and we can't put up with this at all."
The comments sound like a worrying development after the calm of recent days. This may be Suleiman's private face: no surrender. I bet he didn't mention any of that in his phone chat with Joe Biden earlier today.
More ominous news – in a meeting today with "newspaper chiefs," according to the Egyptian state news agency MENA, Egypt's vice president Omar Suleiman said:
"We can't bear this for a long time, and there must be an end to this crisis as soon as possible"
While Suleiman also said the regime wants to hold talks with the protesters about reform, he also issued a threat: "We don't want to deal with Egyptian society with police tools."
And in another hint of a hardline stance, Suleiman is also reported as saying there will be "no ending of the regime" and rejected an unscheduled resignation by President Mubarak.
Erian, an outspoken reformist on the brotherhood's guidance council, is at pains to sketch out the limits of his organisation's political ambitions. He insists that it has no plans to run a candidate for the presidency, though any broad-backed opposition "unity" candidate will obviously need the brotherhood's approval.
But he goes further and says the brotherhood will not even seek a majority in parliament – a far cry from the predictions of many Washington-based analysts that it is waiting in the wings to seize control of the most populous Arab country.
"If we can build a wide coalition instead, this would be good," Erian says. "This is our strategy for many reasons: not to frighten others, inside or outside, and also because this is a country destroyed, destroyed by Mubarak and his family – why would the rebuilding task be only for us? It's not our task alone, it's the job of all Egyptians." He adds: "The Muslim Brothers are a special case because we are not seeking power through violent or military means like other Islamic organisations that might be violent. We are a peaceful organisation; we work according to the constitution and the law."
The full article, with a detailed examination of the Muslim Brotherhood's role and history, is online here.
This is an ominous development: Egypt's vice president Omar Suleiman warns that protests cannot be allowed to continue for too long, the wires are reporting. More when we track this down.
US vice president Joe Biden has had another phone call with his Egyptian counterpart Omar Suleiman, according to the White House, and called for "irreversible progress that responds to the aspirations of the Egyptian people."
Vice President Biden spoke today to Egyptian Vice President Omar Soliman to reiterate the United States' support for an orderly transition in Egypt that is prompt, meaningful, peaceful, and legitimate. Vice President Biden urged that the transition produce immediate, irreversible progress that responds to the aspirations of the Egyptian people.
The Vice President reaffirmed that the future of Egypt will be determined by the Egyptian people. The Vice President took note of steps the government of Egypt has pledged to take in response to the opposition and urged the government to take immediate action to follow through on its commitments.
Based on our nation's fundamental belief in the importance of universal rights and representative governments, as well as on consultations with Egypt's opposition and a broad cross section of civil society, Vice President Biden and Vice President Soliman discussed additional steps that the United States supports, including:
• Restraining the Ministry of Interior's conduct by immediately ending the arrests, harassment, beating, and detention of journalists, and political and civil society activists, and by allowing freedom of assembly and expression; • immediately rescinding the emergency law; • broadening participation in the national dialogue to include a wide range of opposition members; and • inviting the opposition as a partner in jointly developing a roadmap and timetable for transition.
These steps, and a clear policy of no reprisals, are what the broad opposition is calling for and what the government is saying it is prepared to accept. Vice President Biden expressed the belief that the demands of the broad opposition can be met through meaningful negotiations with the government.
Still on the Suez Canal, Ahram Online says that workers from five service companies owned by the Suez Canal Authority have begun "an open-ended sit-in" today:
Over 6000 protesters have agreed that they will not go home today once their shift is over and will continue their sit-in in front of the company's headquarters until their demands are met. They are protesting against poor wages and deteriorating health and working conditions and demanded that their salaries and benefits meet the standard of those working for the Suez Canal Authority.
Reports of strikes taking place at the Suez Canal are wide of the mark and the latest reports are that there has been no impact on the canal's operations.
An official for the Suez Canal Authority told Reuters: "The strike by companies will not affect the operation of the Suez Canal and movement of ships. These companies work in areas far from the canal zone and movement of ships."
The authority says around 3,000 workers in companies owned by the Canal authorities and based in Ismailia and Suez went on strike today over "pay and conditions".
Dow-Jones Newswires reported a representative at shipping company Kadmar Group in Egypt as saying there is no strike at the canal and operations "were running normally".
The old myth that Americans and the US media aren't interested in "foreign" news is punctured by this Pew Research survey showing that the events in Egypt have received more widespread coverage than any other story covered by the US media in recent years, with the exception of the 2008 presidential election and the tragic shootings in Tucson this year:
Why has an event that has not involved US troops or directly imperiled US citizens generated significantly more attention than the country's two wars? One major reason is the number of cameras and journalists (including network anchors) in the country transmitting such riveting scenes as last week's video of men on camels attacking crowds of protestors in Cairo. Another is the high stakes for the US in one of the world's most volatile regions as it tries to balance a strategic alliance with President Hosni Mubarak and support of pro-democracy protesters. A third factor may be uncertainty – will Mubarak resign and who will govern after him? And some of last week's coverage was driven by the fact that the media themselves became part of the story – with journalists being harassed, attacked and detained amid the chaos.
"In my view, the more perspectives the better," Amanpour said. "This is the United States of America, the bastion of the free press. Anyone can get on cable, why not Al Jazeera?"
It's true, if Piers Morgan can get his own nightly show then anyone can get on cable.
I'm told that another wedding was held in Tahrir Square this evening, with the couple parading through the crowd while people chanted: "The groom wants the end of the regime."
As promised, here's a photo of the happy event, with groom Abdullah al-Qadi, 31, waving a national flag while being carried by an anti-government demonstrator during his wedding to Sonia al-Beali, 28, in Tahrir Square this evening.
One of the first-timers on Tuesday was Afaf Naged, 71, a former board member of state-owned National Bank of Egypt, the country's largest financial institution.
Naged said she was fed up with what she called Mubarak's attempts to cling on to power. "I came here for the first time today because ... Mubarak is still meeting the same ugly faces ... He can't believe it is over. He is a very stubborn man."
"I am also here because of Wael Ghonim. He was right when he said that the NDP (the ruling National Democratic Party) is finished. There is no party left, but they don't want to admit it," she added.
Reuters also notes that a former minister of transport, Essam Sharaf, joined the protests today.
The Associated Press wire agency has some reporting from Tahrir Square on the immediate impact today of Wael Ghonim's dramatic appearance last night:
Some in the massive crowd said they were turning out for the first time, moved by Ghonim's interview or the photos of those killed in police crackdowns on the protests, which have been little seen on TV in Egypt.
"The (Wael) interview showed a face of the truth which the state media tried to cover up for so long," said a retired army general, Essam Salem. "Many people are coming because they saw the truth."
Fifi Shawqi, a 33-year-old upper-class housewife [sic], said she came to the Tahrir protest for the first time, bringing her three daughters and her sister.
"I saw Wael yesterday (in the interview) and I cried. I felt like he is my son and all the youth here are my sons," she said. "I think Wael brought many, many more" to join.
Ghonim provided a relatable, passionate face for a movement that has been tarred in government media as fueled by foreigners. Some in the broader public have grumbled that the protesters were causing turmoil for nothing now that Mubarak has promised not to run again in September elections.
But the protest movement has resisted elevating a sole leader. In fact, many organizers contend its strength lies in its lack of leaders and in its nature as a mass, popular movement. With his release, Ghonim was added to a 10-member coalition of representatives from the various youth organizers to coordinate the protests and push through their demands, said Ziad al-Oleimi, another activist on the committee.
This is Richard Adams in the Guardian's Washington bureau, where the lazy assumptions by the US media that the protests were running out of steam have been been contradicted by the massive turnout today in Cairo.
CNN and other US news networks have been focusing on Wael Ghonim's powerful interview on Dream TV yesterday, replaying footage of his earnest pleas and eventual tears.
If the Egypt uprising of 2011 can be summed up in a single word, it is zolm. The online dictionary Babylon renders the Arabic term as "oppression, tyranny, inequity, unfairness, injustice, abuse". That this short word can explain so much is both the tragedy and the inspiration of Egypt today.
The argument of Egypt's new prime minister, that change in the country will happen in an orderly fashion following the scheduled elections of September 2011 and President Mubarak's retirement, is hollow. For as long as zolm and all the violations of power it connotes prevail - entrenched in the state-of-emergency law, and in the psyche of state security - even free and fair elections in Egypt would not bring fundamental change.
Again, freedom in Egypt requires a transformation of leadership and policy, which also involves a complete overhaul (perhaps even the dissolution) of the institutionally corrupt NDP.
I'm handing over to my colleague Richard Adams now.
More from outside the Egyptian parliament, where numbers seem to be growing according to reports.
Someone just climbed on the front gate of parliament to put up a sign saying "closed until the downfall of the regime". Had to take it down
Some comments I missed earlier from the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, who said comments by the Egyptian vice president, Omar Suleiman, that his country is not ready for democracy were unhelpful. Gibbs said:
I don't think that in any way squares with what those seeking greater opportunity and freedom think is a timetable for progress.
He added:
The government has got to stop arresting protesters and journalists, harassment, beatings, detentions of reporters, of activists, of those involved in civil society.
Omar Robert Hamilton, who tweets as @RiverDryFilm says it was academics who began the occupation of the street outside the parliament.
It was the academics' march that occupied Parliament street. University lecturers on the front line! #jan25 #egypt
Karim Ennarah, a protester who has provided us with regular updates from Tahrir Square over the past week has just left the plaza and proclaimed it the most crowded he has seen it with "nowhere to stand". He told me:
The release of Wael Ghonim yesterday and more importantly the interview on Dream TV, which is an Egyptian channel definitely had a huge impact. It was a very emotional interview and a lot of people decided to come [to Tahrir Square]. There's a lot of people today who haven't come to Tahrir Square [before], there's a lot of people today who did not even believe in it [the cause] who have changed their mind after seeing Wael Ghonim yesterday in this interview so it definitely was a massive turning point.
A Libyan writer and political commentator appears to have been arrested for calling for peaceful protests in the country, according to Amnesty International:
Jamal al-Hajji, a former prisoner of conscience who has dual Libyan and Danish nationality, was detained on 1 February in Tripoli by plain-clothed security officers. They accused him of hitting a man with his car, which he denies. Jamal al-Hajji's arrest came shortly after he made a call on the internet for demonstrations to be held in support of greater freedoms in Libya, in the manner of recent mass protests in Tunisia, Egypt and other countries across the Middle East and North Africa. Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Director Malcolm Smart said: "Two particular aspects of the case lead us to believe that the alleged car incident was not the real reason for Jamal al-Hajji's arrest, but merely a pretext to conceal what was really a politically motivated arrest. "First, eyewitnesses have reported that the man who is said to have complained of being struck by Jamal al-Hajji's car showed no visible signs of injury. "Secondly, the officers who conducted the arrest were in plain clothes, indicating that they were not the ordinary police who generally would be expected to handle car accidents, but members of the Internal Security Agency (ISA). It is the ISA that usually carries out arrests of political suspects and they wear plain clothes."
Despite the excitement on Twitter about the protests outside parliament (see 5.36pm), the Guardian's Chris McGreal, in Cairo, tells me that it is likely mainly a spillover from Tahrir Square, which is a block away, because the plaza is so packed. He says there are a lot of government buildings in that area with tanks guarding them outside and any attempt by the protesters to get into the parliament building is likely to be met with stiff resistance.
News of more workers on strike. Around 1,300 workers at a steel company in Suez declared an open strike over pay, according to Reuters.
France's prime minister has acknowledged that Egypt's government offered his family free lodging and a plane flight during a holiday in Egypt, as he tries to head off a scandal, the Associated Press reports:
Prime Minister Francois Fillon's office said that the government also treated him and his family to a Nile boat cruise during the December 26 to January 2 holiday. Fillon said in a statement Tuesday that he wanted to disclose the information "out of concerns for transparency." His statement came after French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie faced probing questions about her holiday in Tunisia, which came amid popular protests that eventually toppled the country's dictatorial regime.
There is another contender to be the soundtrack of the Egyptian protests, this one from Syrian-American rapper, Omar Offendum and others. The video includes a number of iconic images from the Egyptian protests.
The opening line is
I heard them say the revolution won't be televised Al-Jazeera proved them wrong, Twitter has them paralysed
The well-connected blogger and activist SandMonkey says the former interior minister, Habib el Adly, replaced by Mubarak last week in a move to appease the protesters, is being charged with treason.
I've just been speaking to Ahmed Salah a veteran activist, who has been in Tahrir Square today. Unfortunately the phone line was very poor so I have not posted the audio but here is some of what he said to me:
It's been like nothing I've ever seen. We've had protests before but...today the whole square and the other streets [around the square] were totally packed.
This is a message to the world that this movement is not getting any weaker. This movement is getting stronger and everyone is determined that we cannot accept what is being proposed.
Salah also criticised the western governments he said are propping up a "despotic" regime and said the Egyptian people urgently needed western governments to change their stance to help the people get rid of Mubarak.
Here's a summary of events so far on day 15 of the protests:
• On the two week anniversary of the start of the protests, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets once more to show their opposition to Hosni Mubarak's regime. Many say it is the biggest demonstration so far and protesters claim it shows that momentum of the demonstrations has not been lost.
• While Tahrir Square has once more been the focus of the demonstrations in Cairo, there appears to be a second front opening at the parliament building in the capital (5.36pm) where thousands have gathered amid talk of a sit-in. Demonstrations have also been held in other cities, including Alexandria, Ismailia, Assiut, El Mahalla El-Kubra and Suez
• A number of workers have walked out in apparent solidarity with the pro-democracy protesters (3.01pm). They include journalists and thousands of workers on the Suez canal and from Telecom Egypt
• The Egyptian vice president, Omar Suleiman, has offered more concessions to the protesters (4.41pm). They include a supposed plan and timetable for the peaceful transfer of power, a pledge not to pursue protesters and a new committee created to discuss and recommend constitutional changes that would relax eligibility rules governing who can run for president and limit the number of presidential terms.
• Egypt has released 34 political prisoners in another sign that it is trying to mollify protesters (3.12pm).
• Essam al-Aryan, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, told the Guardian the banned group has given Mubarak a week to resign (3.24pm)
• Lawyers have lodged a petition with the Egyptian prosecutor general alleging that Mubarak and his family have stolen state funds. They want the Egyptian president put on trial. (1.49pm).
There are increasing signs of attempts to open a new front of the protests at the Egyptian parliament.
This post from @Alshaheeed is being retweeted a lot:
Can as many people as possible go to the Egyptian Parliament now please?
Another striking image from today's protests from our picture desk.
A new Gallup poll shows 82% of Americans are sympathetic or very sympathetic to the Egyptian protesters, with 87% of people following events in the Middle East country closely, Salon reports. Justin Elliot writes:
The irony here, of course, is that Americans are on the side of protesters fighting a regime that the U.S. government has been propping up for decades. And it's an open question whether public opinion in the U.S. will have an impact on the Obama administration's Egypt policy, which has notably shifted in the past few days away from calls for immediate change.
It appears that, in Cairo, the protesters have opened a second front at the people's assembly building.
Thousands r now protesting in front of the Parliament. Blankets r being transferred there now. An opn ended sit in to start.
More on the comments US defence secretary Robert Gates made about Egypt at a press conference today (3.46pm). He praised the Egyptian military for showing "great constraint" during the protests.
I think that the Egyptian military has conducted itself in an exemplary fashion during this entire episode. Frankly, they have done everything that we have indicated we would hope that they would do. So I would say that they have made a contribution to the evolution of democracy and what we're seeing in Egypt.
There has been much talk about the concessions supposedly offered to the protesters by Mubarak and his vice president Omar Suleiman. My colleague Mark Tran has produced a list of what they amount to:
• Mubarak will stand down in September, when his term expires and when new elections are to be held.
• A committee to recommend constitutional amendments to relax presidential eligibility rules and impose term limits. The panel to be led by the head of Egypt's highest appellate court and composed of six senior judges and four constitutional experts. It will make its recommendations to Suleiman, by the end of this month.
• A separate committee to monitor implementation of all proposed reforms.
• An inquiry into last week's clashes as well as the mass detentions of human rights activists and journalists. The findings willl be referred to the attorney-general.
• No constraints on media.
• Investigations of allegations of corruption and detention of those responsible for the breakdown in security.
• A lifting of the state of emergency "based on the security situation".
Wael Ghonim has been talking to protesters in Tahrir Square. Brief excerpts of what he said have been posted on Twitter.
Iran's opposition has called for renewed street protests next week on the back of the wave of demonstrations that have swept across the Middle East.
Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the leaders of the green movement in Iran have issued a call for what they have described as "a solidarity move to support the protests in two Muslim countries of Egypt and Tunisia" on Monday.
The green movement staged a series of mass demonstrations for several weeks in 2009, following a disputed presidential election that gave Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term in office. Tehran and other major cities saw the biggest popular uprising in the history of the Islamic Republic....
On his official website, Mousavi has likened the protests in Egypt and Tunisia to those in Iran in 2009. "Undoubtedly, the starting point of what we are witnessing in the streets of Tunis, Sana'a, Cairo, Alexandria and Suez should be seen in the Iranian protests," he said.
"The Middle East is on the threshold of great events these days that could affect the fate of the region and the world."...
It is unlikely that Ahmadinejad's government will give permission for the opposition protest, but the leaders of the green movement are using the request to reach out to the public. Iran's constitution allows for peaceful demonstrations.
The call has been welcomed by Iran's huge online community, which has alrewady started to promote it via social networking websites and in blogs. Flyers and posters are being designed by anonymous supporters of the green movement who have distributed them among internet users.
Al-Jazeera has footage of today's demonstrations in Egypt's second biggest city:
Protesters are planning a symoblic trial of President Mubarak during planned protests on Friday, Daily News Egypt reports.
Catherine Ashton, the EU high representative on foreign affairs and security policy was at the UN today and, interestingly linked, what is happening in Egypt and elsewhere in the region to the Middle East peace process. She said:
We are witnessing major change in the Middle East. The contours of what will emerge are not clear yet - they cannot be. But we do know that urgent progress on the Middle East peace process is vital, now more than ever....The search for a negotiated peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians has dominated the region for decades. Curerent developments must bring us closer to that goal, not further away.
A chant from Tahrir Square, which I'm sure sounds better in Arabic:
Chant: Mubarak, you're a pilot, where did you get $70b? Rhymes in Arabic. #tahrir
Staying with the subject of the pace of transition in Egypt, the UK foreign secretary William Hague, who is in Tunisia today to "show support for democratic change", was asked at a press conference why he was not doing more to facilitate a speedy transition in Egypt. This was his answer (essentially a restatement of the British position):
We have made our views clear. We have called for an orderly transition to a more broad-based government....that allows the people to sort out their differences together in a fair and democratic way...The vice president Omar Suleiman has made some changes this morning which are moving in that direction.
The US defence secretary Robert Gates has said today that other governments in the region should follow in the footsteps of Egypt and Tunisia, Reuters reports. Some of the Egyptian protesters would no doubt prefer that the US did more to facilitate a speedy transistion in Egypt before turning its attention to other countries. Gates said:
My hope would be that other governments in the region - seeing this spontaneous action in both Tunisia and in Egypt - will take measures to begin moving in a positive direction toward addressing the political and economic grievances of their people.
CNN's Ivan Watson says a member of the Hisham Mubarak law centre, which was raided by the military on Thursday last week, has suggested the number of people detained in Cairo since the start of the protests could have reached five figures:
Ahmed Ragheb of Hisham Mugarak Law Center says military police told him some 10,000 people detained in Cairo alone since Jan 25 #egypt
As al-Aryan put it to me the 'The Vietcong was negotiating in Paris while fighting in Vietnam'. They believe that the upper echelons of the regime is now collapsing and that Mubarak will go. They think it won't be too long. They want him to go with dignity, but it has been recognised that he can't hang on.
He said the concessions won from the regime is a sign that is weakening. He said 'this revolution can't be reversed' but he said they don't go far enough.
It is participating in these talks to give itself some credibility but it doesn't want to lose credibility with those on the streets. They are prevaricating in part because they slightly missed the boat [on the protests]. Their line is that they deliberately stepped back from the demonstrations, because they didn't want to scare the outside world. It is partly that they were caught off guard by the spontaneity of the demonstrations. It is clear from being in Tahrir Square the the Muslim Brotherhood only has minority support there. It is has jumped on the bandwagon a little late.
A new term (new to me at least) seems to have been coined to describe the women martyrs of the Egyptian protests:
#jan25 #tahrir many chants by women & girls praise wartyrs of #revolution
Harriet Sherwood has sent an update from Gaza about Hamas's response to the unrest in Egypt.
This morning I spoke to Salah Bardawil, a senior Hamas politician, in Gaza City about the Islamist organisation's response to the unrest in Egypt. He was very cautious, saying the protests were a "natural response to pressure from a cruel regime" but Hamas did not involve itself in internal issues in any Arab country.
"Emotionally we hope that the regime does not stay as it was before," he said, adding that Hamas wished to see a thriving democracy in Egypt. "We would like Egypt to be maybe like Turkey. We want a democratic country that allows everyone to express themselves."
Asked if Hamas allowed free expression in Gaza, he said: "Culturally Gaza is very open. We don't impose the hijab on women, we have good relations with Christians and leftist parties, and everyone is allowed to express himself freely. Of course there have to be security and political restrictions."
He did not anticipate similar protests in Gaza. "We have a regime controlling all of us - Israel is our common enemy."
Bardawi said Hamas was connected "culturally" with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, but not officially. "We believe that the Muslim Brotherhood have not had fair circumstances in which to express themselves. We hope the outcome [of the uprising] could include all parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood."
Protests could spread across the Arab world, he said. "If small Tunisia inspired big Egypt, what will happen if big Egypt succeeds? It will be like an earthquake that affects all countries around it."
Reuters reports that Egypt has released 34 political prisoners, according to the state news agency. The wording of the Reuters report seems to suggest that they are long-term prisoners and not people detained during the recent protests:
"Interior Minister Mahmoud Wagdy issued an order today releasing 34 political detainees considered to be among the extremist elements, after evaluating their positions," the MENA agency said. "They showed good intentions and expressed their desire to live peaceably with society," it added. It said they had handed themselves over to the authorities after escaping from prison during several days of disorder last month.
More than 500 of Egyptian media professionals issued a statement denouncing state-run media coverage of the youth-led uprising staged since 25 January calling for Mubarak's resignation.
Talk show presenter Ibrahim Eissa, press syndicate member Abeer Saady, novelist Ezzat al-Qamhawi, as well as notable artists, were among those who signed the statement.
"We renounce what has been done by print, visual and audio media of falsifying truth, lying and tarnishing the image of the people who seek freedom and progress for this country," noted the statement. It called for stopping what it labeled as "lies" and referring those responsible for urgent trial.
While there are once more tens of thousands of people in Tahrir Square, which has been the main focus of the demonstrations since they began, there are also a number of parallel demonstrations being reported across the country, including Alexandria, Ismailia, Assiut, El Mahalla El-Kubra and at government buildings in Cairo, including the people's assembly.
A lot of people on the ground are also commenting on the different make-up of protesters today compared to previous demonstrations.
There are a lot of egyptians visiting the square for the first time today. Well dressed upper class people. Lots of cameras out
Jack Shenker has a new update from an "exhilarating" Tahrir Square.
There is more energy and optimism in Tahrir today than almost anything I've seen before - an aimless wander through the packed crowds is a dizzying, exhilarating experience, revealing a hundreds of little micro-dramas playing out all over the square.
It's so difficult to convey the atmosphere of this place through words or images; Tahrir may have dropped down the international media agenda somewhat in recent days, but honestly if you go down there and just stare around you - at the picnicking families, the raucous flag-wavers, the volunteer tea suppliers, the cheery human security cordons, the slumbering bodies curled up in the metal treads of the army's tanks, the pro-change graffiti that adorns every placard, every tent, every wall space in vision - it's impossible not to feel as moved as we all did in the very first days of this ongoing revolution.
As the streets appear safer and security more guaranteed, the numbers of those joining queues to enter Tahrir is growing, not falling - dozens told me today they were here for the first time. Politicking at the top may give the impression that the uprising has lost momentum, but clearly for many in Egypt it's only just getting started.
• On the two week anniversary of the start of the protests, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets once more to show their opposition to Hosni Mubarak's regime. Protesters claim it shows that momentum of the demonstrations has not been lost. Among those who have joined today's protests are various faculties from Cairo University.
• Protesters say they were inspired to turn out today by release of the activist and Google executive Wael Ghonim. The US has joined in those expressing relief and delight over his release. Ghonim is expected to attend today's rally.
• The Egyptian vice president, Omar Suleiman, has offered more concessions to the protesters. He emerged from a meeting with Hosni Mubarak this morning claiming the regime has a plan and a timetable for the peaceful transfer of power. He also said the government would not pursue protesters who have been demanding Mubarak step down now. And a committee has been set up to discuss and recommend constitutional changes that would relax eligibility rules governing who can run for president and limit the number of presidential terms.
• The UK foreign secretary, William Hague has arrived in Tunisia to show support for the "democratic hopes" of the people. He will be visiting other countries in north Africa and the Middle East during his tour to support "greater political openness", but not Egypt.
What is the Muslim Brotherhood? An answer in four minutes and 21 seconds from Middle East analyst Maha Azzam and Shadi Hamid at a Chatham House seminar on Monday.
"They are so pragmatic they give pragmaticism a bad name," Hamid said.
The numbers in the square now runs in to the hundreds of thousands in one of the biggest turnouts to date, and they are still streaming in. Chris McGreal reports from Cairo.
There are long lines snaking along roads leading to the square.
I'd also just take issue with the statement that protesters say they were inspired to turn out by release of Wael Ghonim. Undoubtedly some were, but Tuesday is one of the two days a week when mass protests are scheduled and also a lot of the people I spoke to said they were there because they wanted to show the regime that they were not going to compromise in the negotiations - that Mubarak has to go. They planned to turn out anyway, Ghonim aside.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim Yusri, one of the lawyers behind the petition alleging that Mubarak and his family have stolen state funds, told al-Jazeera that under the constitution the president has immunity but "this is a new era, this is a revolution". Yusri claimed the petition has the support of 40 prominent names. As evidence for the allegations, one of the sources he cited was the Guardian (Philip Inman reported last week that some estimates put Mubarak's family wealth at as much as $70bn (£43.5bn)). Yusri said:
Mr Mubarak and his family has ther right to speak and to explain either if they have gathered this fortune or [if] it's only rumours. We need verification...
We have asked the prosecutor general to verify....if the information is true and if it's true they must be prosecuted...and the fortune retaken by the people.
Time to wrap things up for tonight. Here's what we've seen this evening:
• Talks between the Egyptian regime and opposition figures are on the brink of collapse
• The Egyptian military has been involved in beatings and other abuses, according to an investigation by the Guardian
• Egypt's provinces have seen widespread protests, in further signs that the uprising has spread beyond the major cities
• A wave of strikes erupted across the economy, including railway workers, public employees and electricity staff
It sounds like the next big protest is being planned for Friday but there will be more to come tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
Canada's Globe and Mail has an interview with Ahmed Saleh, a former member of the April 6 Youth Movement and one of the earliest protesters, on what happens next:
The dozens of activists, many of them under 35, who started the uprising on Jan. 25, largely via the Internet, are trying to organize themselves into a unified structure to take on the government, Mr Saleh said.
They are holding meetings with protesters, the political opposition, trade-union activists and leftists.
"We are trying to find a mechanism to represent people not just in Tahrir Square but all over the country that can be fair," Mr Saleh said. "We want to build a true co-ordination. All those who are protesting, sacrificing their lives receiving stones and bullets, there has to be a co-ordination between them so no one hijacks their victory. It is no longer ours, we were only the starting point."
Al-Jazeera's influence on events in Egypt and Tunisia is hard to ignore, and yet the channel's English off-shoot remains shut out of US households because cable service providers refuse to carry it.
On Thursday, 10 February 2011, US viewers are encouraged to make their voices heard by their local cable and satellite providers to demand Al Jazeera English. Meetup with people in your community who are demanding the same - and organize the best way to get that message to your cable and satellite providers.
Having said he wouldn't speak to foreign media, Wael Ghonim today broke his silence to do an interview with CNN, as we reported earlier.
More on the disruption and strikes taking place outside of Cairo from AP:
In the desert oasis town of Kharga, southwest of Cairo, five protesters have been killed in two days of rioting, security officials said. Police opened fire Tuesday on hundreds who set a courthouse on fire and attacked a police station, demanding the removal of the provincial security chief.
The army was forced to secure several government buildings and prisons, and on Wednesday the security chief was dismissed, security officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
In the city of Suez, strikes entered a second day on Wednesday. Some 5,000 workers at various state companies — including textile workers, medicine bottle manufacturers, sanitation workers and a firm involved in repairs for ships on the Suez Canal — held separate strikes and protests at their factories.
Traffic at the Suez Canal, a vital international waterway and a top revenue earner for Egypt, was not affected.
An update on the wave of strikes in Egypt today from the Associated Press:
Strikes erupted in a breadth of sectors – among railway and bus workers, state electricity staff and service technicians at the Suez Canal, in factories manufacturing textiles, steel and beverages and at least one hospital.
In one of the flashpoints of unrest Wednesday, some 8,000 protesters, mainly farmers, set barricades of flaming palm trees in the southern province of Assiut. They blocked the main highway and railway to Cairo to complain of bread shortages. They then drove off the governor by pelting his van with stones.
Hundreds of slum dwellers in the Suez Canal city of Port Said set fire to part of the governor's headquarters in anger over lack of housing.
Workers "were motivated to strike when they heard about how many billions the Mubarak family was worth," said Kamal Abbas, a labor leader. "They said: 'How much longer should we be silent?'"
Ahmed Zewail, the US-Egyptian scientist who won the Nobel prize for physics, calls on Mubarak to step down "tomorrow," in an interview with Reuters:
"Comparing Egypt to a "diseased body", he recommended swift surgery, not aspirin.
"I know exactly what the youth want. They want to see a new Egypt. It's as simple of that," said Zewail, who serves as President Obama's science envoy to the Middle East.
Significantly, Zewail dismissed any idea that the Muslim Brotherhood might hijack the protests or that Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel was in peril, saying democracy could only benefit the region.
If you can't beat Facebook, join it. Spotted by The Awl, the president of Sudan wants his supporters to wage social media cyber-war to avoid the fate of the Mubarak and Ben Ali regimes:
The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir has called on his supporters to use Facebook in order to overcome groups that are opposed to his rule. Bashir made the call during his visit to North Kordofan state on Tuesday where he inaugurated a power plant. Sudan official news agency (SUNA) cited Bashir as instructing authorities to pay more attention towards extending electricity to the countryside so that the younger citizens can use computers and internet to combat opposition through social networking sites such as Facebook.
Sudanese officials have insisted that revolts in Tunisia and Egypt cannot be repeated in Sudan because of the freedoms and openness enjoyed by citizens in the country.
This is a must-read: Robert Tait, a radio journalist who was formerly the Guardian's correspondent in Iran, describes his experience at the hands of the Mukhabarat – the regime's sinister security force – after he was detained last Friday in Cairo. It's stomach-turning stuff:
At first, I attached no meaning to the dull slapping sounds. But comprehension dawned as, amid loud shouting, I heard the electrocuting rods being ratcheted up. My colleague, Abdelilah – kept in a neighbouring room – later told me what the torturers said next.
"Get the electric shocks ready. This lot are to be made to really suffer," a guard said as a new batch of prisoners were brought in.
"Why did you do this to your country?" a jailer screamed as he tormented his victim. "You are not to speak in here, do you understand?" one prisoner was told. He did not reply. Thump. "Do you understand?" Still no answer. More thumps. "Do you understand?" Prisoner: "Yes, I understand." Torturer: "I told you not to speak in here," followed by a cascade of thumps, kicks, and electric shocks.
The Guardian has spoken to detainees who say they have suffered extensive beatings and other abuses at the hands of the military in what appears to be an organised campaign of intimidation. Human rights groups have documented the use of electric shocks on some of those held by the army.
Egyptian human rights groups say families are desperately searching for missing relatives who have disappeared into army custody. Some of the detainees have been held inside the renowned Museum of Egyptian Antiquities on the edge of Tahrir Square. Those released have given graphic accounts of physical abuse by soldiers who accused them of acting for foreign powers, including Hamas and Israel.
The real tragedy of the president's epic mishandling of Egypt is not merely the sceptical-at-best Egypt that will emerge. It's that Egypt is merely the latest episode in a pattern laid down by Barack Obama in the first two years of his presidency. In just two years, he has faced multiple crises of liberty, democracy and the American national interest abroad – and he has failed each test. Even rhetorical support for those seeking freedom, the bare minimum a president can do, is strikingly absent except under duress.
The plain and pathetic reality is that Barack Obama chooses the existing regime over any alternative, and/or against the American ally, every time. Ask the Hondurans who ejected their Chavista president. Ask the Falkland islanders sold out by the Secretary of State Clinton intoning on the "Malvinas". Ask the east European Nato members stripped of a full American deterrent in the name of a Russia "reset". Ask the Tunisians who received not a word of endorsement as they ejected Ben Ali. Ask the Iranians who fought and died for their freedom in the hot summer of 2009.
And now, ask the Egyptians who gather, once again, in Tahrir Square as you read this.
The talks between the Egyptian regime and opposition figures are on the brink of collapse, according to a new report from Cairo just posted on the Guardian's site:
A prominent member of a key opposition group, the Council of Wise Men, said negotiations had "essentially come to an end". A western diplomat said Washington was alarmed by the lack of political progress and the Egyptian vice-president Omar Suleiman's warning of a coup if the opposition refused to accept the government's terms.
Diaa Rashwan, of the Council of Wise Men, said he offered Suleiman a compromise in which Mubarak would have remained president but with his powers transferred to a transitional government.
Rashwan said this proposal was rejected at the weekend and there had been no further movement.
"The regime is taking a hard line and so negotiations have essentially come to an end," he said. "Suleiman's comments about there being a danger of a coup were shocking to all of us – it was a betrayal of the spirit of negotiations, and is unacceptable.
"The regime's strategy has been just to play for time and stall with negotiations. They don't really want to talk to anyone. At the start of this week they were convinced that the protests were going to fade away."
The protests outside Egypt's Parliament and cabinet offices forced prime minister Ahmed Shafiq to move to temporary accomodation in the Civil Aviation Ministry on the other side of the Cairo, it is being reported.
The blogger and top tweeter Sultan Al Qassemi has a string of tweets from the al-Jazeera Arabic interview with Mohammed Hasanain Haykal, billed as one of the most respected Egyptian journalists, a former editor of Al Ahram and a friend of Nasser himself.
The regime repression tools has all collapsed. The only authority is the youth and the army in Egypt
Part of the reaction (by the gov) is to create fear, they overdid it with the camels and the horses ... Kidnapping and torture will continue. These are the tools of this regime. It was surprised. This is how it is reacting.
Don't trust except in the youth, those in Meydan Tahrir are a symbol, but there is an effort to isolate them ... The revolution is not just in Meydan Tahrir, there is an attempt to say that it is only them, that is untrue
The four powers in Egypt now are 1 - Omar Suleiman, 2 - Ahmed Shafik, 3 - General Tantawi, 4 - Sami Hafez Anan
Omar Suleiman is holding talks with the youth and opposition like he is talking to Hamas
According to Wikipedia, Haykal's first post as a journalist was to cover the famous battle of El Alamein in 1942, when Montgomery defeated Rommel. So he's been around.
Dramatic news of the unrest and violence in the Egyptian countryside, with Reuters correspondent Yasmine Saleh in Cairo filing this:
Four people were killed and several suffered gunshot wounds in clashes between security forces and about 3,000 protesters in a western province of Egypt, the state news agency and security sources said on Wednesday.
The clashes in New Valley, a province that includes an oasis in Egypt's western desert, erupted on Tuesday and continued into Wednesday, according to the security sources. It appeared to be the first serious clash between police and protesters since officers all but disappeared from Egyptian streets after they had beaten, teargassed and fired rubber bullets at demonstrators on January 28, dubbed the "Day of Wrath".
President Hosni Mubarak sent the army onto the streets that night, but several days of looting and lawlessness followed the withdrawal of police, and many prisoners escaped from prison.
The protest in New Valley, about 500km (300 miles) south of Cairo, was the first sizeable anti-Mubarak gathering in that area reported by security sources. The countrywide protests to topple the president are now in their third week.
New Valley's governor told MENA that newly appointed Interior Minister Mahmoud Wagdy had decided to sack the head of security in the province following the clashes and ordered an investigation.
A sense that the protests have entered a new and perhaps final phase are reinforced by the Guardian's Jack Shenker on the ground in Cairo:
There's a growing sense tonight that – with new cabinet appointees resigning, strikes multiplying, state media employees walking out and street protests maintaining their momentum – Egypt's government is fragmenting fast, particularly as their 'negotiations' strategy is rapidly unravelling (more details of this in tomorrow's Guardian).
As further evidence, it's just emerged that some prominent Egyptian companies are running adverts in tomorrow's local newspapers explicitly distancing themselves from the Mubarak regime (hat-tip to the excellent Hadeel Al-Shalchi).
The intimate connections between Egypt's political and business elite are probably the defining feature of Mubarak's three decades in power, and the source of much resentment amongst ordinary Egyptians - if key business figures now see fit to disassociate themselves from a governing clique that served them so well for so long, that can't be a good sign for Omar Suleiman and those around him.
Good afternoon from Washington DC, where the Obama administration's messages to the Egyptian government remain frustratingly oblique. But one explanation comes in this Associated Press analysis of the pressures on the US:
Moderate Arab countries such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia have warned Washington that an abrupt departure of Hosni Mubarak – the key demand of Egyptian anti-government protesters – could strengthen militants and destabilize US-backed regimes in the region.
The latest flurry of diplomatic contacts, including dozens of phone conversations between Jordan's King Abdullah II and top US officials, signal growing tensions between the Obama administration and its regional allies since the outbreak of the Egyptian uprising.
Interesting that the Saudi government is classed here as "moderate". Anyway, more details from AP:
Jordan's king told President Barack Obama, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other US officials that there "must be a quiet and peaceful transition of power in Egypt," a Jordanian official said.
The monarch argued that Egypt's Vice President Omar Suleiman should be allowed to introduce needed reforms before Mubarak's term ends in September, the official said. "We've communicated our message very clearly and we believe that it got through," he added.
Others, like oil powerhouses Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, also cautioned the U.S. that a hasty departure by Mubarak could undermine US interests, said a senior Arab diplomat based in Jordan. Like the Jordanian official, he insisted on anonymity, citing private diplomatic conversations with U.S. officials.
Earlier this week, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, told Obama that the United Arab Emirates is eager to see a smooth transition in Egypt, in line with constitutional requirements.
I'm going to handover to my colleague Richard Adams now.
The Egyptian prosecutor general seems to be trying to meet the concerns of the protesters who still feel no one is being held accountable for the violence against them. Not only has he announced an inquiry in to the violence at Al-Wadi al-Jadid but he has also ordered an inquiry into the killing of the Ahram's Ahmed Mohamed Mahmoud, according to al-Jazeera. He was the first journalist killed in the protests and was honoured in a symbolic funeral in Tahrir Squre.
Reuters also has more on Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit's riposte to Joe Biden (see 7.07pm)
Because when you speak about prompt, immediate, now - as if you are imposing on a great country like Egypt, a great friend that has always maintained the best of relationship with the United States, you are imposing your will on him.
He also said he was astounded Biden had called for ending the emergency law:
When I read it this morning I was really amazed because because right now, as we speak, we have 17,000 prisoners loose in the streets out of jails that have been destroyed. How can you ask me to sort of disband that emergency law while I'm in difficulty? Give me time, allow me to have control to stabilise the nation, to stabilise the state and then we would look into the issue.
The Obama administration has said Egypt's government must do more to meet the demands of protesters in the country's streets, Reuters reports. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said:
What you see happening on the streets of Cairo is not all that surprising when you see the lack of steps that their government has taken to meet their concerns.
Al-Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin reports that there have been repercussions as a result of the violence in Al-Wadi al-Jadid/Gadeed (see 5.12pm and 8.36am):
Breaking: Wadi Gadeed #newvalley gov fires top security officials & launches investigation in2 civilian killings by security #tahrir #jan25
This is no longer the time to negotiate, unfortunately. We went on the streets on the 25th and we wanted to negotiate, we wanted to talk to our government, we were knocking on the door. They decided to negotiate with us at night, with rubber bullets, with police sticks, with water hoses, with tear gas, and with arresting about 500 people. Thanks, we got the message. Now, when we escalated this and it became really big, they started listening to us.
More from the Egyptian foreign minister is being flashed up on Reuters. Ahmed Aboul Gheit has reportedly said that he is "amazed" by US vice president Joe Biden's call for an immediate end to emergency law, as the government needs more time to stabilise the country. Abdoul Gheit also said the US advice on political change was "not at all helpful". The quotes come from an interview with the PBS NewsHour programme.
After vice president Suleiman's ominous talk about "a coup" being the only alternative to dialogue (see 8am), the country's foreign minister has said the army could step in to protect national security if "adventurers" try to take power, Reuters reports. Ahmed Aboul Gheit told al-Arabiya:
We must preserve the constitution even if it is amended, because that will protect the country from an attempt by some adventurers to take power and supervise the transition process. We would find the armed forces forced to defend the constitution and Egyptian national security ... and we would find ourselves in an extremely serious situation.
The new culture minister Gaber Asfour, who was only appointed last week, has resigned citing health reasons, according to al-Arabiya TV. Asfour is a prominent literary figure in Egypt.
Wael Ghonim, the Google executive and activist who has been anointed by many as the voice of the revolution since being released from detention, has given his first interview to foreign media. He told CNN he was "ready to die" to bring change to Egypt and that it is "no longer the time to negotiate". Addressing the Egyptian government, he said: "If you are true Egyptians, if you are heroic Egyptians, it's time to step down."
Hossam El-Hamalawy, a journalist and blogger who has closely followed labour activism in Egypt for several years, has told Jack Shenker that today was a significant day for the pro-democracy struggle because the "working class has officially entered the battle":
History has shown us that the industrial working class are normally last social class to join a revolt, and yet their intervention is usually the most crucial. We saw that in Iran, and in Tunisia; when the working-class enter the arena with mass strikes, that's when the regime is finished. Today the working-class has officially entered the battle. Over the past few weeks, since the start of the uprising, the workers have been taking part in the protests but as demonstrators only, not as part of the organised labour movement. They were engaging in independent actions. But now the mass strikes are starting, and we're seeing workers raise not only demands related to their economic rights, but also overtly political demands, and that changes everything.
The Guardian has a video interview with the Egyptian actor, Mohsena Tawfik, explaining why she has joined the protesters in Tahrir Square:
–
Alastair Burt, the UK's minister for the Middle East and North Africa, met with the Egyptian ambassador to the UK, Hatem Saif el Nasr, today. He appears to have reiterated the British position on Egypt, according to this press release from the Foreign and Commonwealth office:
"The Ambassador and I had a long discussion about the current situation in Egypt. I clearly reiterated the British Government's position: whilst it is for the Egyptian people to determine the leadership of their country, it is clear that an orderly transition to a broad-based government, with real, visible and meaningful change needs to start now.
Mr Burt noted recent commitments by the Egyptian Government, including the Presidential decree to establish a constitutional review committee, an outline timetable for change, a commitment to protect freedom of expression and to allow peaceful protest and an end the State of Emergency. He said that: "Some of these promises have been made before, and we look forward to actual implementation– what is needed now is action which builds confidence and which leads towards an inclusive government that can meet the needs and aspirations of the Egyptian people". In this context Mr Burt said that he was struck by the size and diversity of yesterday's demonstrations in Tahrir square.
Mr Burt also expressed concern about continuing detention and harassment of foreigners, journalists and members of the opposition in Egypt. Mr Burt said that these needed to "stop immediately", and invoked public assurances given by the Egyptian Vice President.
Concerns are rising over a crackdown on protesters in Al-Wadi al-Jadid. Egyptian state TV is now saying three people were killed in the south-west area overnight and that clashes continued today.
Al Masry Al Youm reports that 3,000 Egyptian national railways (ENR) employees have gone on strike with some sitting on rail lines to stop trains getting through, and bus drivers will start a strike tomorrow that will lead to the suspension of services.
Another video has emerged of a police van running over protesters in Egypt. This was taken in Mahalla, according to one of the people circulating it, although it is not clear when. After it ploughs through a crowd, people seem to overpower the occupant or occupants of the vehicle, and in the last second of the video tip it over. (Beware: contains upsetting footage.)
The April 6 Youth movement has sent a defiant reply in response to vice-president Omar Suleiman's warning that the protests were "very dangerous" and the only alternative to dialogue was "a coup" (see 8am). In an email sent to followers of its Facebook page it says:
The methods of Omar Soleiman in dealing with the protesters has become unacceptable and as Egyptians won't accept anything but justice now.
The statements made by Omar Soleiman, that he won't tolerate the presence of the protesters any more, and that he would not tolerate the continuation of such events, is a clear threat to the protesters in Tahrir Square, and we do not accept his threat, on the contrary, the demonstrators will continue and will not stop until we overthrow this tyrant regime.
At the same time, we find that the Egyptian regime has arrested Egyptian participants in the protests, and activists and bloggers and we did not find them till now.
Today, we reaffirm our rejection of ... this comic speech, made by Omar Soleiman and some cartoon parties who do not represent us, in an attempt to deceive the Egyptian people, without trying to meet the demands of the protesters in Tahrir Square and the demands of all Egyptians all over Egypt.
The protesters including the April 6 youth insist that this regime must leave immediately.
The blood of martyrs shed in the field of liberalization in many requires us to reject this comic speech, which Omar Soliman and the President released.
We refuse any negotiations until Mubarak and his regime leaves.
Our rights and demands which have not been implemented, and the blood of our martyrs are not negotiable.
April 6 Youth Egyptian resistance movement
Brian Whitaker, the Guardian's former Middle East editor, has been below the line answering your questions.
Brian Whitaker has linked to a piece entitled 'The Muslim Brotherhood Myth' (see www.juancole.com). At the bottom of the piece, a commenter writes:
No news network or paper seems to mention the slightest thing about Libya even though it has Tunis on one side and Egypt on the other. Presumably the unrest in Tunis and Egypt has had some kind of effect in Libya? Are you able to shed any light on this?
Despite having supported numerous revolutionary causes over the years, Gaddafi was apoplectic when his chum Ben Ali was turfed out of Tunisia. His rantings about that, blaming the internet, have been quite widely reported both in the mainstream and on blogs. Here is one account.
There was trouble in Libya very soon after Ben Ali was overthrown. I wrote about it on my personal blog, here and here.
ABC News's Lara Setrakian says she has been speaking to Ayman Nour, who challenged Hosni Mubarak for the presidency in 2005 and was thrown in jail for his troubles. She has been tweeting what he said:
Nour makes a fearful analysis: people had no free elections, so they went to the street. if that doesn't work, next step would be violence
I have met with protesters in Ramallah and they said they are, quote, "extremely inspired" by what's happening in Egypt. The problem is the Palestinian Authority from the very beginning banned any kind of demonstrations in the Palestinian territories which means that some demonstrations have not been attended by a large number of people and there's been detentions and people have been taken into police stations. There have been complaints of abuses in the police stations. Finally the Palestinian Authority allowed one protest last Saturday and around a thousand people attended. Analysts told me the Palestinian Authority are worried about what's going on in Egypt.
It started off as solidarity with Tunisia and Egypt ... It's become [about] their demonstrations for political reform in the Palestinian Territories ... Young and old people are very frustrated at the lack of utilities ... but also lack of channels for political participation.
A notable thing about the media coverage, a trap that this blog is falling into too, is the lack of comment on the disappearance of Hosni Mubarak from public view. Has he been seen/heard from since that interview with ABC News?
It is a bit of an elephant in the room ... or shall I say the elephant which was in the room and has now been disappeared by a slight of hand ...
Here is an afternoon summary:
• Protesters have continued their demonstration outside the parliament after thousands set up a new front there in the demonstrations last night. They appear not to have been cowed by vice-president Omar Suleiman's warning that the protests are "very dangerous". He said the alternative to dialogue was a coup (see 11.37am).
• The Egyptian government has agreed to amend six articles of the constitution immediately, according to Al Jazeera. These included provisions on who can run for president and on how long a president can serve (see 2.08pm).
• More workers have begun strikes, including factory workers in Mahalla, Suez and Helwan, journalists and sanitation workers in Cairo. Reports of other strikes elsewhere have also been coming in (see 1.34pm).
• Two people are reported to have died in violence last night in Al-Wadi al-Jadid, an isolated town in south-west Egypt (see 2.25pm). There are unconfirmed reports a soldier has been shot by a pro-Mubarak supporter in Mahalla (see 2pm).
• Human rights organisations have accused the minister of information, Anas al-Fiqqi, of being responsible for the deaths of protesters by spreading false propaganda about them (see 11.48am). Human Rights Watch estimates that 302 people have died in the protests so far.
The newly released activist Wael Ghonim says he has given an interview to CNN to respond to Suleiman (presumably his comments about the dangers of the protests and possibility of a coup). Frustratingly Ghonim doesn't go into details.
Jamal al-Hajji, who has dual Libyan and Danish nationality, was arrested on February 1 shortly after he issued a call on the Internet for demonstrations in support of greater freedoms in the North African country, it said.
Hajji was arrested in a car park in Tripoli by a group of about 10 security officials in plain clothes who told him a man claimed to have been hit by Jamal al-Hajji's car, which he had just parked, reported.
Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Director Malcolm Smart said:
Two particular aspects of the case lead us to believe that the alleged car incident was not the real reason for Jamal al-Hajji's arrest, but merely a pretext to conceal what was really a politically motivated arrest.
First, eyewitnesses have reported that the man who is said to have complained of being struck by Jamal al-Hajji's car showed no visible signs of injury.
Secondly, the officers who conducted the arrest were in plain clothes, indicating that they were not the ordinary police who generally would be expected to handle car accidents, but members of the Internal Security Agency (ISA). It is the ISA that usually carries out arrests of political suspects and they wear plain clothes.
Protesters outside the parliament building in Cairo are preparing for the long haul, according to Channel 4's Lindsey Hilsum
So far, the clashes between police and demonstrators have resulted in two deaths and 35 injuries with some of the casualties taken by ambulance to the Assiut University hospital. Those killed have been named as Mustafa Said Bilal and Kitan Abdel Rahman Khadr.
The confrontations continue with intensity, fuelled by the police's use of live ammunition against the demonstrators.
The demonstrations are the first large ones against the regime in the normally quiet governorate, 500 km south of Cairo.
There are unconfirmed reports that three died in the clashes and that one of the protesters was shot in the eye.
Platitudes from the US about Egypt are now available in an Arabic Twitter feed.
#Egypt #Jan25 recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of America's historic role played by social media in the Arab world and we want to be part of your conversations
#Egypt #Jan25 Obama said that ultimately the future of Egypt in the hands of the Egyptian people
#Egypt #Jan25 "Vice President Biden to Vice President Solomon:" We must stop the harassment of civil society and the abolition of emergency law
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Al-Jazeera reports that the Egyptian government has agreed to amend six articles of the constitution immediately. Evan Hill has tweeted the details of the articles in question. They include the respective articles that restrict who can run for president and allow for unlimited presidential terms.
Egyptian blogger Mohammed Maree claims a soldier has been shot by a pro-Mubarak supporter in Mahalla. If true, it will be interesting to see how that affects the dynamic of the relationship between those two groups.
@mar3e
I'm informed now from a private sources that one of the Army solider in mahalla have been injured by a live bullet from one of the NDP thug
The April 6 Youth movement has sent an email message to all members of its Facebook page, reiterating its opposition to any talks with the government until Mubarak resigns. The English is not perfect but there is no mistaking the message from the group:
April 6 Youth's Statement for The Egyptian Uprising...
The Egyptian youth Stood & fought against the Tyrants, and we faced their bullets with bare Chests, with all bravery and patience, so hail for the great Egyptian people who made this revolution, and so we confirm that victory is in the fall of Mubarak and his Regime .
From the 25th of January "The Egyptian Uprising" we brought down the dictator's legitimacy...Who rule Egypt now is the Valiant Egyptian people... to maintain our peaceful uprising and to continue protecting ourselves and our country against the Sabotage of the terror regime's thugs.
We will continue what we started on the 25th of January, we the Egyptian youth of who were not deceived by Mubarak's speech which aimed to absurd the Egyptian people's feelings, and underestimated their mentality as it has been used for the past 30 years, with the same fake speeches and promises, and delusional election programs which none of it came to reality.
Mubarak came to this kind of false talk, as a thought from him that the Egyptian people still can be deceived and believe his false words as he just replaced some of his thugs by others and still killing and arresting people, Mubarak lost credibility and will never gain it again from his the Egyptian people as they know now how to fight for their rights and ready to die for it.
We will not accept any kind of negotiations before Mubarak departs. We will not give up until we achieve our demands.
April 6 Youth Movement Egyptian Resistance Movement
the railway technicians in Bani Suweif r on strike. #jan25
Here's a summary:
• Protesters have continued their demonstration outside the parliament after thousands set up a new front there in the demonstrations last night. They appear not to have been cowed by vice-president Omar Suleiman's warning that the protests are "very dangerous". He said the alternative to dialogue was a coup.
• More workers have begun strikes including factory workers in Mahalla, Suez and Helwan, journalists and sanitation workers in Cairo. Yesterday, steel workers and canal workers in Suez went on strike and Telecom Egypt staff in Cairo among others.
• Two people are reported to have died in violence last night in Al-Wadi al-Jadid, an isolated town in south-west Egypt. The Egyptian paper Youm7 reported 100 people were injured including 8 seriously amid an unconfirmed report of a massacre.
• Human rights organisations have accused the minister of information, Anas al-Fiqqi, of being responsible for the deaths of protesters by spreading false propaganda about them. Human Rights Watch estimates that 302 people have died in the protests so far.
The Interior Ministry has been sending some interesting and ominous-sounding text messages to CNN's Ben Wedeman, he reports on Twitter.
More than 2,000 textile workers and others in Suez demonstrated as well, Al Ahram reported, while in Luxor thousands hurt by the collapse of the tourist industry marched to demand government benefits. There was no immediate independent corroboration of the reports. Al Ahram's coverage was a departure from its usual practice of avoiding reporting that might embarrass the government.
At one factory in the textile town of Mahalla, more than 1,500 workers walked out and blocked roads, continuing a long-running dispute with the owner. And more than 2,000 workers from the Sigma pharmaceutical company in the city of Quesna went on strike while some 5,000 unemployed youth stormed a government building in Aswan, demanding the dismissal of the governor.
In Cairo, sanitation workers demonstrated around their headquarters in Dokki. And more than a hundred journalists gathered in the lobby of Al Ahram itself, denouncing corruption, calling for more press freedom and demanding benefits for two colleagues killed in the Tahrir Square protests.
The organizations held al-Fiqqi responsible for the "crimes committed in Egypt on Wednesday 2 February which led to the death of 11 people and the injury of 820 others."
In their report, the organizations said that the media campaign launched by the Egyptian Information Ministry incited hatred against peaceful protesters calling for reform, by accusing them of treason.
In a statement, the organizations said al-Fiqqi used Egyptian Television to perpetrate rumours about the peaceful protesters on Egyptian streets, particularly those in Tahrir Square.
The report included some of the news reported by state television, which it described as "false," saying it was misused to turn public opinion against the protesters.
Osama Saraya, the editor-in-chief of the pro-government newspaper Al-Ahram who was there, said Suleiman didn't only mean a military coup but a takeover by another powerful state apparatus or Islamist groups.
Abdul-Rahman Samir, a spokesman for a coalition of the five main youth groups behind the protests in Tahrir Square, said Suleiman was creating "a disastrous scenario."
Blake Hounshell managing editor of Foreign Police magazine tweets:
Beyond Tahrir Square, beyond the boundaries of the sprawling capital, beyond even the provincial cities where protesters joined the call to topple President Hosni Mubarak, rural Egypt is restless for change.
Scraping a meagre living from the land, farmers and rural workers in Egypt's agricultural heartland have watched the largely urban uprising that has shaken the ruling system and many back the web-savvy youths who galvanised the nation. A few have turned up in Cairo in their galabiyas, the robes worn in the fields, although most are too busy trying to feed their families. But many believe it is time for a new era, even if some think Mubarak should stay on a few months more.
"The revolution is good ... It will give us stability but the protest should stop and the president should be allowed to stay until the end of his term," said farmer Fawzi Abdel Wahab, working a field near the Nile Delta city of Tanta.
"If the president doesn't do as he promised, Tahrir Square is still there and the youth will not die, they can go back," he said, his wife and daughter nodding in agreement. The protesters want Mubarak to quit now. Mubarak has said he will step down at the end of his term in September.
The protests may have begun with an educated youth and liberal, urban elite, but a tour of the Nile Delta suggests discontent is more widespread. Mubarak's government needs to do more than meet the aspirations of the middle class.
"The ideas the youths called for in their revolution express those of all Egyptian people, including farmers and residents of rural areas who, like the rest of Egyptians in big cities, face the same needs and suffering," said analyst Nabil Abdel Fattah.
The Guardian has footage of Wael Ghonim's appearance and speech at yesterday's rally.
More on the pop star Tamer Hosny, described Egypt's Justin Bieber. Al-Jazeera has unearthed this video of him expressing remorse for his pro-Mubarak comments.
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There is an unconfirmed report that he was beaten yesterday.
While people were being shot dead by police on streets packed with protesters calling for Mubarak's resignation, state-run TV presenter Soha al-Naqqash was asserting that calmness prevailed.
Al-Naqqash, a longtime employee of Egypt's Nile News channel, submitted her resignation over state TV's coverage of the uprising.
Al-Naqqash told Al-Masry Al-Youm Wednesday that she had tried to convince her bosses to change the coverage to reflect what was actually happening, but she was rebuffed.
"They used to say 'these are the instructions'. I decided to resign so as not to get involved in what's unprofessional," she said.
Just over the last few days people have told us they were slapped around, in one or two cases they were actually quite badly beaten and threatened with a lot worse. We had one case of someone who claimed he had been subjected to some sort of electroshock device.
Mr Suleiman definitely seems to be not on message when it comes to the demands of the protesters for some serious structural reforms. I was encouraged that the Obama administration called for the revocation of the emergency law. This is something that President Mubarak has to do. It is something he should do before he leaves, when ever that is.
On the release of Wael Ghonim, Stork said.
It is worth pointing out that only not only was detained, he was disappeared, nobody knew where he was. There was a long period of time when his family was going round to morgues and hospitals to find out what happened to him. This is completely outrageous.
An Egyptian regime imposed by military coup is considered by some to be laughable, but they might want to listen to elements of the opposition who are more concerned about this.
On the extension of the protests to the parliament building, Chris said:
So far those protesters [outside parliament] have been left alone, although they have been told not to go into the parliament building, and one of them, who was hanging signs on the railings, was forced to take them down. The protesters now feel they have extended the range of their control beyond the [Tahrir] square. If the military tried to clear them that might well set off a confrontation.
A number of strikes have started, including telecommunication and Suez canal workers, Chris reports.
Although it is dressed up as about pay, it is also being interpreted as a demonstration of support from outside the capital for the protests against Mubarak. It was notable that at the demonstration yesterday, which was the biggest so far, there were quite a number of people who worked for state who would have been fearful of attending demonstrations a week ago.
There will be degree of reassessment [today]. The opposition is deciding how it can best keep the momentum of these protests and even extend them. They want to take it to a second stage and reach out to other Egyptians who maybe more ambivalent at the moment.
The government, as you can see from Suleiman's statement, is clearly in a form of disarray. It doesn't really know what to do. It thought that by beginning the dialogue it could take the sting out of the protests, but the size and scale of the demonstrations plus the sheer variety of people attending yesterday, shows it hasn't at all.
The police cut off the electricity and water about 2-3 hours ago. They fired live bullets at the protesters. After brutally beating the protesters, the police were forced to retreat. While retreating they set a gas station on fire. The protesters successfully put out the fire using buckets full of sand.
The protesters set the NDP HQ, Governorate building, and the police station on fire (the police station is unconfirmed). The police arrested a lot of youth randomly and took them to an unknown destination. Also the police set a lot of convicts from the Wadi Prison free to scare the people,keeping only political detainees. The latest news was that the convicts are set to attack the museum, and the protesters are preparing Molotovs for defence. Mohammed Hassan Belal, a 20-year-old protester, is the first confirmed death.
Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, said:
Arrests by military police of journalists, human rights defenders, and youth activists since January 31 appear intended to intimidate reporting and undermine support for the Tahrir protest. These arrests and reports of abuse in detention are exactly the types of practices that sparked the demonstrations in the first place.
Here's a round up of the other recent developments.
Mass demonstrations are expected once more today as opponents of Mubarak's regime show their anger at his refusal to step down. Protesters are already gathering in Tahrir Square, outside the state TV building in Cairo and the presidential palace.
The military is expected to issue a statement in the next two hours, before Friday prayers, amid continued speculation of a military takeover. There are hopes among some protesters that the military will oversee the transition to democracy.
Here is some video of Hosni Mubarak's speech last night.
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There is a lot of coverage of the Egyptian situation in today's Guardian.
By choosing this path, Mubarak is deliberately pushing Egypt further into crisis. He is putting the army in a position where they will soon have to confront either the Egyptian people or the president and his presidential guard. He is also ensuring that by the time the revolution is victorious, the military will be in a far stronger position than when all this started. We are on the streets. There is no turning back.
Barack Obama expressed dismay at the failure of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to stand down and said the Egyptian government has yet to put forward a "credible, concrete and unequivocal path to democracy", as Egypt braced itself for what demonstrators predicted would be the biggest protests yet.
Above all, the embattled president sang his own praises, reminding Egyptians – the silent majority – of his sacrifices as a war hero and his defence of the country's interests in peacetime. "I have lived for this nation," the former air force commander declared, visibly emotional about his own efforts. "I have exhausted my life defending the land and its sovereignty. I have faced death on my occasions. I never bent under foreign pressure. I never sought false power or popularity. I am certain that the majority of people are aware who Hosni Mubarak is." He clearly meant that those who were roaring their anger and disapproval for the world's TV cameras did not.
When an authoritarian regime approaches the final crisis, its dissolution tends to follow two steps. Before its actual collapse, a rupture takes place: all of a sudden people know that the game is over, they are simply no longer afraid. It is not only that the regime loses its legitimacy; its exercise of power itself is perceived as an impotent panic reaction. We all know the classic scene from cartoons: the cat reaches a precipice but goes on walking, ignoring the fact that there is no ground under its feet; it starts to fall only when it looks down and notices the abyss. When it loses its authority, the regime is like a cat above the precipice: in order to fall, it only has to be reminded to look down …
The April 6 youth movement has issued a furious response to Mubarak's speech last night. In a communique sent to its Facebook followers it says "a general strike is needed to bring him down".
Mubarak's speech was an astonishing piece of hypocritical filth. This man who sat atop of the regime which brutalised his people for 30 years, and tried in the last 17 days to destroy the movement any way that it could shed crocodile tears for the people that his police had killed. Over 300 people have died to force him from power, and after cursing the movement and trying to drown them in blood he addresses his speech to the "youth of the nation". These are the youth of the nation who have risen up against him and hate him with a passion – they have nothing in common with him or his regime. They are the future and he is the past, that is why he has fought against them so violently.
He promised a full investigation into anyone involved in persecuting protesters and swore again that he would resign in September, but not before.
During his entire speech he did not offer one serious concession to the people - he did not even withdraw the state of emergency. He proposed the amendment of 6 sections of the constitution, including the most controversial ones of article 76 and 77. He said he would scrap article 179. Article 179 is a relatively new anti terrorism amendment which stipulates "the state will assume responsibility for safeguarding security and public order in the face of the dangers of terrorism", which allows for anti terror suspects to be investigated and arrested without any kind of judicial over view.
The strikes should not be called off, they need to be extended and coordinated into an all out general strike. The strikes should be coordinated by democratic councils of the workers, they need to organise the defence of the revolution. It is also important now that the rank and file soldiers be won over to the revolution.
Now the demand for a constituent assembly is crucial. It is not the military or technocrats which should decide the new constitution but a democratic assembly composed of recognised delegates from the people.
Whether Mubarak is working in relative agreement with the army or defying them is not clear. Clearly the army wants to consolidate its influence in the political process. Clearly the military are divided over what to do – still the different factions within the regime do not know what to do. Some within the NPD want Mubarak gone, but Mubarak and his clique want to hold on to power. The army's position is changing, but it is not clear yet what role they will play.
As everyone awaits the army's next move the people in Tahrir Square in Cairo are chanting that the people and the army are "together". There are also reports of army officers joining the protests. From Reuters:
An Egyptian army officer who joined protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square said on Friday 15 other middle-ranking officers had also gone over to the demonstrators.
"The armed forces' solidarity movement with the people has begun," Major Ahmed Ali Shouman told Reuters by telephone just after dawn prayers.
On Thursday evening Shouman told crowds in Tahrir that he had handed in his weapon and joined their protests demanding an immediate end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.
"Some 15 officers ... have joined the people's revolution," he said, listing their ranks ranging from captain to lieutenant colonel. "Our goals and the people's are one."
Shouman said the other officers would address the crowd after Friday midday prayers. Another army major walked up to Shouman while he was talking with a Reuters reporter in Tahrir on Thursday and introduced himself, saying: "I have also joined the cause"...
Protesters carried Shouman on their shoulders, chanting "The people and army are united", after he spoke to them on stage ...
Shouman, who had to show his army credentials to a few suspicious protesters, said he had urged other officers to join the planned anti-Mubarak demonstrations across Egypt.
He said he had 15 years of army service and had been told to guard the western entrance to Tahrir Square. Many of the other officers siding with the protesters had been posted around Tahrir and had been in constant contact with those inside.
The BBC has issued a statement saying its Persian TV service is being jammed "from within Iran" following the corporation's coverage of the ongoing unrest in Egypt.
It appears that the trigger point was a joint broadcast on Wednesday by the corporation's Persian and Arabic services in which Iranian and Egyptian callers exchanged views.
Many Iranian viewers said during the interactive programme that they were watching events unfold in Cairo extremely closely.
Peter Horrocks, head of BBC Global News, called for an end to the jamming, saying: "It is wrong that our significant Iranian audience is being denied impartial news and information ...
"The BBC will not stop covering Egypt and it will continue to broadcast to the Iranian people."
BBC Persian TV launched in 2009 and has suffered similar attempts to interfere with its signal intermittently ever since. But it continues to stream live online.
Coincidentally, today marks the 31st anniversary of the uprising by the Iranian people against the Shah.
The BBC statement says:
The heavy electronic jamming is of satellites the BBC uses in the Middle East to broadcast the BBC Persian TV signal to Iran. Satellite technicians have traced that interference and have confirmed it is coming from Iran.
The Guardian's Chris McGreal, in Cairo, says people will not just be listening to what the supreme military council has to say in its announcement, expected shortly, but will also be scrutinising the army's behaviour on the streets:
A lot of people will be interested to hear what they have to say, about how they react to Mubarak's announcement but they will also be looking at how the military behaves, particularly around Tahrir Square. Will they just stand back as they have done on previous days? Are they going to try to prevent it, control it? That would be an indication to many people as to whether the military intends to respond to the government's call for the people to leave the square, to end the protests, on the grounds that Mubarak has made a transfer of powers to his vice-president, that there's a negotiation process that he's committed to and a transition of powers in September that should be enough to meet the protesters demands. Is the army going to try and enforce that in some way or is it going to allow the protesters to do what they say they want to do, which is to ratchet up the pressure on the government? It will be very telling about where the military leadership is.
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Ironically given that the BBC's Persian service is being jammed (see 9.30am), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, has said Egypt's popular uprising shows a new Middle East is emerging, one that will have no signs of Israel and US "interference", the Associated Press is reporting.
It sounds like the Egyptian government is still desperately manoeuvring in an attempt to appease the protesters. Reuters reports that a deputy premier is to be appointed from a council of "wise men" who have been in talks with the government to find a way out of the country's crisis:
The state news agency said vice-president Omar Suleiman had asked prime minister Ahmed Shafiq to appoint a deputy prime minister who would take responsibility for "a national dialogue" with opposition forces and independent figures. Suleiman held the first session of the dialogue on Sunday. The "wise men" council includes prominent businessmen, such as tycoon Naguib Sawiris, lawyers and academics. A date for a second session has yet to be set. Protesters who are challenging Hosni Mubarak's rule have condemned the dialogue as an attempt to fool people into thinking the government is serious about political reform. They say the reforms Mubarak has said he will implement fall well short of their demands for deep political reform.
One opposition group, the leftwing Tagammu party, said on Thursday it would no longer take part, saying the government was not responding to the people's demands.
Rosemary Hollis, professor of Middle East policy studies and director of the Olive Tree scholarship programme at City University, London, said there was "a distinct possibility" the armed forces would now split. She said there were a couple of ways this split could go.
One would be a split between older, senior officers and younger ones from the middle ranks.
"The most senior ranks are the same age as Mubarak and Suleiman," she said. "The younger men are their [the demonstrators'] generation. They will identify less with Mubarak and more with the future of the country they want to be part of."
She said the other way the armed forces could split would be ideologically, between those who wanted to concentrate on "law and order" and a "managed transition under Mubarak and co" and felt this would be "preferable to the dangers of a transition to democracy" and on the other side those "embracing change with all its uncertainty".
She had been told that this ideological split could run along the lines of the air force (Mubarak's old service) and republican guard on one side, and "everyone else", including the regular army, on the side of change.
Hollis said: "Militaries aren't good at transitions to democracy. They're more comfortable with continuity." But, on the other hand, "the army has not been clearly on the side of Mubarak" during this crisis.
Whatever happens, she said, "the army will have the final say".
The military statement has just been read out. The translation was difficult to follow but the supreme military council essentially seemed to be saying it would help see through the transition to democracy but there was no indication that it is opposed to Mubarak and/or Suleiman being involved in that transition.
The army also guaranteed a free and fair presidential election, constitutional changes and protection of the nation.
The army also said none of the "honourable" protesters would be prosecuted.
Chris McGreal, in Cairo, has given a snap response to the statement by the supreme military council. "The army has thrown its weight behind the status quo for now," he told me. However Chris suggested that the army may be warning Mubarak that he must carry out the reforms that he has promised.
That might not be enough to meet the high expectations of many of the protesters, who had place their hopes in the hands of the military.
The army said the emergency law would be ended "as soon as the current circumstances end", which indicates that the army want the people off the streets. As Chris McGreal said earlier (see 9.45am), everyone will be closely watching the reaction of the military on the streets today.
The signals are that the protests in the capital are spreading out.
Chris McGreal says outside the state TV building in Cairo there is "a very large and angry crowd shouting 'out, out, out'".
Reuters is reporting "several dozen protesters" outside Mubarak's presidential palace. It says razor wire and six tanks and armoured vehicles separate them from the palace.
Think the real hope for protesters now is a split btw senior ranks and low-level soldiers #jan25
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Apparently the following joke is splitting Egyptians' sides:
Communique No 2 from the Armed Forces: "A message from the Armed Forces to the Noble Egyptian People: our next Communique to you will be No 3."
Wael Ghonim, the Egyptian activist who wore a green wristband when he talked in Tahrir Square, sent a message to Iranians for their protest organised on Monday by giving an interview to an opposition website:
I would tell Iranians to learn from the Egyptians, as we have learned from you guys, that at the end of the day with the power of people, we can do whatever we want to do. If we unite our goals, if we believe, then all our dreams can come true.
The military is the only institution that can make Mubarak leave. Not the United States and not the protesters. The US can try to use their leverage with the military and the protesters can try to bring the military to their side, but this is the Egyptian military's show and it has been that way since 1952. The US withdrawing aid will be counterproductive and will leave the protesters more vulnerable and the military less worried about perception.
A lot of people seem to have reacted with enthusiasm with the army's pronouncement that the emergency law will be lifted but the qualification expressed makes it far too early to celebrate. As the activist and blogger SandMonkey points out:
The emergency law isn't lifted. It will be lifted once "calm is restored", which could mean after all of us are arrested. #jan25
An advisor to Mubarak, who yesterday said the president was going to stand aside, has said he stands by his view. Hossam Badrawi, secretary general of the ruling NDP party, has told Lindsey Hilsum of Channel 4 News: "The delivery of the speech was bad, because he spoke about himself and as if he is going to follow things up, but the reality is that he is not in power. Constitutional action is being taken."
Badrawi said that if Mubarak formally stood down, it would force an election in 60 days. But in effect he has no power and has transferred his authority to Omar Suleiman, the vice-president.
The solution is giving authority to the vice-president. But this does not include changing any article of the constitution or appointing the government. President Mubarak is out in all his powers apart from calling for a referendum on the constitution and also appointing the cabinet. The reality will stand. The message is clear and black and white. But the delivery did not give the right impression.
Lest we forget, Cairo is not the only place protests are taking place in Egypt. Al-Jazeera reports gathering crowds in Alexandria.
By the standards of any modern politician, it was truly dreadful: in turns vain, arrogant, patronising, condescending and defiant. Above all, it showed Mubarak totally out of touch with the mood of the country and the will of the people that he governs. The only thing to be said in its favour is that it illustrated, in just a few hundred words, all the reasons why he ought to go (even if he's still refusing to do so).
The Iraqi embassy in Egypt is offering food, financial aid and free flights home to Iraqis there who feel threatened by the ongoing unrest, the Washington Post reports.
Kareem Amer, the first blogger to be prosecuted in Egypt, has been released and has given a harrowing account of his latest spell of detention. Amer (real name Abdel-Karim Nabil Suleiman), was freed in November last year after being sentenced to four years in jail for insulting Islam and the president but was arrested with a friend during the protests on Monday and they were only released in the early hours of this morning. He told the Daily Beast:
This prison was like a trash can. The cell was tiny and the bathroom was disgusting. They did not allow us to shower even once since we were arrested. People were treated harshly and severely tortured on a daily basis. They were tortured in front of our eyes: water-boarded, beaten with sticks, and electrocuted.
There are reports on Twitter that airport police in Egypt have joined the growing numbers of workers who have walked out and are now on strike.
Plus al-Arabiya TV is reporting that protesters have take control of government institutions in Suez.
Al-Jazeera reports that there is growing anger amongst protesters outside the presidential palace at the military after an army colonel appealed to the people to allow Mubarak to make an honourable exit. He was jeered by the crowd and could not finish speaking.
The Egyptian army seems to hold the key to Mubarak's future and that of Egypt. What will they do next? Here's our story on that.
Giles Tremlett writes from Morocco about the reaction to Hosni Mubarak's speech and whether any similar pro-democracy movement is likely to take root in that country:
At the Chelah restaurant in the Moroccan capital of Rabat bewildered guests found themselves waiting for their food last night as waiters surged towards the TV set to listen to Hosni Mubarak's speech.
The Egyptian presdient's appearance was greeted with silence, but it only took a few minutes before the first angry viewer threw his hands in the air and stomped off. "He is staying!" shouted one.
By the end of the confusing speech, the joke was about which part of the 92-year-old president was staying and which part was going.
But some in Morocco saw progress. "Little by little," said Rachid, an economist who supported the democracy protesters.
Is the wind of change blowing west towards Morocco? It is not needed, according to the presenters and guests on the pop-based French language Hits Radio that I listened to this morning as I drove north to Tangier.
"We are fortunate to belong to such a beautiful country, so wonderfully led by our king," said one guest with what sounds like exaggerated enthusiasm. But Facebook-organised nationwide demonstrations are being called for 20 February. They will provide a public test of how enthusiastic Moroccans really are about their government and regime.
There are those who want to spread it beyond the square, partly because of the sheer numbers involved. At the moment this square is packed, almost full, and that's before the large number on a Friday after prayers and the square tends to fill up through the afternoon. The protesters, organisers, are hoping to take advantage of that and move into other areas and keep hold of them. What is interesting at the [state] TV building is ... sealed off with barbed wire and armed vehicles and tanks and soldiers with very heavy-looking guns but the protesters have been allowed to move into the street and cut it off and if they are allowed to do that in other parts of the city, which they perhaps intend to do, that will be a real challenge to the regime.
____
Sultan Al Qassemi has been tweeting the details of an interview Wael Ghonim, anointed by some as the voice of the revolution, is giving to al-Arabiya TV. For a bit of context, Ghonim had been criticised by some for telling people to go home and celebrate yesterday. Here's some excerpts from the interview:
I told people to go back home after Obama's speech because I was optimistic.
I demand the army guarantees that Mubarak will "never ever ever" return to the presidency.
We demand the ability to form political parties immediately. This is what this movement is about
With veteran intelligence chief Omar Suleiman installed as vice-president, western diplomats say that he and other key figures such as the defence minister, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, and the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Sami Einan, are resisting pressure from the US to persuade Mubarak to step down before September's presidential elections, as he has now pledged.
It could happen if they conclude that Egypt's and the army's interests will be best served by that outcome — but that point has not yet been reached. "These men are all old friends and I would not be surprised if they are able to convince Mubarak that he needs to go and have more urgent medical treatment in Germany," said a former senior western official.
Incidentally, a retired general has just told al Jazeera that the military will issue a third statement (the first was yesterday, the second this morning) soon.
Some facts on the Egyptian military - total personnel around 468,500 active personnel, plus a reserve of 479,000 - from Reuters:
ARMY: Numbers: 280,000 - 340,000 including conscripts. Main Battle Tanks - 3,723, including 973 A1M1 Abrams tanks. Reconnaissance vehicles - 410. Armoured Infantry Fighting vehicles - 610. Armoured personnel carriers - 4,160. Artillery pieces 4,480 (including 492 self-propelled, 962 towed). Mortars - 2,528. Air Defence surface-to-air missiles - at least 2,100. Tactical surface-to-surface missiles - over 42.
* OTHER FORCES: - There are also 150,000 Air Defence Command troops and 397,000 paramilitaries comprising Central Security Forces, National Guard and Border Guard forces.
Cairo Alexandria Mansoura Damnhur Tanta Mahalla Asuit Sohag Bani sawfi Suez Port Said Damietta
BBC Arabic is reporting that Mubarak left the country at 1pm, according to Zeionobia. Al-Arabiya also reported that he had left the country but then clarified and said he had left Cairo. All reports of Mubarak fleeing should be taken with a pinch of salt until confirmed. There have been so many rumours since the protests began that have turned out to be wrong - not least yesterday.
Al-Arabiya TV is now saying Mubarak has gone to Sharm el-Sheikh for "a break"!
Meanwhile, there are reportedly at least 2,000 protesters outside the presidential palace.
A couple of additions to the list of places where protesters are marching from al-Jazeera. It is reporting more than 50,000 protesters in Qin, the hometown of vice-president Omar Suleiman, and 20,000 in Arish, 344km north-east of Cairo.
Iraq has offered food, financial aid and free flights home to its citizens who had moved to Egypt to escape civil strife at home, but may now feel threatened by unrest in their host country, officials said.
The Iraqi government has helped some 2,000 Iraqis leave Egypt since the outbreak of a popular uprising against the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, on 25 January. Those deciding to stay in Egypt were offered food and financial aid, said Saif Sabah, a spokesman for Iraq's migration and displacement ministry.
While the flights to Iraq are free, the government won't fly Iraqis back to Egypt for free later, Sabah said.
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have fled their homeland since the 2003 American-led invasion, and the government since has struggled with trying to persuade them to come home and help rebuild the war-torn nation.
Libyan President Muammar al-Qaddafi called President Hosni Mubarak after the Egyptian leader's Thursday speech.
Qaddafi, who has been ruling Libya for nearly 40 years, supported Mubarak despite the continuing protests against his rule since 25 January, the Libyan News Agency reported Friday.
Qaddafi has also criticized the earlier ousting of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
The Libyan News Agency said that phone call focused on the developing events Egypt is witnessing in the wake of Mubarak's speech when Mubarak delegated some presidential powers to Vice President Omar Suleiman.
Here is a lunchtime summary.
• The Egyptian army has issued a statement backing away from ousting Hosni Mubarak and supporting a gradual transition to democracy (see 9.51am). "Communique No 2" said the hated emergency law would be lifted, but did not give a timeframe.
• There is speculation the army could now split into a pro- and anti-Mubarak factions (see this story). There are reports of Egyptian army officers joining the protesters (see 9.24am).
• Mass demonstrations are taking place in Cairo's Tahrir Square and elsewhere in the country, including Alexandria. Protesters have gathered around the presidential palace in the capital (see 12.34pm). Strikes are also continuing.
• Barack Obama has expressed dismay at the failure of Mubarak to stand down (see 9.04am).
Crowds growing outside tv bldg, some tried to push down fencing other protesters stopped them. #jan25
Army general on other side crying and shaking hands with protesters. #jan25
All soldiers on other side of fencing at tv bldg look sympathetic to protesters. Very emotional scene. #jan25
Simon Tisdall writes that Barack Obama's statement yesterday about Hosni Mubarak's speech has wider implications for the Middle East's rulers and may be the start of a new "Obama doctrine".
The implications of this new doctrine, for that it is how it must be viewed, are almost endless. The most obvious point is that since the US is backing the popular pro-democracy revolt in Egypt, it is bound in all conscience to do so elsewhere, as occasion demands. This is a direct challenge not just to Mubarak and his old guard but to the legitimacy of the previously untouchable, US-allied autocrats of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the Gulf. Universal values are universal after all.
I went down and I said I am not coming back, and I wrote on every street wall that I am not coming back.
All barriers have been broken down, our weapon was our dream, and the future is crystal clear to us, we have been waiting for a long time, we are still searching for our place, we keep searching for a place we belong too, in every corner in our country.
The sound of freedom is calling, in every street corner in our country, the sound of freedom is calling.
We will rewrite history, if you are one of us, join us and don't stop us from fulfilling our dream.
The sound of freedom is calling.
______
Reuters has written a story on the al-Arabiya report that Hosni Mubarak and his family have left Cairo from a military airbase in the suburbs and travelled to Sharm el-Sheikh:
It did not give a source for the series of reports on the movement of the president and his family. Al-Arabiya said it had confirmed the arrival of the president and his family in Sharm el-Sheikh ...
A senior military source contacted by Reuters declined to comment on the report that Mubarak had left Cairo. Al-Arabiya had initially reported Mubarak and his family had left Egypt.
The president often spends time in Sharm el-Sheikh, a popular tourist destination on the Red Sea, and receives guests there.
The news agency also has this on the spread of the protests to the presidential palace:
The protesters gathered up against a barbed wire cordon around the palace, about 50 metres from the palace walls at its closest point.
Tanks and soldiers of the elite Republican Guard, responsible for the president's security, surrounded the palace, a Reuters witness said.
"The Republican Guard are protecting the presidential palaces," an armed forces source told Reuters.
Al-Jazeera is reporting tens of thousands of people protesting outside the state TV building in Cairo.
_____
Chris McGreal says some people are concerned about the likely content of the third communique, which is due to be released today:
After this morning's there is some concern among the demonstrators that it will be an order to shut down the protests but this is solely speculation on the part of some of them who are now worried about the army's role
Things seem slightly sedate at the presidential palace protests in Cairo.
Heard from my aunt who lives next to the palace that the protesters are "very chic". Freakin heliopolis. :p #jan25
At helio protest. There are two of them. On marghany the army guy is arguing with the dude carrying blankets. #jan25
Very upscale crowd. Even the well off want mubarak gone. #jan25
The Danish prime minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen has become the first European Union leader to publicly call for president Mubarak to step down. He said: "Mubarak is history. Mubarak must step down."
You may know him as the former Fugees rapper or you may know him as the man who tried unsuccessfully to run for the presidency in Haiti but now Wyclef Jean has turned his attentions to another country in need of help – Egypt. He has composed Freedom (Song for Egypt) as well as becoming a cheerleader for the revolution on Twitter.
As protesters were swarming into the streets Friday morning for what was expected to be the biggest and most volatile demonstrations in the three-week revolt here, the supreme council of the Egyptian armed forces issued a statement over state television and radio indicating that the military, not Mr Mubarak, was in effective control of the country. It was unclear whether the military would take meaningful steps toward democracy or begin a military dictatorship.
Western diplomats said that officials of the Egyptian government were scrambling to assure that a muddled speech Mr Mubarak made on Thursday night that enraged protesters had in fact signalled his irrevocable handover of presidential authority.
"The government of Egypt says absolutely, it is done, it is over," a Western diplomat said. "But that is not what anybody heard" in Mr Mubarak's speech.
The army announcement and diplomatic scrambling appeared intended to forestall the potential for violent confrontations as hundreds of thousands of protesters, angered by Mr Mubarak's refusal to step down on Thursday, flooded the streets demanding his full resignation — if not also his public trial for violence against them.
Sorry for the delay – technical problems. Apparently a statement from the presidency is due "soon". On previous days "soon" has sometimes been several hours away. We'll just have to wait and see. Some people are reading significance into the fact that the statement is coming from "the presidency" and not "the president".
An al-Jazeera reporter says tens if not hundreds of thousands of people have marched on the Ras el-Tin palace, another of the president's official residences, in Alexandria, Egypt's second biggest city.
Two helicopters fly in direction of Presidential Palace, crowd erupt in frenzy #Egypt #Jan25 #Tahrir
The helicopters appear from where we r 2 have landed inside Oruba palace #Egypt #Jan25
Karim Ennarah, who has been in Tahrir Square for about two weeks has now joined the throng outside the presidential palace in Cairo. He told me:
People decided to move to put more pressure on the regime. There are 3,000 or 4,000 people outside the palace and there's a lot on the other side. The army's allowing us to have a sit-in outside the palace but the main road leading up to the palace is blocked off with barbed wire. We don't think Mubarak's inside the palace but it's just a way of putting more pressure on the regime after yesterday's speech, which was incredibly disappointing ... We are holding the president under siege. It's another symbol of our protests.
On the impending statement by the presidency, Ennarah said: "Yesterday people were very optimistic when they heard about the statement. We are not getting our hopes up but I got my hopes up when I saw the number of people on the streets of Cairo today."
• Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has resigned • Military supreme command now controls government • Obama calls Egypt's efforts an inspiration to the world • Cheers and fireworks as protests turn to celebrations
ترجم هذه الصفحة إلى العربية
Tahrir Square is still full of celebrating people, just after midnight in the Egyptian capital. Time to wrap up this live blog – and thanks to everyone around the world who has read and contributed to it, whether by phone, Twitter, email and any other form of media.
Jack Shenker in Cairo sends over this video of tonight's celebrations:
I just wanted to share this one as it's from crowds gathered at the bottom of my street, which lies only a few minutes walk from Tahrir. Everybody from the local baker to my neighbour the car mechanic was down there, and with flame-throwers apparently the revolutionary prop of choice tonight, health and safety considerations were being thrown to the wind. Sleep is unlikely to be on the agenda tonight for anyone around here.
Here's a summary of the day's historic events:
• President Hosni Mubarak has resigned and handed over power to the army
• Egypt's protests erupted in celebration as news spread that Mubarak had left Cairo
• The military command issued a statement promising a transition to democracy and to respect the will of the people
• Reports say the military has sacked the cabinet and suspended parliament
• Obama said the US will continue to be a friend and partner of Egypt, and that the events in Tahrir Square were an inspiration to the world
• Swiss authorities issue a pre-emptive freezing of any financial assets held by the Mubarak family in the country
Hats off to the Guardian's journalists on the ground: Jack Shenker, Peter Beaumont, Harriet Sherwood, Sean Smith and Chris McGreal.
One final tweet: from Peter Beaumont, who was there in Cairo at the start but heard the news today while in a Morrisons supermarket carpark.
Algeria is another country with a nervous government, ahead of a day of protest planned for Saturday. The government and security forces are leaving nothing to chance according to this AFP report from Algiers via Google:
Large numbers of police were deployed in central Algiers Friday ahead of a pro-democracy march planned by opposition groups in defiance of a government ban.
The head of the opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), Said Sadi, said the authorities had ringed the capital in a bid to prevent people joining Saturday's march from outside.
"Trains have been stopped and other public transport will be as well," he said.
Sadi claimed that 10,000 police were being drafted into the city, to reinforce the 20,000 who succeeded in blocking the last protest on January 22, when five people were killed and more than 800 hurt in clashes.
Meanwhile, an unemployed man who had set himself on fire in the town of El Oued, in the far east of Algeria, died today, bringing to four the number of suicides by self-immolation in the last month, apparently inspired by events in neigbouring Tunisia.
After the overthrow of regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, how are the region's other governments reacting? The Guardian's Julian Borger tweets some fascinating news from Bahrain:
Well that's one way of doing it.
Michael Bimmler, a Swiss student at Oxford, emails more details about the Swiss authorities freezing the assets of the Mubarak clan and allies:
The reason that the Foreign Ministry did not give details is that they did not know at the time of making the statement whether he holds any assets in Switzerland, or at least, they don't officially know.
This is the usual procedure in such cases, and has also been the procedure for Tunisia earlier this year: Besides decreeing that all accounts etc belonging to Hosni Mubarak and his family plus certain ex-ministers are immediately blocked, it also mandates banks to report to the federal administration whether they hold any accounts in the name of Hosni Mubarak etc.
Thus, it's a preventive "blanket injunction" aimed at any and all accounts of Mubarak et al, if there are any. It does not really serve to confirm whether Mubarak actually has any money in Switzerland or not, it could well be that actually no accounts will found to fall within the remit of the injunction.
More details here [pdf, in French] and the individuals named:
Hosni Mubarak Suzanne Thabet, wife of Hosni Mubarak Alaa Mubarak, son of Hosni Mubarak Heidi Rasekh, wife of Alaa Mubarak Gamal Mubarak, son of Hosni Mubarak Chadiga el Gammal, wife of Gamal Mubarak Mounir Thabet, brother of Suzanne Thabet Ahmed Alaa El Din Amin El-Maghrabi, former minister Mohamed Zoheir Mohamed Wahid Garana, former minister Habib Ibrahim El Adli, former minister Ahmed Ezz, former head of the NDP Rachid Mohamed Rachid, former minister
The White House has just posted video of Obama's statement on Egypt online – it's one of his better speeches.
Israel's former UN ambassador Dan Gillerman told Fox News today:
If the radicals prevail [in Egypt] then we will have Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, which would be devastating not just for Israel but for the stability of the whole region.
Meanwhile, a senior Israeli official told Reuters: "It's too early to foresee how [Mubarak's resignation] will affect things. We hope that the change to democracy in Egypt will happen without violence and that the peace accord will remain."
It turns out that Mubarak's fall is George Bush's fault – but not in the way you'd think. Salon reports:
Protesting against Bush's violent means of spreading democracy, a loosely formed group organized the largest demonstrations in Egypt's history around the March 20, 2003, invasion [of Iraq]. They eventually became known as Kefaya, meaning "Enough." Adopting the mission to bring down Mubarak and restore power to the Egyptian people, Kefaya held regular protests that called for the end of the emergency law, more freedom for the Egyptian people, and better handling of the economy – essentially similar demands seen in Tahrir Square today.
Out of Kefaya grew the April 6 youth movement, and the rest is history.
Gibbs says Obama has not made any calls to heads of state in the region today in the wake of Mubarak's resignation. The spokesman also said that Obama had not spoken with Mubarak.
Gibbs also said Iran's government should allow its people to demonstrate and assemble peacefully, but instead was cracking down on opposition leaders and blocking international media in the wake of events in Egypt.
Now Obama pops up in the White House press briefing room, because it's the last day for his longtime spokesman Robert Gibbs. Obama begins by deadpanning:
Obviously, Gibbs's departure is not the biggest one today.
NBC's Richard Engel, who has done a brilliant job reporting from Egypt, gets the reaction to Obama's words live from Tahrir Square, where he is mobbed by young men chanting Obama's name and "We love America!"
Obama's words are being carried live on Egyptian state television, with Obama saying the events there carried "echoes from Germans tearing down a wall," before quoting Martin Luther King:
'There's something in the soul that cries out for freedom.' Those were the cries that came out of Tahrir Square and the entire world has taken note.
Tahrir means liberation, and it is a word that speaks to something in our souls that cries out for freedom – and will forever more remind us of the Egyptian people.
"Over the last few weeks the wheel of history has turned at a blinding pace," says Obama, in a brief but powerful statement.
The US president began by praising the armed forces's role but calling for reform to continue:
The military has served patriotically and responsibly as a caretaker to the state and will now have to ensure a transition that is credible in the eyes of the Egyptian people.... Above all this transition must bring all Egyptian voices to the table.
Obama listed lifting Egypt's emergency laws, revising the constitution and enacting other safeguards to "make this change irreversible" and set the path for free and fair elections. He continued:
The US will continue to be a friend and partner to all the people of Egypt. We stand ready to provide whatever assistance is asked for.
I know that a democratic Egypt can advance its role not only in the region but around the world.
And then with a nod to Martin Luther King:
Egyptians have inspired us, and they've done so by putting the lie to the idea that justice is best gained by violence. For Egypt, it was the moral force of nonviolence, not terrorism, not mindless killing, but nonviolence, moral force, that bent the arc of history toward justice.
Obama is now speaking:
The people of Egypt have spoken. Their voices have been heard. And Egypt will never be the same..... But this is not the end of Egypt's transition, this is a beginning. Egyptians have made it clear that nothing less than genuine democracy will carry the day.
Al Arabiya television is reporting that the Egyptian military will announce the dismissal of the cabinet, the suspension of the upper and lower houses of parliament, and that the head of the constitutional court will form an interim administration with the military council.
Al Arabiya is also reporting that Amr Moussa will step down as secretary general of the Arab League within the next few weeks – and he is talked of as a leading contender in the up-coming presidential elections.
President Obama is due to make a statement on Egypt from the White House's Grand Foyer – reserved for set piece presidential apperances – in 15 minutes or so.
Hosni Mubarak spent his last hours in office bitterly denouncing the US, according to a phone call he held with an Israeli politician.
Reuters reports that former Labour cabinet minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer had a 20-minute conversation yesterday with Mubarak: "He had very tough things to say about the United States," Ben-Eliezer told Israeli TV.
According to Reuters:
"He gave me a lesson in democracy and said: 'We see the democracy the United States spearheaded in Iran and with Hamas, in Gaza, and that's the fate of the Middle East,'" Ben-Eliezer said.
"'They may be talking about democracy but they don't know what they're talking about and the result will be extremism and radical Islam,'" he quoted Mubarak as saying.
More reaction from Gaza, with Sami Abu Zuhri, the Hamas spokesman, issuing a statement tonight, saying Hamas was standing beside Egypt's "revolution victory" and backing its demands.
We congratulate the Egyptian people of this victory. We consider these results a victory for the people's will, stand, and sacrifices....
It criticised the Mubarak regime for its assistance in imposing a blockade on Gaza, adding:
"We are calling the new Egyptian leadership to announce immediately to leave the siege on Gaza and open the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side and guarantee the free of movements and start the reconstruction."
The Swiss government has frozen any assets belonging to Hosni Mubarak or family in Switzerland. The Foreign Ministry gave no details on what assets the Mubaraks hold in Switzerland, saying it "wants to avoid any risk of misappropriation of state-owned Egyptian assets".
The Guardian's Jack Shenker shares the atmosphere in Tahrir Square right now:
The march from the presidential palace back to Tahrir square was a wall of sound. Car horns blared, amateur fireworks exploded centimetres above our heads,onlookers cheered raucously from the balcony above. Some people fainted, others unfurled their Egyptian flags in the middle of the street to pray, and many, many people had tears in their eyes.
Amid the jubilation though, there was a moment of reflection for those who died to make this day possible. 'Be happy martyrs, for today we feast at your victory,' sung the crowds.
On the ground were military police in red berets, all smiles and thumbs-up to demonstrators. Apprehension about what might happen next in an Egypt now under army control was being pushed aside to allow for celebrations, but as the procession reached the high-walled Ministry of Defence, Egyptians could not resist reminding their new overlords of who now held the balance of power in the Arab World's most populous nation. 'Here, here, the Egyptians are here,' they shouted up at darkened windows, pointing down to the street.
"For 18 days we have withstood tear gas, rubber bullets, live ammunition, molotov cocktails, thugs on horseback, the scepticism and fear of our loved ones, and the worst sort of ambivalence from an international community that claims to care about democracy," said Karim Medhat Ennarah, a protester who has provided the Guardian with updates throughout the uprising. "But we held our ground. We did it."
William Hague, the UK's foreign secretary, puts out a statement:
President Mubarak has heeded the calls of the Egyptian people for profound change and a fresh start.
This change has been brought about by the courage and determination of the people of Egypt themselves. We have faith in their ability to shape their future and to seize the opportunity to move towards an open and democratic society.
It is now time for Egyptians to move forward, to settle their differences peacefully and to achieve the transition to a broad-based government that meets the aspirations and commands the respect of all Egyptians.
The Higher Council of the Military Forces has a particular responsibility to implement the concrete and irrevocable steps this transition requires and to prepare for free and fair elections.
Any attempt to turn the clock back would be deeply damaging to Egypt's stability and cohesion and to its standing in the world, and would be met by condemnation.
It is not a time for half-hearted measures. Egyptians have shown that they want irrevocable change for the better, not cosmetic change".
Egyptian state TV has bowed to the inevitable and is just showing al-Jazeera's feed. A week ago the government banned the channel from operating. Now this.
Wael Ghonim seems to be reassured by the military statement reported below.
The armed forces statement said: "We know the extent of the gravity and seriousness of this issue and the demands of the people to initiate radical changes. The higher military council is studying this issue to achieve the hopes of our great people."
In this audio you can hear the emotion in the voice of veteran activist Ahmed Salah, as he shared what today means to him:
It brought tears to my eyes several times. I mean I have always had faith that we will win but this is remarkable. It's like, how many days? We started on the 25th ... and we won. That couldn't have been imaginable just even a week ago, 10 days ago, that we will actually be free.
More on vice president Joe Biden's remarks on Egypt today:
This is a pivotal moment in history. This is a pivotal moment not just in Middle East history but in world history.
On Fox News though they have a different view. One presenter said it was the biggest event since "victory in Iraq".
Carl Bernstein – the Watergate guy – says it's on the scale of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The White House now says that Obama's statement will take place at 3pm ET / 8pm GMT / 10pm EET.
A spokesman for Egypt's military has just appeared on television to read a new statement, "Communique Number Three".
Read aloud in a flat monotone, the statement said that the supreme council of the armed forces was "currently studying the situation to achieve the hopes of our great people" and will issue further statements to clarify its position:
The council will issue a statement outlining the steps and procedures and directives that will be taken, confirming at the same time that there is no alternative to the legitimacy acceptable to the people.
The military also had a farewell message for Mubarak:
"The supreme council of the armed forces is saluting President Hosni Mubarak for all he has given in sacrifice in times of war and peace."
And it had kind words for the protesters:
"The supreme council of the armed forces is also saluting the spirits of those who were martyred."
Note that the army's statement made no mention of vice president Suleiman – interesting in the context of the Ahram Online report mentioned below. Further analysis of what this all means when we get the full text.
Maj. Gen. Safwat El-Zayat, a former senior official of Egypt's General Intelligence and member of the Egyptian Council of Foreign Affairs, asserted, in an interview with Ahram Online, that the address delivered by President Mubarak last night was formulated against the wishes of the armed forces, and away from their oversight. He claimed that Vice Preisdent Omar Suleiman's address, which came on the heels of Mubarak's address, was equally in defiance of the armed forces and away from its oversight.
El-Zayat said that represented a deep cleavage between the armed forces and the presidential authority of both Mubarak and Omar Suleiman.
My colleague Hazem Balousha sends this from Gaza City:
Hamas is calling on people to rally tonight all over Gaza to celebrate the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and his regime. People are patrolling the streets and raising Egyptian flags. Some Hamas fighters have fired into the air since it was announced that Mubarak stepped down.
The White House has announced that Barack Obama's statement on Egypt, scheduled for 1.30pm ET (6.30pm GMT), has been delayed, and the venue has been switched from the press briefing room to the Grand Foyer as the administration prepares to ramp up Obama's response.
This is Richard Adams in Washington DC taking over live blogging duties.
It can't be very often that Amnesty International is joining in the celebrations of an army taking power but this has not been an ordinary day. Secretary General Salil Shetty said:
I congratulate the protesters for their extraordinary courage and commitment to achieve fundamental change. Persistent attempts to put down peaceful protests have not only failed but redoubled the determination of those demanding change. The way Egyptians have taken to the streets in unprecedented numbers to demand dignity, human rights and social justice has been an inspiration to oppressed peoples everywhere.
The departure of one man is not the end. The repressive system that Egyptians have suffered under for three decades has not gone away and the State of Emergency remains in place. Those in power must grasp this opportunity to consign the systematic abuses of the past to history. Human rights reform must begin now.
Ian Black, the Guardian's Middle East editor has been analysing what comes next.
On the army:
Rule by the military can only be temporary. Mubarak's exit, the dissolution of what is seen as an illegitimate parliament, constitutional reforms and abolition of the emergency laws are all non-negotiable. If those reforms are achieved then Egypt will have witnessed a real revolution – beyond the removal of a stubborn 82-year-old president long past his sell-by date.
It seems clear from the events of recent days – especially the confusion and contradictory messages on Thursday — that the army is divided. If it moves solely to protect its own privileged position, and that of the big businessmen who have done so well out of their links with the regime – then the system will not open up, at least not without large-scale repression and bloodshed.
On the implications for the wider Middle East:
Egypt's extraordinary change matters first for Egypt's 82m people. But what happens in the Arab world's most populous country matters for many millions of other Arabs, who also suffer from unemployment, inequality, corruption and unresponsive, unaccountable governments – and share the language in which it is being covered in media such as al-Jazeera and social networking sites that official censors cannot easily block.
Other authoritarian regimes, shocked first by the uprising in Tunisia and now in Egypt, have been trying to pre-empt trouble by promises of reform, sacking ministers, maintaining subsidies or raising wages to buy off critics and defuse tensions. The symptoms are visible from Yemen to Jordan, from Algeria to Syria.
On the implications for the US:
Egypt remains a vital asset in allowing US military overflights, as the guardian of the strategically vital Suez canal, and a loyal ally in the regional confrontation with Iran. Mubarak has played a key role in supporting the western-backed Palestinian Authority and containing the Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, not least because of its affinity with the banned Muslim Brotherhood – whose likely future role in a freer Egyptian political system is a key and much-discussed issue both at home and abroad.
The events of the last 18 days have forced Obama to shift away from stability to embracing if not promoting democracy – to the evident discomfort of other conservative Arab friends, especially the Saudis. Jordan and Yemen share those concerns – fearing that unconditional US support for them may now also wane.
Joe Biden, the US vice president, who initially defended Mubarak, saying he was not a dictator and should not stand down, said: "This is a pivotal moment in history... the transition that's taking place must be an irreversible change"
There has been reaction from other leaders.
The British prime minister David Cameron called for a move to "a move to civilian and democratic rule" . He said the departure of Mubarak offered Egypt a "really precious moment of opportunity". Speaking on the steps of No 10, he said the new government should start to put in place "the building blocks of a truly open, free and democratic society".
German chancellor Angela Merkel, said: "Today is a day of great joy. We are all witness to historic change. I share the joy of people on the streets of Egypt."
The Nobel peace prize winner and Egyptian opposition figure Mohamed El Baradei has been talking to Al Jazeera in the last half and hour.
"This is the emancipation of Egypt. This is the liberation of the Egyptian people," he said in a phone interview with the broadcaster's English-language news channel. "It's a dream come true," said El Baradei, who added that it was the Egyptian people who had been able to restore their "humanity and independence.
Asked what happens next, he replied: "What I have been talking about and proposing is a transition period of one year. We would have a provisional council, a transition government, preferably a provisional council including a person from the army and civilians, but the main idea would be that the army and the people would work together for a year up to the point where we could have a free and fair election."
He said his message to the Egyptian people was: "You have gained your liberty, you have gained the right to catch up with the rest of the world. Make the best use of it you can and God bless you."
There has s been a jubilant response in Lebanon and Tunisia, the Associated Press reports:
Moments after Egypt's vice president Omar Suleiman made the announcement of Mubarak's resignation, fireworks lit up the sky over Beirut. Celebratory gunfire rang out in the Shiite-dominated areas in south Lebanon and in southern Beirut.
On Al-Manar TV, the station run by the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah faction, Egyptian anchor Amr Nassef, who was once imprisoned in Egypt for alleged ties to Islamists, cried emotionally on the air and said: "Allahu Akbar (God is great), the Pharaoh is dead. Am I dreaming? I'm afraid to be dreaming."
In Tunisia, where a successful uprising expelled a longtime leader only weeks earlier, cries of joy and the thundering honking of horns greeted the announcement. "God delivered our Egyptian brothers from this dictator," said Yacoub Youssef, one of those celebrating in the capital of Tunis.
Amr Mousa, an Egyptian, and the secretary general of the Arab League, who has previously hinted that might stand for presidency, has given his reaction:
I look forward to the future to build a ntional consensus in the coming period. There is a big chance now and a window has opened after this white revolution and after the president's concession.
Asked if he was interested in being president, he said: "This is not the time to talk about that ... As an Egyptian citizen, I am proud to serve my country with all the others at this stage, to build a consensus of opinion."
Our political correspondent Allegra Stratton says the UK has already been considering the prospect of an asylum application from Mubarak:
The UK's national security council (NSC) has considered what happens if Hosni, his wife Suzanne or or their son Gamal Mubarak, indeed any of the president's family, would like asylum in the UK. Remember Gamal has a five-storey house in Knightsbridge.
A government source says that the Foreign Office is aware that the UK's government's new position on the middle east – hands off, welcoming of change – would be troubled if the UK were to also grant any asylum requests to Mubaraks or indeed other deposed Arab leaders.
The text from the NSC meeting, held last week, says: "The NSC is working on predicting where and when events might occur next. There is a low risk that former heads of state and members of regimes might seek refuge here. Many have the documentation and money to get here, and some will have links to the UK. Each request will be considered, in consultation between the Home Office and Foreign Office, on a case by case basis."
So, cautious language, but the source says they are thinking about what their position will be as and when any request comes through. There will be a question mark over exactly what the FCO and Home office could do given Suzanne was born in Wales and is thought to have British citizenship.
In what has turned out to be a momentous day, here is a summary of events.
President Hosni Mubarak has resigned and handed over power to the army. His vice president, Omar Suleiman, said in a short TV address: "In these difficult circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave the position of the presidency. He has commissioned the armed forces council to direct the issues of the state."
Protests turned to celebrations around Egypt. "Cairo erupts in celebration as 18 days of defiant protest finally delivers a revolution after 24 hours of euphoria, dashed hopes and victory," our correspondent Chris McGreal wrote from outside the state TV centre. "There was a complete eruption of humanity, I have never seen anything like it. The world's biggest street party has really kicked off here," said Jack Shenker from outside the presidential palace.
But there are still questions over what happens next. The army is now in charge and it has yet to make its intentions clear.
Our correspondent Chris McGreal was outside the Egyptian state TV building when the historic announcement was made. In this audio report, he says:
They were completely stunned. When this very brief announcement came from the vice president Omar Suleiman, he simply said "Mubark's gone", there was a a pause. Then a ripple went through the crowd and they went wild. Some fell onto their knees praying, people were weeping instantly. They were hugging each other, chanting in unison, "Mubarak's gone", words to that effect. There was joy, euphoria, call it what you want. I think people couldn't quite grasp that this revolution that they'd led fro 18 days had finally delivered.
But Chris warns there will now be close scrutiny of the army:
Of course there will be a sobering up. Not many people are thinking of what the military role means and of course once the military is in the saddle so to speak, people will be looking to it to actually deliver. They will be wanting to see, for instance, the dissolution of parliament, the lifting of the state of emergency, all the kind of things they have been demanding as well as Mubarak's resignation. I think they're feeling newly empowered, I think people realise the can hold parliament to account of bring it down and if it's seen to be not delivering they may well be back out on the streets.
There are reports that the Egyptian army is to make another statement soon.
But the game isn't over, and now a word of caution. I worry that senior generals may want to keep (with some changes) a Mubarak-style government without Mubarak. In essence the regime may have decided that Mubarak had become a liability and thrown him overboard — without any intention of instituting the kind of broad, meaningful democracy that the public wants.
Senior generals have enriched themselves and have a stake in a political and economic structure that is profoundly unfair and oppressive. And remember that the military running things directly really isn't that different from what has been happening: Mubarak's government was a largely military regime (in civilian clothes) even before this. Mubarak, Vice President Suleiman and so many others — including nearly all the governors — are career military men. So if the military now takes over, how different is it?
Harriet also contemplates how the downfall of Mubarak will play in Israel, his great ally:
Israel will now be extremely uncertain about future relations with Egypt. The peace treaty between the two countries that has been in place for more than 30 years has not exactly made them warm allies, but the peace has held.
Israeli ministers and officials have been warning for almost three weeks that regime change in Egypt could end the "cold peace". Their worst fears are that the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood will gain in power and influence and Egypt will adopt a hostile attitude towards the Jewish state.
They are also worried about the impact on Gaza, as Hamas has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
There was no immediate reaction to Mubarak's resignation from the prime minister's office, although a statement was expected later tonight.
Binyamin Netanyahu has been telling his international counterparts that Israel expects any future Egyptian government to honour the peace treaty and that the international community should be making that clear to an incoming regime.
Harriet Sherwood reports from Israel on the reaction to Mubarak's demise from Hamas:
I've just spoken to Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza. He was cautious in his reaction to events in Egypt, saying Hamas had no wish to interfere with Egypt's internal affairs.
But, he added, Hamas hoped to see an improvement in relations between Egypt and all Palestinians. "We are one family," he said.
The Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas's close allies, "are present everywhere", he said.
He would not be drawn on whether a new Egyptian regime may wish to review the peace treaty it signed with Israel more than 30 years ago. "There is no clear picture about the new government, but it will be controlled by the army t begin with, he said. "We are hoping to benefit."
Here's some reaction from Qatar, from Reuters:
The Qatari government said it regarded Egypt's transfer of power to a military council on Friday as a positive step. "This is a positive, important step towards the Egyptian people's aspirations of achieving democracy and reform and a life of dignity," the statement from the Emir's royal council said.
Mubarak picked an auspicious date to resign. On this day 32 years ago the Iranian revolution took place when the Shah's forces were overwhelmed. And 21 years ago today Nelson Mandela was freed by the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Wael Ghonim, Google's head of marketing in the Middle East, annointed by some as the voice of the revolution after his emotional speech on his release from prison, tweeted simply: "Welcome back Egypt".
Reaction has started to come in from the US and the EU.
The White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said:
The president was informed of president Mubarak's decision to step down during a meeting in the Oval Office. He then watched TV coverage of the scene in Cairo for several minutes in the outer Oval (office).
The EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said:
The EU respects president Mubarak's decision today. By standing down, he has listened to the voices of the Egyptian people and has opened the way to faster and deeper reforms. It is important now that the dialogue is accelerated leading to a broad-based government which will respect the aspirations of, and deliver stability for, the Egyptian people. The future of Egypt rightly remains in the hands of the Egyptian people. The EU stands ready to help in any way it can.
A joyous night in Cairo. What bliss to be alive, to be an Egyptian and an Arab. In Tahrir Square they're chanting, "Egypt is free" and "We won!"
The removal of Mubarak alone (and getting the bulk of his $40bn loot back for the national treasury), without any other reforms, would itself be experienced in the region and in Egypt as a huge political triumph. It will set new forces into motion. A nation that has witnessed miracles of mass mobilisations and a huge rise in popular political consciousness will not be easy to crush, as Tunisia demonstrates.
Barack Obama, who appeared humiliated last night when Mubarak gave that infamously equivocal statement, is to speak at the White House at 6.30pm GMT.
The Guardian's Twitter map of Middle East protests is being overrun with outpourings of emotion from Egypt at the moment. It's a great visual representation of the reactions in the country.
Says @Port_Sa3eedy: "Someone slap me... I can't believe.... I'm tearing down #egypt #mubarak "
From amidst a cacophony of cheers, our correspondent Jack Shenker describes the reaction of the crowd outside the presidential palace.
There was a complete eruption of humanity, I have never seen anything like it. The world's biggest street party has really kicked off here. There are huge huge crowds of people jumping up and down suddenly as one. Suddenly everyone rushed into the road. I'm being slapped in happiness and bounced around.
Egyptian state TV is showing live pictures of the celebrtions in Tahrir square. "The newsreader is smiling and looks as happy as many of the people down there on the square," says the anchor on al-Jazeera English.
The Egyptian pro-democracy campaigner Mohamed ElBaradei has cheered Mubarak's resignation. "This is the greatest day of my life. The country has been liberated after decades of repression," he told The Associated Press. He said he expects a "beautiful" transition of power.
Our correspondent Chris McGreal in Tahrir Square writes: "Cairo erupts in celebration as 18 days of defiant protest finally delivers a revolution after 24 hours of euphoria, dashed hopes and victory."
We have now embedded a live video stream from Tahrir Square. You can watch it by refreshing this page.
The full text of the vice-president's very brief statement:
In these difficult circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave the position of the presidency. He has commissioned the armed forces council to direct the issues of the state.
There are huge cheers in Tahrir Square.
President Mubarak has gone and the army has been entrusted with the republic, it has just been announced.
Omar Suleiman is making a statement now. "President Hosni Mubarak has decided to waive the office of the republic."
A potentially interesting development from Reuters:
A senior Egyptian military spokesman arrived at the headquarters of Egypt's state television on Friday, a military source told Reuters. Earlier, Egyptian state television had reported that the presidency was due to issue an important statement.
My colleague Harriet Sherwood sends this from Jerusalem:
The Israeli media is reporting a telephone conversation between Mubarak and Israel's trade minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a long-time friend, shortly before the Egyptian president's speech last night.
Ben-Eliezer told Israel's Army Radio: "He knew that this was it, that this was the end of the road. He was looking for only one thing – give me an honourable way out. 'Let me leave in an honourable fashion.'"
Here is an interactive map of the Guardian's Twitter network of Arab protests.
Our correspondent Martin Chulov, who is monitoring events from Amman, says Egyptian state TV is now interviewing protesters. "This time, he must be gone," Martin says.
We are awaiting a "statement from the presidency" - not, interestingly, from the president. In the meantime Hossam Badrawi, secretary general of the ruling NDP, has announced he has quit the party in an interview on Hayah TV, according to multiple sources. Yesterday he had been prominent among those who were predicting that Mubarak was about to stand aside.
"It's a resignation from the position and from the party," Badrawi told al-Hayat TV. "The formation of new parties in a new manner that reflects new thinking is better for society now at this stage."
Al-Arabiya TV is now reporting that police killed 5 people in the clashes in el-Arish (see 3.32pm).
There are reports of clashes in the north Sinai town of el-Arish. Al-Jazeera says at least one person died and 20 were injured when people with small firearms attacked a police station. From Reuters:
Around 1,000 Egyptians attacked a police station in the north Sinai town of el-Arish on Friday to try to free prisoners, exchanging gunfire with police who retreated to the roof, witnesses said. The attackers set ablaze three vehicles outside and hurled petrol bombs during confrontation.
My colleague Richard Adams in Washington sends the following:
White House official just said: Mubarak's departure to Sharm el-Sheikh a "positive first step". Also says Suleiman will be "clarifying" what his powers are.
Egyptian TV says statement "from the office of the presidency" very, very shortly.
Egyptian army tanks surrounding the presidential palace have turned their gun turrets away from the crowd, according to CNN.
On the Arabist blog, Issandr El Amrani has posted his instant thoughts on the situation as he sees it. It's worth a read. Amrani believes it is "pretty evident that Suleiman is in charge". He asks why the regime, including the army, still need Mubarak to be nominally in charge. He says:
Mubarak needs to be in place, even if only symbolically, for amendments to the constitution to be made. If the constitution is suspended, then this forces the army to take charge itself (presumably through the supreme military council), which opens the way to demands for civilian government and lifts the last layer of distance that the army has vis-a-vis the people.
There are reports that president Hosni Mubarak has left Cairo. Helicopters have been seen leaving the presidential palace in Cairo, and a local government official has said he is in the red sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
After Mubarak's speech last night, it appeared he had defied the people's call for him to step aside. But today, Egyptian diplomats are briefing that he has indeed relinquished power to his deputy, Omar Suleiman. The army also stated that a handover of power had begun.
Western diplomats said that officials of the Egyptian government were scrambling to assure that a muddled speech Mr Mubarak made on Thursday night that enraged protesters had in fact signalled his irrevocable handover of presidential authority. "The government of Egypt says absolutely, it is done, it is over," a Western diplomat said. "But that is not what anybody heard" in Mr Mubarak's speech.
In Washington, senior political figures have been admitting that the Egyptian uprising caught out US intelligence.
John Boehner, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, questioned why assessments by US intelligence did not appear to be ahead of the upheaval, although the Republican politician said the Obama administration responded appropriately to the crisis.
"I think there's going to have to be a reassessment of why didn't we have a better feel for this," he said during an appearance on NBC.
The former Republican presidential candidate, Senator John McCain, has also been talking about how the uprising caught the US political and military elite on the hop.
Asked during an appearance on CBS if there had been an intelligence failure or a misunderstanding, he pointed to "a failure to realize that a sophisticated, educated, freedom-yearning people, sooner or later, were going to demand their rights."
That's all from us for now folks, but please join us again when this blog picks up on covering events again on Monday.
Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who played a key role in the protests across Egypt, has been tweeting about his activities tonight.
Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, has been musing about Egypt on his weekly television show and scoffed at suggestions that his 12-year rule was at risk of an uprising like that which toppled Hosni Mubarak.
"I laugh when some clever analysts from the Venezuelan opposition try to compare my government with that of ex-president Hosni Mubarak in Egypt," Chavez said during his regular "Hello, President!" show.
"They're crazy, they're wrong, they have no sense."
"There, yes, there was a real dictatorship, and more than half of the population living in poverty, in extreme poverty, that's the fundamental cause," Chavez said of Egypt.
This is Ben Quinn taking over Live Blog duties from Haroon this evening.
The organizers of a pro-reform protest that brought thousands of Algerians onto the streets of their capital over this weekend have called for another rally next week.
The Coordination for Democratic Change in Algeria an umbrella group for human rights activists, unionists, lawyers and others has called for the Feb. 19 demonstrations to take place throughout the country.
Here's a summary of events so far today:
Egypt's new military announced that they are dissolving the parliament and suspending the constitution (2.08pm). They said they will run the country for six months or until presidential and parliamentary elections can be held. A further communique is expected today in which the military leaders are expected to announce curbs on strikes and "chaos and disorder". (3.14pm)
Prime minister Ahmed Shafiq said the current cabinet, appointed by Hosni Mubarak, would remain in place to oversee the transition to democracy.
There were scuffles as the army tried to force protesters to leave Tahrir Square (10.24am). Soldiers tore down tents in the square and some used sticks against people. But a number of protesters refused to leave and others streamed into the square to join them (11.07am) and maintain the pressure for all their demands for reform to be met.
Two gilded wooden statues of Tutankhamun are among 18 items missing from the Egyptian museum in Cairo, the antiquities minister Zahi Hawass said today. He had previously said nothing had been stolen during the disturbances that occurred in the midst of the anti-government protests (11.03am).
Police officers have been protesting against their wages and clashed with soldiers outside the interior ministry (11.16am). In a remarkable turnaround of events, officers also marched through Tahrir Square, expressing their solidarity with the people they had cracked down on in the first week of the anti-Mubarak protests. Other workers, including public transport workers, employees of the National Bank of Egypt and oil workers, have also been on strike.
The organisers of protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak have called for a "march of victory" across Egypt on Friday, Reuters reports, quoting leading activist Khaled Abdelkader Ouda.
"We salute the armed forces for their serious steps to meet the demands of the people," said Ouda, referring to steps announced by Egypt's military rulers on Sunday including the dissolution of parliament. Ouda is seen as a prospective member of a council, the members of which he said would be announced on Friday. The council is being set up to guard "the people's revolution". "We call on Egyptians to do their part and give the army a chance to proceed with the next stage," he said. "We call for a Friday march of victory in the millions across Egypt to celebrate the gains of the revolution. We will announce the members of the council of trustees on Friday."
Amid the unrest of the past 20 days tourist visits to Egypt have plummeted but now the Egyptian people have ousted Mubarak out they are trying to encourage visitors to their country, using the hashtag #Come2Egypt, on Twitter. -
Egypt's main internet service providers will refund customers for the interruption in web access two weeks ago during the early days of the country's uprising, Reuters reports, quoting the Egyptian state news agency.
Access to the Internet was cut off from January 28 until February 2 in an effort to quash the pro-democracy protest movement which eventually forced President Hosni Mubarak to resign on Friday. Vodafone (VOD.L), Etisalat (ETEL.AD), Telecom Egypt's (ETEL.CA) TE Data, and Mobinil's (EMOB.CA) LinkDotNet would grant customers who suffered from the interruption a free half-month of service, the news agency MENA said.
Mubarak's exit has not been enough to clear people out of Tahrir Square, nor has it been enough to persuade all workers to call off their strikes.
I've already mentioned the police walk-out but some 2,000 employees of the National Bank of Egypt have also been on strike today, reports Ahram online. It says they want the resignation of the bank's directors and restructuring of the wages within the company.
The impending curbs on dissent (see 3.14pm) are set to be released in another military communique (number 5), due to be released today.
Although the happenings in Egypt are of global import, full marks to the Basingstoke Gazette for finding a local angle. I'm not sure whether Huw Jenkins will be dining out on this story but the plasterer has revealed to his local paper, that he is related to Hosni Mubarak:
Huw Jenkins' mum is the cousin of President Hosni Mubarak's wife, Suzanne, who is part Welsh... The Mubarak clan are reputedly worth between £25billion and £45bn, according to recent estimates, and live a lavish lifestyle with residences across the globe. By contrast, their unassuming relative lives in a three-bedroom terraced house in Harlech Close, Winklebury, with his wife Paula, 44,and supports his three children through his job as a plasterer.
Mr Jenkins, 47, who met the ruler in the 1980s, is a second cousin of Mrs Mubarak, 69. He said: "I only met them once, in London, when I was about 16 in the early 80s when he had just become president. "I still remember that day and it's something I know that I'll never forget. My parents had told me about who the couple were and I was aware that he was a very powerful man, but he wasn't intimidating. "He came across as friendly and was very pleasant. He was meeting with ambassadors so he spent a lot of the time in meetings but it was interesting to meet the family. "To be honest, being related to the president is not something I think about a lot, but recent events have made me think about it a little more."
Reuters has an interesting round up of reaction to the military's announcement that it is dissolving parliament and suspending the constitution.
AYMAN NOUR, OPPOSITION ACTIVIST "It is a victory for the revolution. I think this will satisfy the protesters. This resolution satisfies the Egyptian street, especially the part related to dissolving the parliament and shura council, and I think we are facing a new situation starting from today. We must have dialogue with the military council about putting a temporary, constitutional document to manage affairs in the transitional period."
HASSAN ABU TALEB, AL-AHRAM CENTRE FOR POLITICAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES "The army has started using 'revolutionary legitimacy' as a basis for its actions. The army's commitment to a civilian and freely elected government, parliament, and an open space for political parties is a good sign. But there are many questions still. Who will be in this committee and what kind of role will the military play in drafting the new constitution? Will their role in the new constitution give them roles as ones given to the military in Turkey? There are still a lot of grey areas but it is clear that these decisions are opening the door for an entirely new system to come to order."
ABDULLAH HELMY, OF THE "YOUTH REVOLUTION UNION" "The people have won. The youth of the revolution would like to thank the armed forced for their speedy response to our demands. The system has fallen and now we will get ready for reform."
HISHAM KASSEM, RIGHTS ACTIVIST AND PUBLISHER "It seems to be the only way out. It might not be very political in the sense that I worry about the outcome of an election. The pattern is that the most powerful families always win the elections. The National Democratic Party (NDP) made sure their members were in it. These same families will win again with new faces, but via what political groups? The NDP has completely collapsed, no one will run on that platform. The party will completely collapse soon. (Six months) could be tough, and it's not easy to draft a constitution."
MAHMOUD NASSAR, PROTESTER IN TAHRIR SQUARE "The army has moved far along to meet the people's demands and we urge it to release all political prisoners who were taken before and after the January 25 revolution. Only then will we call off the protests."
CROWDS IN TAHRIR SQUARE "Victory! Victory."
SAMY SAYYID, ACTIVIST AND PROTESTER IN TAHRIR SQUARE "The immediate release of political prisoners is needed. They must be freed! We will only be safe when they are out."
AHMED ABDEL AZIZ, 39, PROTESTER IN TAHRIR SQUARE "The coward is a coward and the brave are brave. We stuck to the last day and we won and watch out for more victories to the brave people of Egypt."
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Reuters reports that the military is about to get tough with protesters, in a move that risks fresh confrontation:
Egypt's new military rulers will issue a warning on Sunday against anyone who creates "chaos and disorder", an army source said. The Higher Military Council will also ban meetings by labour unions or professional syndicates, effectively forbidding strikes, and tell all Egyptians to get back to work after the unrest that toppled Hosni Mubarak.
Shadi Hamid, from the Brookings Institution has been tweeting about the Muslim Brotherhood, who he says have positioned themselves well during the protests. People who have been following the events of the past 20 days closely will recall that the Muslim Brotherhood were widely viewed as having missed the boat as a result of their initial reluctance to support/join the protests. But Hamid tweets:
Apparently, the Muslim Brotherhood met with the army earlier and came on the same page #jan25 #egypt
Muslim brotherhood is now effectively a legal entity after being banned for decades #jan25 #egypt
MB youth leader telling me that Ibrahim Zafarani, leading MB reformist, is talking abt forming political party #jan25
The Brotherhood is coming out of this looking like a smart, responsible party. For once, their caution worked to their advantage #jan25
In Sudan, women have held a vigil calling for the release of men detained during protests. From the Guardian's story:
Women held a vigil outside Sudan's security service headquarters in Khartoum, calling for the release of men arrested during a series of protests inspired by Egypt's uprising.
In another part of the Sudanese capital, security officers prevented journalists from gathering to take part in a protest against the arrest of colleagues, a Reuters witness said. Officers detained five TV cameramen and photographers trying to cover the event.
Young men have held a series of small protests across north Sudan in recent weeks against price rises and human rights abuses. Some websites and protesters have called for regime change.
There have been clashes between anti-government protesters and police in Yemen. From the Guardian's story:
Several thousand protesters, many of them university students, tried to reach the central square in the capital, Sana'a, but were pushed back by police using truncheons.
The fall of the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, has emboldened protesters in Yemen and raised questions about the country's stability and other western-allied governments in the region. Saleh has been in power for three decades and has tried to defuse the unrest by promising not to run for re-election in 2013.
Witnesses in Sana'a said several protesters were injured and 23 were detained by police in Sunday's clashes. They said plainclothes police officers holding daggers and sticks joined the security forces in driving the protesters back.
The Egyptian dissident Ayman Nour, who was jailed after standing against standing against Mubarak for the presidency in 2005, has told Reuters the announcement by military leaders (2.08pm) should satisfy protesters. He said: "It is a victory for the revolution."
But not all activists share his views, with many expressing concerns on Twitter:
The one thing the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is failing to do is giving any sort of timeline for anything.. #Jan25
The military said they will run the country for six months, or until presidential and parliament elections can be held.
Egypt's military rulers have dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution. The announcement came in their latest public statement.
Here's a summary of events so far today:
There were scuffles as the army tried to force protesters to leave Tahrir Square (10.24am). Soldiers tore down tents in the square and some used sticks against people. But a number of protesters refused to leave and others have now been streaming into the square to join them (11.07am) and maintain the pressure for all their demands for reform to be met.
There will be no immediate reshuffle of the Egyptian cabinet, which was appointed by Mubarak and is still full of the ex-president's allies, it was announced today (10.58am). Prime minister Ahmed Shafiq said, after the cabinet's first meeting, that it would stay in place until the transition to democracy was complete. He also said restoring security would be a priority.
Two gilded wooden statues of Tutankhamun are among 18 items missing from the Egyptian museum in Cairo, the antiquities minister Zahi Hawass said today. He had previously said nothing had been stolen during the disturbances that occurred in the midst of the anti-government protests (11.03am).
Police officers have been protesting against their wages and clashed with soldiers outside the interior ministry (11.16am). In a remarkable turnaround of events, officers also marched through Tahrir Square, expressing their solidarity with the people they had cracked down on in the first week of the anti-Mubarak protests.
There seems to be some confusion about which public figure has actually been asked to serve as minister of information by the prime minister (see 1.04pm).
Amr Adib (also spelled Adeeb) (Arabic: عمرو أديب) is an Egyptian television presenter and interviewer. He is known for being a media personality known for his sense of humour. Adib presents good insight into what interests Arab audiences, however diverse it may be, and broaches many previously taboo subjects in Egypt (e.g., religion, sex, dating, etc.)
He currently presents El Qahira El Yawm, a popular Arab live television talk show from Cairo, which airs on the El Yawm Channel which is part of the Orbit Satellite and Television Network. The show is watched across the Arab World and Europe, even reaching as far as Australia and the US.
Claims that new ministers were appointed to the ministry of information hurriedly are "baseless", says prime minister Ahmed Shafiq.
Egyptian state TV, and hence al-Jazeera, appears to have stopped its transmission of the speech for some reason, even though it clearly was not over.
Prime minister Ahmed Shafiq is now speaking. The country could be affected if the protests continue but Egypt is currently "stable and satisfactory".
"Our main concern is how to restore security to the Egyptian citizens."
The cabinet wants to "restore our normal way of life".
There might be slight delays of freight because of protests in the streets but they should not be serious.
After restoring "discipline" the government will look at education projects.
All affairs of state are on the table but need to be reprioritised.
Certain cabinet posts are still vacant but "we are not in a hurry". Shafiq and his colleagues are examining candidates, he says. No minister will be appointed unless he is "thoroughly examined". There is no need to be concerned.
Was almost kidnapped in Tahrir square standing with very simple, brave Egyptians refusing to leave sit in. Tonight will be violent #Egypt
Egypt has imposed travel bans on 43 former and current ministers, Al Masry al Youm reports. It says the list includes:
Mufid Shehab, minister of state for legal and parliamentary affairs Anas al-Fiqqi, minister of information Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the minister of foreign affairs Mamdouh Marei, minister of justice Abdel Salam al-Mahgoub, minister of local development Hatem al-Gabaly, minister of health Mohamed Nasr Eddin Allam, minister of water resources and irrigation.
There has been an interesting response on Twitter to the news that antiquities, including two gilded wooden statues of Tutankhamun, were stolen from the Egyptian museum in Cairo, during the protests (see 11.03am), as revealed by the antiquities minister Zahi Hawass. People are pointing the finger of blame at Hawass and planning a demonstration against him.
A protest will be held on Wednesday to ask for the resignation of Zahi Hawass. More details coming soon.
Ezzedine Choukri, a professor of international politics at the American University in Cairo, has just been on al-Jazeera, warning that the retention of Mubarak's cabinet (see 10.58am) will not sit well with the protesters.
I don't see how these ministers can govern with any legitimacy or authority...The question is how long the military is planning to keep this government in place.
He said that more people would return to the streets in protest if a representative transition government was not put in place soon.
The UK government is under pressure to freeze any assets of Mubarak held in the UK, the Press Association reports.
The former president is reported to have amassed a family fortune worth billions of dollars held in British and Swiss banks and tied up in property in London, New York and Los Angeles. The Swiss authorities have already announced that they are freezing his assets held in their country, and former foreign office minister Lord Malloch-Brown urged the UK to follow suit. "I think it would be a very prudent thing to do to freeze suspicious accounts here because it will take a new government quite a while to mount some kind of legal claim on them," he told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show. "It would be a real pity if when they did the money had gone. I think it would be great for the reputation for the City of London if those accounts were frozen now." Business secretary Vince Cable suggested that there was a need for an international approach, rather than the UK acting alone. "I wasn't aware that he had enormous assets here but there clearly needs to be concerted international action on this," he told The Andrew Marr Show. "There is no point in one government acting in isolation but certainly we need to look at it. It depends also whether his funds were illegally obtained or improperly obtained." He said that the government would take action against any British bank which was found to have acted improperly helping Mubarak to move funds during his final days in office in order to shield them from any claim by the new administration. "I would be concerned if the banks had been engaged in anything improper," he said. "One of the things we have done since this government got in is actually stopping the banks engaging in large-scale tax avoidance on behalf of their corporate and private customers. So the logic of that is the we would be concerned and would act if there was anything improper that had occurred." The director of the Serious Fraud Office, Richard Alderman, indicated that they were already tracking the assets of Mubarak and the deposed Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. "The public would expect us to be looking for some of this money if we became aware of it, and to try to repatriate it for the benefit of the people of those countries," he told The Sunday Times.
Leaders in Bahrain are the latest to offer concessions in a bid to stave off Egypt-style protests. From the Associated Press:
Leaders in Bahrain are promising to expand media freedoms in the tiny Gulf kingdom in apparent attempts to quell calls for protests inspired by Egypt. The pledges Sunday to loosen state media controls come after Bahrain's king announced gifts of nearly $2,700 to each family in Bahrain a key Western ally and home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. Opposition groups are calling for street protests Monday to demand a greater voice in state affairs. It would mark the first major demonstrations in the Gulf since the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. Bahrain's majority Shiite's have long complained of discrimination by the Sunni rulers. Clashes erupted last year after the arrest of Shiite activists.
Tony Blair, who warned about the prospect of the Muslim Brotherhood taking power, before Mubarak stood down, has now said the president's removal could be a pivotal moment in spreading democracy across the Middle East. Although he has once more praised his former ally, calling him a "force for stability". From the Press Association
The former prime minister, now a peace envoy in the region, said it was a "moment of excitement but uncertainty" and the West should engage with supporters of democracy across the Middle East. He told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: "We should have a strategy of engagement with the democratic, modernising forces across the region. We should be helping countries evolve and move in the direction of change." Blair said progress could unblock the peace process and be of "huge benefit". He said: "This is a moment where the whole of the Middle East could pivot and face towards modernisation and democracy and that would be a huge benefit for all of us." He acknowledged the situation in Egypt had been "fantastically destabilising" for the Palestinian Authority but if a "benign" new administration was established in Cairo it could help to support modernising elements within Palestinian politics. Blair said: "This is a region in transition. The question is where is it transiting? It can either go towards an open-minded, modern type of democracy, let's hope that it does, or it could be swung into something narrow and extreme and closed-minded. "I think there's every possibility that we get the first and not the second and our purpose as the West should be to engage insofar as possible to bring about that more benign scenario." Blair defended Mubarak, saying he had been a "force for stability" in the region. "You can't invite him to the White House five months ago, and I was there with President (Barack) Obama, as a partner in peace and them simply forget all that. "He was a force for stability in the region and in the peace process, there were economic changes in Egypt that were beneficial over the past years but, having said that, the reason why this is a moment of huge exhilaration and excitement and opportunity is that there were a whole lot of forces for democracy, for change for economic and social reform in Egypt that were held back and those are now unleashed."
Gunshots have been heard outside Egypt's interior ministry, where policemen are protesting about their wages, witnesses have told Reuters:
A security guard said they were warning shots fired in the air. The police force was pulled off the streets when they lost control of anti-government protests last month. Some have staged their own protests and sit-ins since Hosni Mubarak's overthrow on Friday, demanding higher wages and immunity from prosecution.
An update from Chris McGreal, in Tahrir Square, who confirms that more people are making their way to the central plaza:
Many more people are coming in to Tahrir square apparently in response to a call from the remaining protesters not to let the army force them out. the military had got the traffic flowing earlier today but the demonstrators are now sitting down in the road and blocking the roundabout after soldiers ripped up their tents and told them to go home.
It should be added that there is also a counter-demonstration of about 100 people, chanting at the protesters to go home.
Two gilded wooden statues of Tutankhamun are among 18 items missing from the Egyptian museum in Cairo, after looters stole several items during the anti-government protests, the Associated Press reports.
On January 28, looters climbed a fire escape to the museum roof and lowered themselves on ropes from a glass pane ceiling onto the museum's top floor. Around 70 objects were damaged, but until Sunday's announcement, it was not known whether anything was missing. Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass said the museum's database department determined 18 objects were gone. Investigators were questioning those already in custody since the break-in last month.
There will be no major reshuffle of Egypt's cabinet, which was appointed by Mubarak, reports Reuters. That goes to the heart of the concerns of those who are still in Tahrir Square and who are demanding that the army move towards immediate transition. Not only has the army been using force on protesters in Tahrir Square but now the demonstrators have to swallow the fact that the interim cabinet is going to be one appointed by Mubarak and therefore filled with his allies.
It sounds like the army's behaviour in Tahrir Square has provoked many people back into action, with thousands reportedly on their way to the central plaza to show solidarity with the protesters who have refused to be forced out by the army. Reuters reports:
Thousands of protesters streamed back into Tahrir Square on Sunday after the army sought to disperse them from the heart of Cairo where they have vowed to stay to hold the army to its promises of reform, witnesses said. "The army and people are united" and "Revolution, revolution until victory," they chanted, after military police had earlier told them to take down tents and let normal life return. As military police corralled protesters in the centre of the square to allow traffic flow, protesters in other parts of the square guided cars. Some swept the ground and others painted curbs, which protesters say shows their desire to rebuild Egypt.
Some of the prominent activists and chroniclers of the protests have already begun voicing their scepticism about the army on Twitter:
It may seem very paranoid but what if the military played us all ?
The Guardian's Chris McGreal is in Tahrir Square where there have been scuffles between protesters and soldiers trying to remove them. He said:
"Soldiers moved into the square shortly after dawn this morning and opened it up to traffic and began pressing the protesters who remain here to take down their tents and leave. Some of them did begin to do that, the rest refused and the army then moved in and began tearing those those tents down. Then a protest began on the other side of the roundabout, right at the heart of the square, really where the original protests began] against both the army trying to force people out and also [in favour of] demands that this military government immediately move towards some civilian interim administration and and other measures such as dissolving the discredited parliament, dropping the state of emergency. And at the heart of this really is a hardcore of protesters, I mean, several thousand, [who believe] that the revolution hasn't been won yet, all that's happened is that Mubarak has left and they are intent on staying until they see a genuine change of administration."
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A press conference from the Egyptian government is expected within the next hour. The cabinet appointed by Mubarak is expected to meet today. A spokesman said:
The shape of the government will stay until the process of transformation is done in a few months, then a new government will be appointed based on the democratic principles in place. The main task of this government is to restore security and order and also start the economic process, and to take care of day-to-day life.
There was unconfined joy on Friday when people power forced Hosni Mubarak from office after 30 years of authoritarian rule, leaving the army in charge to oversee the transition to democracy.
With the military occupying a special place in the heart of many Egyptians, protesters were happy to entrust it with such a heavy responsibility but there is widespread acknowledgement that transition will not be plain sailing.
There have already been signs of discord this morning. As so often over the past 20 days, the focus is once more on Tahrir Square, where protesters have been resisting army attempts to clear the plaza, Reuters reports:
Hundreds of Egyptian soldiers shoved pro-democracy protesters aside to force a path for traffic to start flowing through central Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday for the first time in more than two weeks. Protesters chanted "Peacefully, peacefully" as the soldiers and military police in red berets moved in to disperse them. Scuffles broke out and some soldiers lashed out with sticks. The military police chief told protesters to clear tents from the square and not to disrupt traffic. "We do not want any protesters to sit in the square after today," Mohamed Ibrahim Moustafa Ali, the head of military police, told protesters and reporters, as soldiers removed tents from the square. The army has said it respects the demands of protesters, whose mass action drove Hosni Mubarak from power. But it has also called on them to go home and let normal life resume. Protests erupted on Jan. 25 and traffic stopped flowing through Tahrir after Jan. 28. The square became the epicentre of nationwide demonstrations, with many protesters camping there. The early morning violence did not last long, but the army action, backed by dozens of military police, split demonstrators who had previously controlled the square into smaller groups. "In the square, in the square, we demand our rights in the square," some chanted as soldiers corralled the crowd. About 2,000 demonstrators remained in the square and some tents were still pitched in the grassy central area. Although Mubarak's resignation on Saturday met the key demand of protesters, many said they planned to stay in the square to ensure the military council now in charge of Egypt made way for civilian rule and democracy as it had promised. Protesters demand the abolition of emergency law that has been used to stifle dissent for three decades, the release of all political prisoners, and free and fair elections. "The army is the backbone of Egypt. The solution is not to remove us from the square. They must respond to our demands," said a protester over loudspeakers. Protesters said soldiers had detained some of their leaders and that more than 30 people had been taken to an army holding area around the Egyptian Museum, next to the square. Troops were ordered onto the streets on Jan. 28 after police fought street battles to try to contain protests but lost control. The army has taken a largely neutral role, but has detained some protesters and journalists, often briefly. "There is no enmity between the people and armed forces ... We ask you not to attack our sons. This is not the (behaviour) of the armed forces. This is a peaceful protest," one protester said on loudspeakers. "We demand that the armed forces release all our sons that have been arrested in Tahrir." Some passersby felt the time for protests was over. "Haven't they got what they want? Can someone explain to me what is left of their demands?" asked one bystander. But Jihad Laban, an accountant, said much work remained to make sure the revolution did not squander what it had gained. "We stood by the army in their revolution," he said, alluding to the 1952 coup that toppled the British-backed king. "They need to stand with us in ours. "The goal was never just to get rid of Mubarak. The system is totally corrupt and we won't go until we see some real reforms. I am going to be buried in Tahrir, I am here for my children. Egypt is too precious to walk away now." A 38-year-old industrial worker who gave his name only as Mohamed, said he had changed his mind about going home. "I was going to leave today, but after what the military has done, the millions will be back again. The corrupt system still stands. It has gone back to using the only thing it understands - force. If we leave, they won't respond to our demands."
• Clashes on "day of rage" in Bahrain results in death • Renewed battles in Yemen on fourth day of protest • Teargas and violence against protesters in Iran • Egypt's military announce timetable on reforms • Demonstrators told to leave Cairo's Tahrir Square
ترجم هذه الصفحة إلى العربية
One piece of late news – Egypt's military rulers have appointed retired judge Tareq al-Bishry to head a committee set up to propose constitutional changes, according to reports on al-Jazeera and Reuters.
Bishry is said to be respected in legal circles for his independent views.
The military announced on Sunday that it was forming a committee to amend the constitution and define rules for a referendum on the changes.
Bahrain: On the anniversary of the country's 2002 constitution, large demonstrations in a "day of rage" across the small island state saw at least 25 people injured, and one man dead after suffering severe head trauma.
The protesters want changes to the country's constitution, an elected prime minister, the release of political prisoners, and an end to the use of torture.
Iran: Events in Egypt appear to have inspired the opposition forces to reignite the protests last seen in 2009, with the police and government allies resorting to similar tactics, blocking access to opposition leaders, cutting off phone service and allowing attacks on protesters. At least one person is reported to have died.
• Yemen: The fourth day of continuing protests saw around 1,000 marchers, including lawyers in courtroom robes, on the streets of Sanaa — a quieter affair than the violence of Sunday, when Human Rights Watch said police used stun guns and batons against demonstrators and small mobs of government supports attacked protesters.
• Egypt: A meeting between military leaders and pro-democracy representatives produced details about plans for fresh elections and constitutional changes. Attempts to clear Tahrir Square of protesters were only partly successful. Former president Hosni Mubarak is reported to be ill in Sharmal-Sheik, while veteran politician Amr Moussa said he wants to run for president.
You read more detailed updates of the day's events here and here. Thanks for reading.
Now the US government also says it has received a formal request from Egypt to freeze the assets of a group of officials in the Mubarak regime.
The state department's spokesman PJ Crowley said no request had been received regarding Hosni Mubarak himself, by a "senior U.S. administration official" told Reuters that other names had been mentioned: "We have received requests regarding other officials," he said.
Earlier, the UK, France and the EU announced they had received requests from Egypt.
When I reached Eskandari Street it looked like a war zone: smoke, dust, teargas, screaming people, flying stones and regular attacks by the well equipped motorcycle riding guards. A petite young girl with a green wristband and a small backpack was walking to my left. Just before we reached Navab Avenue the guards charged from behind, one of their clubs hit my left leg but three of them attacked the girl relentlessly. She screamed and fell to the ground, but the guards kept hitting her. I ran towards them, grabbed the girl's right hand and released her from the grip of the guards. She was in a daze and crying unstoppably. I pushed her north into Navab Avenue towards Tohid Square away from Azadi Avenue when the guards charged towards us. This time the crowd fought back and stones of all sizes were directed back at them. This gave me a bit of time to ask one of the restaurants to open their doors and let us in. The girl was in shock and pain. I got her some water and asked how she was. Her clothes were dusty, her backpack was torn and her hands were shaking. "Why?" she kept asking.
Bahrain's foreign minister Khalid al-Khalifa is a regular Twitter user. Here is his latest on today's events:
Note: Khalifa follows Wael Ghonim on Twitter and is followed back by the Egyptian activist.
(In his Twitter bio Khalifa describes himself as: "Diplomat, ambassador, foreign minister of Bahrain, reader, world traveler, bon vivant".)
Inside Iran, the Islamic Republic's News Agency has managed to avoid any mention of the protests, while the semi-official Fars news agency – which boasts links to the Revolutionary Guard hardcore – has triumphant news: "Agents of the United States and Zionism were defeated again."
According to Fars, only a few hundred "foolish" people took to the streets:
In today's illegal gathering, elements of the Mojahedin Khalgh [MKO], monarchists, thugs, and criminal of sedition were present in some streets in Tehran to support the people of Egypt and Tunis, but they did not chant a single slogan in their support.
After [the protestors] realized there was not going to be popular support for them, they began running away and left the scene.
The website insideIran.org has an interview with "Ali," billed as a student activist at Amir Kabir University in Tehran who organised a student demonstration today:
Q: How did the police treat the demonstrators?
A: Some police forces were surprisingly nice, especially around Azadi Square. But other forces in other areas used brute force. I saw a man whose face was struck with something. I couldn't tell what it was, but there was blood all over him and he fell down. The government is really worried about people with cameras and this man had a camera. He was taking pictures. The government doesn't want any media coverage.
There was such little information about what to do and where to go. We got all our information from the internet. And there is no information about what to do next. But I am very happy about today's turnout.
In Iran, the authorities are using the state media to accuse opposition leaders of being part of a Western plot to overthrow the Islamic system. According to state TV:
Hypocrites, monarchists, thugs and seditionists who wanted to create public disorder in Iran were arrested by our brave nation ... These people set garbage bins on fire and damaged public property.
The Guardian's Saeed Kamali Dehghan reports on today's protests in Iran:
Supporters of the Green movement appeared in scattered groups in various locations in central Tehran and other big cities in what was seen as the Iranian opposition's first attempt in more than a year to hold street protests against the government.
The riot police and government-sponsored plainclothes basiji militia used teargas, wielded batons and opened fire to disperse protesters who chanted "death to the dictator", a reference to both Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Witnesses told the Guardian that despite a heavy security presence, small groups of people succeeded in gathering in main squares leading to Azadi ("freedom") Square – a chosen focal point.
Because of a government ban on reporting on the protests by the international media, footage and coverage today has been sparse.
An Iranian has been shot dead during today's protests in Tehran, with the government-aligned Fars news agency blaming opposition supporters for the shooting.
Reuters quotes Fars as claiming: "One person was shot dead and several were wounded by seditionists [opposition supporters] who staged a rally in Tehran," but without giving any further details.
The US State Department has launched a Twitter account in Farsi, just in time for today's protests in Iran:
The account USA darFarsi now has more than 2,000 followers, not bad for one day.
There are rumours – and let us stress, just rumours at this point – of more deaths in Bahrain following today's protests.
In the meantime the Bahraini government has acknowledged the death of protester Ali Abdulhadi al-Mushaima, with the the official Bahraini news agency, BNA, announcing the news and the minister of interior expressing his condolences.
More from Yemen, this time from Reuters, where Mohammed Ghobari and Khaled Abdullah report:
Government loyalists armed with broken bottles, daggers and rocks chased down thousands of pro-reform demonstrators in Yemen's capital on Monday, turning unrest inspired by Egypt's uprising increasingly violent.
Police who had been trying to keep the sides apart locked several thousand fleeing protesters inside the Sanaa University campus near where they had been holding their rally. Five people were wounded in the melee, an opposition source said.
"Hey Ali, get out, get out!" anti-government protesters shouted, referring to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a US ally against al-Qaida's resurgent Yemen-based wing who has been in power for over 30 years. "There is no solution except to leave."
Meanwhile, a further 12 people were injured in Taiz, with police fired warning shots into the air while anti-government demonstrators clashed with President Saleh's supporters. Even in Aden, in a region where al-Qaida is active, hundreds marched in protest.
In Yemen, the Associated press reports of violent clashes between pro-government forces and demonstrators throughout the day in Sanaa and Taiz. AP's Ahmen al-Haj reports from Sanaa:
University students, rights activists and lawmakers marched Monday in the capital, Sanaa. Lawyers in black robes, led by their union chief, joined the demonstrators shouting slogans against the security forces and "the people want the regime to step down," a slogan mirroring those used in Egypt and Tunisia.
"A revolution of free opinion ... A revolution of freedom ... We should decide," shouted the protesters.
A counter-demonstration of at least a hundred government supporters holding up pictures of President Ali Abdullah Saleh confronted the protesters, shouting slogans against terrorism and supporting the government's call for dialogue.
The BBC says one of its journalists and his cameraman were deliberately attacked in Yemen by government supporters while reporting on the protests against President Saleh.
Abdullah Ghorab, the BBC's Arabic correspondent in Yemen, was left cut, bruised and with a bleeding nose in the incident in the capital, Sanaa. Cameraman Mohammed Omran was beaten and had his mobile phone and watch taken, the BBC said in a statement.
Ghorab's attackers pulled him towards the car of Hafez Meiyad, a Yemeni official known to be close to the president, who rebuked the reporter for tarnishing the country's reputation, the statement said.
Spanish media are reporting that that the country's consul in Tehran, Ignacio Pérez Cambra, was detained by police for four hours during today's protests in Iran's capital. The Guardian's Giles Tremlett in Madrid writes:
Apparently the Spanish consul was detained along with an embassy chauffeur by six plain clothes police officers as he tried to leave either the consulate or the embassy in Tehran. He has been released. The report originates from Spain's EFE news agency, citing diplomatic sources.
Even Kuwait has not been immune from the pro-democracy outbreaks. Opposition groups in the country had called for anti-government protests to take place but have now delayed the protest until March 8.
Last week the Kuwaiti government issued a stern reminder that unlicensed protests would be stamped on, in a statement:
Based on the principle that security is a collective responsibility that should be shouldered by all, the ministry would like to remind the citizens of awareness about nature of the ongoing incidents in the region.
These incidents could have impacts on everybody. The security of citizens is the focus of our efforts and the guarantee for stability.
Therefore, the ministry stresses that any gatherings, rallies or marches after Friday noon prayers would be deemed a breach of the public rally law. Everybody should put the interests of the homeland above all considerations.
The Daily Telegraph sends a reporter to the resort next to Mubarak's residence in Sharm el-Sheik, for a glimpse of the former president's estate:
It is a snatched view that, coupled with the simple question 'is that Mubarak's home?' is enough for non-guests to quickly be escorted from the premises. "My staff told me you were asking questions," says the public relations manager standing in the opulent foyer that for three weeks has been nearly devoid of tourists. "Everything is well in our hotel, but now you have to leave."
The violent response by Bahrain's security forces to today's protests may cause some of the island state's middle class to break ranks with the government.
A major development in Bahrain where there are reports that one person has been killed by security forces during a protest:
According to sources in the hospital, and confirmed by Nabeel Rajab from a Bahraini human rights organisation, Ali Abdulhadi al-Mushaima, 27, was shot in the back with live ammunition. Protesters are incensed.
Here's a link of what is said to be a photo of the dead man.
Amr Moussa has announced that he will be run in Egypt's presidential elections scheduled for September. Ahram Online reports:
According to activist Ahmed Nassar, Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League, stated that he will be devoting his time in the coming months to his presidential campaign as soon as he hands over his Arab League post in March.
Moreover, Moussa met January 25 activists at the Arab League's headquarters yesterday where they laid out a plan for a popular campaign focusing on the principles of law, democracy and human rights.
Hillary Clinton has sent a message of support for Iranian protesters and accused Iran's government of "hypocrisy" for praising the protests in Egypt while cracking down on dissent in its own country.
Clinton said Iran's protesters "deserve to have the same rights that they saw being played out in Egypt and are part of their own birthright," and that the US government "very clearly and directly support the aspirations of the people who are in the streets" of Tehran.
Reuters correspondents Marwa Awad and Andrew Hammond in Cairo have posted a fuller account of the military's timetable to amend Egypt's constitution:
[Wael] Ghonim, a Google executive who was detained for two weeks during the protests, confirmed to Reuters the contents of the meeting that he published on social networking site Facebook. "A constitutional committee known for integrity, honour and not belonging to any political trends has been formed to finish constitutional amendments in the space of 10 days and and they will be put to a referendum within two months," said the Facebook page, called "We are all Khaled Said".
The page, set up by Ghonim, is dedicated to a web activist from Alexandria who died in police custody last year.
Abdel-Rahman Samir, another activist present at the meeting, said he believed the two generals had meant that articles of the constitution that needed revising would be identified within 10 days, not that drafting would be completed by then.
An army source said the immediate priority was restoring security and reviving the economy, adding that the two-month target for a vote on the constitution was a "general time-frame".
Ghonim's Facebook page account also said the army would search for all demonstrators who went missing during the uprising based on a list that the youth activists will prepare. The army also agreed to start a campaign to raise 100bn Egyptian pounds ($17bn) in donations to rebuild the country of 80 million people, and wants young Egyptians to set up new political parties.
Hosni Mubarak is in "bad health," according to Egypt's ambassador to the US, confirming the rumours:
Egypt's ambassador to the United States says Hosni Mubarak may be in "bad health," the first word on the 82-year-old ousted president's health since he stepped down from office on Friday.
Speaking Monday on NBC's Today show, Sameh Shoukry said he had received the information about Mubarak but could not be more specific.
Two Cairo newspapers said Mubarak was refusing to take medication, suffering from depression and repeatedly passing out at his residence in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. There was no immediate confirmation of the reports.
Here's an update on our earlier report that Egypt's ruling military council said it plans to hold a referendum on constitutional amendments within two months.
The report comes from comments members of the council made to youth activists. Wael Ghonim said on his Facebook page (in Arabic) that he and seven other activists met two members of the council on Sunday evening.
The meeting is described in very positive terms: "We noticed an absence of paternalism in the conversation ('You don't know your own interest, son.') For the first time we sat with an Egyptian official who listened more than he spoke." Although the young participants did tell the military they should have a better media communications strategy (please! enough with these cryptic SMS messages).
This is what the military had to say:
- The military does not want power and thinks a civilian government is the only path towards progress. They only want to safeguard the gains of the revolution.
- Keeping the current government is place is necessary but only until it can carry out the needed changes.
- The military wants to see corruption pursued and prosecuted
- A constitutional committee will be formed during the next 10 days; a new constitution will be voted on in a referendum in 2 months.
- The military encourages the people to take steps towards forming new political parties
- The military will be holding meetings with representatives of all political forces
- They military will supervise a campaign to raise 100 billion pounds in donations repair the damages of the revolution.
- Egyptians need to go back to work, put their money back in the stock market, and attract tourists again
- Voting in the constitutional referendum and the presidential elections will be just with the national ID card
The Wall Street Journal's Farnaz Fassihi reports on the house arrest of Iranian opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, with communication to their home and mobile phones cut off. Elsewhere cellphone coverage appeared to be blocked near the routes of protest marches:
About 4,000 people gathered in Azadi Square, in central Tehran, and more were streaming in, with dozens of police on motorbikes circling the square, according to eyewitnesses, opposition websites and Internet posts. Witnesses said a few thousand protesters had also gathered at Imam Hussein square, sitting on the ground and breaking out in chants when police tried to disperse them.
Witnesses said crowds were swelling in central Tehran, with people silently marching in large numbers toward Azadi Square. Shopkeepers and restaurants along the route had been shut down, and security forces surrounded the campus of Tehran University, preventing students from entering.
Thousands of student activists also gathered at the campus of Sharif University, preparing to march to the square. One activist posted on a blog that so far police haven't prevented students from joining the demonstrations. The main route of the protesters appeared to be following Enghelab Avenue, one of Tehran's longest and widest streets.
By mid-afternoon, uniformed security forces had lined many Tehran streets, diverting traffic and blocking all access — on foot and by car — to Azadi Square, according to eyewitnesses. Metro stations near the protest route been closed.
Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi were placed under house arrest early Monday, with communication lines to their home and mobile phones cut off, according to opposition websites. Police cars blocked the entry to their streets and, at one point, prevented Mr Mousavi's wife from leaving her house.
The BBC is complaining at the difficultly of filming in Iran. Here are some Radio Farda videos from Iran today, said to be of protests in Tehran near the Navab Metro station. Above: the video shows protesters setting fire to a poster featuring images of Khomeini and Khamenei – and this more disturbing video shows an attempt by one person – alleged to be a plain clothes policeman – to stop a similar protest, enraging the protesters nearby to his cost.
The Egyptian army last night thanked demonstrators in Cairo for their military coup, adding that it was a very nice one.
President Omar Suleiman, whose real first name turns out to be 'General', said the coup was very thoughtful of the Egyptian people, particularly as it came with lots of lovely press coverage.
Time for a summary of the latest events:
• Protests are continuing across the middle east, as unrest spreads following the events in Egypt and Tunisia. Demonstrations are continuing in Egypt, while there have been clashes in Iran, Bahrain and Yemen
• In Iran, news is emerging of multiple small-scale protests in Tehran, where they have been met by armed riot police, as well as demonstrations taking place in other regions, including Isfahan and Shiraz
• In Egypt, attempts by military police to clear protesters from Tahrir Square were initially successful but protesters later returned. Egypt's stock exchange remains closed and there are reports that a former president Hosni Mubarak has been in a coma since Saturday
• The British government and European Union have confirmed that they have received formal requests from Egypt to investigate and freeze assests belonging to members of the Mubarak regime
• In Bahrain, protests in the capital Manama have spread to Duraz and Sanabis, and drawn a strong response from security forces, with reports of beatings and warning shots being fired
• In Yemen, protests have entered their fourth day, with at least 17 people wounded today during clashes with armed supporters of the government in Sanaa and Taiz
My colleague Saeed Kamali Dehghan passes on news that HRANA, an Iranian human rights website, reports that at least one person has been killed and three injured when the riot police opened fire at protesters near Tohid square in central Tehran.
According to HRANA, at least 250 people have been arrested during today's protest in Tehran.
Here's an informative if depressing email from a reader in Bahrain with valuable insights into the protests going on in the Gulf state:
First of all, the protests in Bahrain were never about changing a regime. They are a demand by the majority of the people of Bahrain for human rights which have been eroding swiftly since just before the elections in October last year and continue to decline. All the progress made by the government has been reversed and then some.
The riot police, almost entirely non-Bahraini, have been preparing for today's protests since they were announced. The intention was always to quash the protests before they could gather any steam and to isolate the hotspots to prevent the protestors consolidating. The emphasis seems to be on swiftly resolving the uprisings, and as such the police (if you can call them that) are attempting to disperse peaceful gatherings with rubber bullets, teargas, soundbombs and by beating civilians with batons. By the end of today, hundreds if not thousands of innocent, poor Bahrainis will be languishing in prison for as long as the security apparatus deems fit. There have been scattered reports that additional foreign special forces were flown in specifically to help deal with today's protests, primarily from Pakistan, though they cannot be confirmed.
The main source of news seems to be Twitter, though anybody putting their name to any information that can be viewed as damaging the image of the Kingdom in the eyes of the international media are either brave or stupid. There have been reports that ... they are actively preventing anybody, civilian or otherwise, from taking any photos or footage of the clashes. These protests will, the establishment hopes, be swept under the rug as briskly and harshly as is effectively possible.
I want to thank the Guardian for its prominent coverage, and I hope that it continues for as long as the people of Bahrain have the strength to fight for the rights that they should be afforded as human beings. International media is likely the only way that reform will be instigated, through shaming the governments of western powers who preach about freedoms while ignoring the plight of so many for so long.
More from Hague's statement to the Parliament during foreign affairs questions just now.
On the disturbances in Yemen, Hague said: "There is a serious threat to our national security from the operation of al-Qaida in Yemen," adding that the UK's Department for International Development contributed £50m in aid for education, health care and microfinance initiatives.
On Egypt, Hague reiterated the UK government's position of calling for the release of political detainees and a firm timetable for elections to take place within six months.
"But democracy is more than about holding elections," Hague said, citing the need for new political parties, the encouragement of civil society and the lifting of emergency laws.
Hague also mentioned the British government's links to the Muslim Brotherhood: "We retain certain contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood," he said, in particular those who won seats in Egypt's 2005 elections, adding "We will maintain that contact with them."
UK foreign secretary William Hague has just told the House of Commons that Britain has received a formal request from the Egyptian government to freeze assets belonging to senior officials of the Mubarak regime.
Hague says the investigation will be conducted by the Serious Organised Crime Agency to look into "assets acquired through corruption".
The European Union says it has also received a similar request.
Here is some terrifying YouTube video footage of Bahraini riot police charging protesters. We can't verify the clip but it was forwarded by a reader in Bahrain and gives a remarkable view of what it's like to be caught up in such a situation.
Thanks Haroon, this is Richard Adams in the Guardian's Washington bureau, where we will be continuing coverage of events in the Middle East and the Maghreb.
I'm handing over to my colleague Richard Adams now.
The Egyptian military has told youth activists that it will hold a referendum on a new constitution within two months, Reuters is reporting. It is just one line on Reuters at the moment but it begs lots of questions, not least who will draw up the constitution that is to be voted on.
Local and international journalists have been attacked and beaten by police and government supporters in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, the Associated Press is reporting.
The ministry of information in Bahrain started tweeting today. Earlier it used its account to chide someone over their spelling of the word "sheikh" (it's now been deleted, I should have taken a screengrab) but it has since been using it to offer its own narrative of today's events in the country. Here's a sample (some of them are automatic translations so the language is a bit odd):
Illegal rally in Karzakan 3 policemen attacked, Police had to fire 2 rubber bullet. 1st as warning shot 2nd bounced & hit a demonstrator
Interior Minister met the father of the man injured in Karzakan. He directed that the injured be treated abroad & has ordered an inquiry.
What happened in Nuwaidrat today resulted in one person being injured. He is in hospital & is stable. He had suffered bruises in the face.
Rallies are illegal in several areas and warnings not to legality and disobeying been dealing with them using natural gas
It's almost 6.30pm Tehran time and reports from various sources suggest that protesters succeeded in gathering in scattered groups in various parts of the capital, mostly in central areas such as Sadeghieh square, Enghelab Square and Vali-e-Asr. Eyewitnesses told opposition websites that the riot police used tear gas and wielded batons to disperse protesters. They said that the security forces have blocked the streets to Azadi (freedom) Square where the protesters had planned to gather at the end. At the same time, protesters in the cities of Shiraz, Isfahan, Rasht, Mashhad and Kermanshah have given accounts of the presence of hundreds of people in streets. Eyewitnesses from Tehran told BBC Persian TV that gunshots have been heard in different places and "significant" numbers of protesters have gathered despite the ban. Access to the websites of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi has been restricted. Videos of today's protest, posted on YouTube, showed protesters chanting "Khamenei, shame on you!" and "Death to dictator".
There are still reports of clashes and people having been injured in Bahrain.
Reuters is also reporting teargas being used against protesters in central Tehran:
Iranian security forces fired teargas in central Tehran on Monday to disperse opposition supporters marching in a banned rally inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, a witness said. "There are thousands of people marching ... not chanting slogans ... Security forces fired teargas to disperse them near Imam Hossein square," said the witness.
Young Egyptian and Tunisian activists brainstormed on the use of technology to evade surveillance, commiserated about torture and traded practical tips on how to stand up to rubber bullets and organize barricades. They fused their secular expertise in social networks with a discipline culled from religious movements and combined the energy of soccer fans with the sophistication of surgeons. Breaking free from older veterans of the Arab political opposition, they relied on tactics of non-violent resistance channelled from an American scholar through a Serbian youth brigade — but also on marketing tactics borrowed from Silicon Valley.
A reader has sent us an account from Bahrain of gunshots and reports of casualties:
I have just got home to to my compound by a village hotspot/poor Shia neighbourhood) and can hear sporadic gunfire. A friend has just reported trouble along Budaiya highway (big hotspot/poor Shia neighbourhood) with gunshots.
There are helicopters flying overhead. and sirens. Now there are so many car horns going off. The shooting in Karzakan last night may inflame. It's alleged that a wedding party was fired on unprovoked with one dead and at least six injured (rumours flying around and depicted on Facebook 'Bahrain Day of Rage' and Twitter).
Most office workers in Manama fled around 2pm local time as have been advised that many villages protesting and roads getting blocked off. The protests are meant to be all day. Not sure if anyone will be going to mosque at sundown due to it kicking off now; usually if anything is going to kick off it does then. Distinct impression (Karzakan) security forces are coming down very hard. They have (apparently) already arrested lots of people. Again. This will add to the hundreds already sitting in prison.
I expect this is all going to be just a little news item as the protesters are surely going to be quashed as quickly as they rise up. On my way home the local english radio station was playing Irish banjo music and the DJ talking about a swimming competition. I am too frightened to tell you who I am or where I live for fear, rational or otherwise, of being found out.
#Iran #25Bahman: Thousands of protesters now marching in Tehran. Police has responded with tear gas. Police are attacking with batons
An opposition website (Farsi link) also says shots have been fired in the air by police, while al-Jazeera reports pepper spray is being used against protesters.
Egypt's ruling military council has called on labour leaders to halt strikes and protests. News that the military was planning such a move first emerged yesterday. The response will be interesting.
Thanks Adam, this is Haroon back again. Some developments from Iran:
• Around 10 people have been arrested near Enghelab square in central Tehran, according to @iran88.
• Metro stations in Imam Hossein square, Enghelab Squre and Vali Asr have been closed down by the government to try to disrupt the protests, according to @StopAhmadi.
• There are reports from Tehran of mobile users complaining their text services are being blocked.
Hello, Adam Gabbatt here with a summary while Haroon has a quick lunch:
• Protests are underway across the middle east, as unrest spreads following the events in Egypt and Tunisia. Demonstrations are continuing in Egypt, while there have been clashes in Iran, Bahrain and Yemen.
• In Iran, hundreds of protesters have gathered in the centre of Tehran, where they have been met by riot police. Today is the Iranian opposition's first attempt in more than a year to hold street protests against the government, with demonstrations also taking place in Isfahan and Shiraz.
• In Yemen, pro-reform demonstrators have reportedly been attacked by government-supporting gangs. Spurred on by events in Egypt, thousands of demonstrators had gathered to protest against the 32-year-rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh, but the protests have become increasingly violent with clashes between Saleh-supporters and critics.
• In Egypt, some 1,000 protesters remain in Tahrir Square despite the military's continuing attempts to clear them. All news organisations have been stopped from broadcasting in the square, while the reopening of Egypt's stock exchange has been delayed. Reports are suggesting that the former president Mubarak has fallen into a coma.
• Police have used rubber bullets and teargas against protesters on Bahrain's "day of rage". In the village of Nuweidrat, 10 people were slightly injured according to witnesses.
Some context for today's action in Iran (by Saeed Kamali Dehghan):
Today marks the Iranian opposition's first attempt in more than a year to hold street protests against the government. It's not yet clear how successful they will be, but reports from Tehran suggest that despite a heavy security presence, small groups of people have gatheredin Sadeghieh Squyare, Enghelab Square, Kalej junction and Azadi street. A wave of unrest hit Iran following the disputed presidential election in 2009, but in the ensuing crackdown, dozens of people were killed, hundreds injured and thousands arrested. Since then, the opposition has largely been forced underground or onto the internet, where - despite government efforts to control the web - protesters have been active on social networking websites. Opposition activists in Iran watched events in Tunisia and Egypt with mixed feelings - inspired and energised, but also frustrated that their own efforts to bring down an autocratic regime did not succeed. With Iranian media under strict government control, citizen journalists in Iran are once again turning to social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter to get their accounts out of Tehran. (Twitter users are using the #25bahman hashtag). Eyewitnesses told opposition websites that protesters are chanting "Death to dictator" in streets and YouTube videos showed protesters chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) last night on rooftops.
Hundreds of protesters are trying to move into the centre of Tehran, Reuters reports:
Hundreds of demonstrators marched down Azadi (Freedom) Street, a wide boulevard, towards Azadi Square, a traditional rallying point for protests dominated by a huge white marble arch, in central Tehran. "Hundreds of people are marching towards Azadi and Enghelab streets," one witness said. "Hundreds of riot police are in the area as well but there are no clashes." Hundreds of marchers also gathered in the central city of Isfahan, witnesses said.
Video has emerged of members of Iran's Basiji militia, in their distinctive clothes and helmets, riding into central Tehran on motorbikes:
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Although today's Iran protest was initially organised for the capital Tehran, reports suggest that protesters have also taken to the streets in Enghelab Square, in the city of Isfahan, and Namazi Square, in Shiraz. in Tehran, an eyewitness told BBC Persian TV that there have been clashes between the riot police and protesters in Kalej cross. Opposition websites report that Abdollah Naseri, a reformist activist and close ally to former president Mohammad Khatami has been arrested. Iran's semi-official Fars News agency reported last night that the revolutionary guards are claiming western spies are conspiring to ignite an uprising in Iran. Commander Mohammad Reza Naghdi said: "Western intelligence agencies are searching for a mentally challenged person who can set himself on fire in Tehran to trigger developments like those in Egypt and Tunisia."
There are disturbing reports of gangs of government thugs attacking protesters in Yemen. From Reuters:
Government backers armed with broken bottles, daggers and rocks chased down thousands of pro-reform demonstrators in Yemen's capital on Monday, turning unrest inspired by Egypt's uprising increasingly violent.
Police who had been trying to keep the sides apart locked several thousand fleeing protesters inside the Sanaa University campus near where they were rallying to stem the bloodshed. Five people were wounded in the melee, an opposition source said.
"With our blood, we sacrifice for you Ali!" Saleh supporters chanted in Sanaa before violence erupted. Some of the several hundred Saleh backers who gathered held pictures of the man who has ruled Yemen for 32 years, and they waved Yemeni flags. Another 12 people were reported hurt south of Sanaa, where police fired shots into the air as hundreds of anti-government demonstrators clashed with Saleh supporters, witnesses said.
But police were unable to control the crowds in the agro-industrial town of Taiz, where thousands of protesters had held a night-long rally. The disturbances occurred while Saleh and the main opposition group were preparing for talks that the government hoped would help avert an Egypt-style revolt. They were due to begin within days, an opposition official has said.
Human Rights Watch criticised Yemeni police for what they described as unnecessary brutality against demonstrators, including the use of electroshock tasers. "Without provocation, government security forces brutally beat and tasered peaceful demonstrators on the streets of Sanaa," said Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East and North Africa director of the US based rights group.
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Of course, no sooner does the Turkish president, in Iran, call for governments to listen to the demands of their people, than there are reports of clashes on a Tehran street:
Live: Clashes in 4 Rah valiasr with tear gas #iran #25bahman
I mentioned earlier (12pm) that the presence of the Turkish president Abdullah Gul in Tehran could be a restraining influence on the way the Iranian security services deal with today's demonstrations. Well, Gul has used a press conference with his Iranian counterpart to urge (unspecified) Middle East governments to listen to the demands of their people. He said:
The desires of people must be taken into account. In this respect, fundamental reforms must be carried out, whether economic or political.
The former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak fell into a coma on Saturday, according to an Egyptian paper, al-arabiya reports:
Egypt's deposed president, Hosni Mubarak, went into a full coma on Saturday night at his residence in the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, an Egyptian newspaper reported on Monday, quoting well-informed sources. Mubarak and his family moved to Sharm al-Sheikh on Thursday night following his final speech, in which he handed over executive authority to former Vice-President Omar Suleiman, Egypt's al-Masry al-Youm reported. The same sources said that Mubarak was currently receiving medical treatment but that no decision had yet been made on whether to transfer the 82-year-old former head-of-state to a hospital.
Several metro stations have been closed in central Tehran to try to scupper the march, according to reports, and al-Jazeera says shops have been closed along the planned protest route.
BBC Persian has started its daily broadcast earlier than usual. An eyewitness told the channel that a group of people have gathered in Sadeghieh Square in central Tehran where people are chanting "Death to dictator."
#iran #25bahman Clashes at Shiraz Azad Uni.Green Students fighting with Basiji Students
The Turkish leader Abdullah Gul is visiting Iran, prompting speculation that there will be lenient treatment of protesters so not as to embarrass Tehran's ally.
There is confusion in Iran over whether the government has issued a permit for today's protests. It was reported on Iranian state-sanctioned website that a permit was issued but BBC Persian is saying that a permit has not been issued. To add to the confusion the report on the website, which said a permit had been issued, Aftab News, is no longer accessible. There is speculation on Twitter that the government may have issued a permit and then revoked it.
Iraq can be added to the list of countries where people are protesting today. From the Associated Press:
Hundreds of Iraqis rallied in central Baghdad against corruption and the lack of government services that have plagued this country for years. Many of the demonstrators carried banners that bore the image of a broken red heart, alluding to the fact that the protest took place on Valentine's Day. Iraqis endure electricity and water shortages after years of warfare, UN sanctions and corruption. The gatherings in Iraq have been small in scale, although organizers are promising a much larger event on February 25. The Iraqis are calling for government reforms and more jobs.
Some developments in Egypt:
• All news organisations have now been stopped from broadcasting in Egypt's Tahrir Square, al-Jazeera reports (see 10.06am).
• Despite this fact al-Jazeera says there are around 1,000 protesters chanting anti-police slogans. That is in response to police officers who marched through Tahrir Square earlier chanting "We and the people are one." It was the police who tried to enforce the crackdown on protesters in the early days of the demonstrations.
• The reopening of Egypt's stock exchange has been delayed again. A bourse official said it remain closed until stability returns to the economy and the financial sector, Reuters reports. He initially said it would reopen on Sunday but then said it would take place on an unspecified date.
• Hundreds of Egyptian state employees are protesting in Cairo to demand better pay and conditions, the Associated Press reports. Public transport workers are demonstrating to demand better pay outside the Nile-side TV and state radio building. Several hundred protesters from the state Youth and Sports Organisation protested in Tahrir Square with similar demands. And the Central Bank of Egypt has ordered the closure of banks across the country because of a strike by employees of the National Bank, the largest state bank.
The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights has sent an account of today's events in Nuweidrat and some pictures, including one of an injured protester.
Demonstrators began after the morning prayer in a peaceful demonstration in Nuweidrat (5am )
Demonstrators raised the flag of Bahrain and demanded investigation of violations of human rights.
Security forces fired rubber bullets and tears gas on the demonstrators (6.45am).
The demonstrators were dispersed and after about 15 minutes they gathered again in a peaceful demonstration.
Security forces fired rubber bullets and tear gas again (with the presence of the foreign press).
Many of the demonstrators were injured, and one demonstrator may have been moved to hospital.
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The Iranian security apparatus is out In force on the streets of Tehran already in anticipation of the planned opposition rally, Reuters reports.
"There are dozens of police and security forces in the Vali-ye Asr Avenue ... they have blocked entrances of metro stations in the area," a witness told Reuters by telephone, referring to a large thoroughfare that cuts through Tehran. Another witness said police cars with windows covered by black curtains were parked near Tehran's notorious Evin prison.
Mir Hussein Mousavi's website Kaleme said security forces had set up a road block, refusing access to the opposition leader's residence in southern Tehran. It said both mobile and landline telephone communications with Mousavi's house were also cut. "It seems these newly-set restrictions are aimed at preventing Mousavi and his wife (Zahra Rahnavard) from attending the rally," Kaleme said. Plain-clothes police stopped Rahnavard leaving the house, another opposition website reported....
Authorities deny rigging the 2009 election and accuse opposition leaders of being part of a Western plot to overthrow the Islamic system. "They are incapable of doing a damn thing," the hardline Kayhan newspaper quoted Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi as saying, echoing words used by revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to refer to the United States. The opposition is "guided by Iran's enemies abroad", Moslehi said.
Many Iranians, specially activist of the Green Movement, wish that you write an statement in support of the Green Movement. Today, many of Iranians want to participate on a demonstration in support of democratic movements in north Africa, e.g. Egypt. This could also cause a rebirth of the Green Movement. Iranian government refused permission to hold a rally on February 14.
By writing a statement, you not only could make the Iranian people happy, you would also make it harder for the Iranian regime to suppress the demonstrations. The worldwide press is watching Egypt. Your words mean a lot to us.
best wishes, one Iranian who is wishing freedom for his country
The Guardian's Middle East editor, Ian Black, has provided some interesting analysis of the situation in Bahrain and the prospects of the protests escalating:
Bahrain's Day of Rage today is unlikely to take on the dimensions of the unrest in Cairo, but it will be closely watched to see if the small island state lives up to its reputation for being the odd man out in the Gulf.
It is not the first time that riot police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesting youths in villages around Manama but the mood has sharpened since the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. Twitter and Facebook have again been getting out the crowds and a solidarity demonstration is planned by Bahraini exiles in London. Another sign that trouble is expected is a flurry of pre-emptive announcements from the government – smoothly distributed by expensive western PR firms.
Bahrain's distinction is that the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty rules over an often restive Shia majority that has long complained about discrimination for jobs and housing. Precise figures are not available but the population has grown from 750,000 to more than 1 million in a few years while the number of Shias in senior jobs has decreased. Large numbers of non-Bahraini Sunnis have been naturalised. This sectarian division puts Bahrain on a major regional fault line, with Iran glowering across the Gulf at a state which is also home to the US 5th fleet.
Bahrain does have political pressure valves – an elected lower house of parliament in which Shia are represented even if the final say rests with King Hamad. Parliament's attempts to investigate a high-level real-estate scandal involving the royal family caused nervousness last year. The prime minister, the king's uncle, has been in power for the entire 40 year-period since independence from Britain. Attention in recent months has focused on the arrest, detention and trial of 23 opposition activists who were rounded up during a sudden crackdown last summer, as well as allegations that they were tortured in custody. The authorities have stepped in with pre-emptive concessions to try to defuse tensions and deflect criticism. Talks began on Sunday about loosening state control of the media. Last week the government donated BD1,000 ($2,660) to every family after increasing food subsidies earlier this month.
Al-Jazeera is reporting that the military is trying to stop the media broadcasting from Tahrir Square. The news organisation is interpreting it as an effort to remove the focus on the protests in central plaza in order to get the demonstrators to move on. But even if there is not something more sinister behind the move it is hardly an encouraging sign of what life under military rule will be like.
More clashes have been reported in Yemen, on a fourth consecutive day of protests in the country. From Reuters:
Hundreds of anti-government demonstrators clashed with supporters of Yemen's president on Monday south of the capital, with both sides hurling rocks as protests escalated in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state. Witnesses said police had fired shots into the air but were unable to control the crowds in the industrial town of Taiz, while in Sanaa protesters inspired by an uprising in Egypt vowed to march to police intelligence headquarters. "Hey Ali, get out, get out," anti-government protesters shouted at Sanaa University, referring to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a U.S. ally against al Qaeda's resurgent Yemen-based wing. "There is no solution except to leave." Police stood between around 500 anti-government protesters and a rival group of around 100 supporters of Saleh at Sanaa University, a frequent launchpad for demonstrations, to prevent skirmishes.
Iranian opposition leader Mir Hussein Mousavi has been placed under house arrest and had his phone line cut, according to his website (link is in Farsi). The measures have clearly been taken to prevent him taking part in opposition protests planned for later today.
Bahrain is at a crossroads when it comes to human rights. Many of the advances made during the last ten years are in danger of being eroded by the increasing reports of torture and other ill-treatment against political activists held in prison and the government's failure to ensure they are independently investigated.
Mubarak's two sons almost came to blows on Thursday when the former Egyptian president gave his final speech in an effort to stay in power, according to a state-owned paper, Reuters reports.
Al-Akhbar said Alaa Mubarak accused his younger brother Gamal, who had held a senior position in the ruling party, of having ruined the 82-year-old leader's final days in office through promoting his business friends in political life. Alaa reportedly said this had turned Egyptians against their father, who had been in power since 1981. "You ruined the country when you opened the way to your friends and this is the result. Instead of your father being honoured at the end of his life you helped to spoil his image in this manner," the daily quoted him as saying. The newspaper did not give its sources, simply saying it "learned" of the details. There was no way to immediately confirm the report. It said the argument took place in the presidential palace in Cairo while Mubarak was recording his final speech, which he hoped would persuade protesters to stand down and give promised reforms a chance during Mubarak's last months in office. It said senior officials had to intervene to separate them. Gamal Mubarak, 47, who spent 11 years working at Bank of America in Cairo and London, gained considerable influence in government after Mubarak appointed him head of the ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) policy committee in 2002. Analysts say he eased the way of business friends to senior positions in the NDP and into the cabinet of Ahmed Nazif, the prime minister sacked by Mubarak several days after massive protests broke out in Egypt on January 25.
A state of emergency has been in force in Algeria since 1992 and the government has come under pressure to ditch emergency laws following uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. "In the coming days, we will talk about it as if it was a thing of the past," Medelci told the French radio station Europe 1 in an interview. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said earlier this month the state of emergency would be lifted in the very near future.
At least 14 people have been injured in clashes on Bahrain's "Day of Rage" Reuters reports:
Police clashed late on Sunday with residents in Karzakan village, where security forces regularly skirmish with Shia youths, and one protester was injured, witnesses said. Police said three officers were hurt. In the village of Nuweidrat, police used teargas and rubber bullets on Monday to disperse a crowd demanding the release of Shia detainees, witnesses said, adding that 10 people were slightly injured. "There were 2,000 sitting in the street voicing their demands when police started firing," 24-year-old Kamel told Reuters, declining to give his full name. Nearby, streets were littered with teargas canisters and rubber bullets. The scene was different in Manama, where government supporters honked car horns and waved Bahraini flags to celebrate the 10th anniversary of a national charter introduced after unrest in the 1990s.
We have half an hour left, we are cordoned by military police," protester Yahya Saqr told Reuters. "We are discussing what to do now," he said, adding that a senior officer "told us we have one hour to empty the square or we will be arrested."
The wave of protests inspired by events in Tunisia and Egypt show no signs of dissipating.
There have been clashes in Bahrain as protesters stage their own "day of rage". Shia citizens ruled by a Sunni minority are unhappy about their lack of representation. In a bid to stave off protests King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, trying to defuse the tension, said he would give 1,000 dinars (£1,650) to each local family, and the government has indicated that it may free minors arrested under a security crackdown last year.
Time to wrap up this live blog for the evening. Here's a summary of today's events:
• Barack Obama said his administration was "on the right side of history" for its response to the downfall of the Mubarak regime in Egypt
• Hosni Mubarak is again said to be gravely ill, although accounts differ
• CBS News correspondent Lara Logan was brutally attacked by a mob in Tahrir Square on the night Mubarak resigned, the US network has revealed
• Bahrain: thousands of protesters descended on Pearl Roundabout in the capital Manama for a peaceful demonstration, as opposition MPs began a boycott of parliament
• Iran: a second person was killed during yesterday's demonstrations, a member of the country's parliament said, while 1,500 arrests have been reported
• US secretary of state Hillary Clinton described Iran's government as "awful" for its repression of protesters suring a speech on internet freedom
• Yemen: there have been clashes throughout the country in the fifth consecutive day of protests
Follow the Guardian's on-going coverage here, and thanks for reading.
The government of Yemen should respect the right to protest, Alistair Burt, the UK government's minister for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement:
All Yemenis have a right to express their views in a peaceful and open manner and I am extremely concerned by reports of increasing violence and the excessive use of force by security forces.
I call on the government of Yemen to respect the people?s right to peaceful protest and listen to their legitimate grievances. The Yemeni authorities should respond positively to these concerns.
Chilling news from the US television network CBS: its correspondent Lara Logan was beaten and sexually assaulted by a mob in Cairo's Tahrir Square during the celebrations following Mubarak's resignation.
On Friday February 11, the day Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a 60 Minutes story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy.
In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering.
There will be no further comment from CBS News and Correspondent Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time.
Currently CBS News's chief foreign correspondent, Logan's resume includes previous jobs working for GMTV, Sky and ITN. She's an accomplished foreign correspondent, having reported from Afghanistan, Iraq and many other conflict zones.
The Wall Street Journal has a useful analysis of the political protest in Bahrain's parliament today:
As violence continued, parliamentarians from the country's main Shiite opposition bloc suspended their participation in the body in solidarity with the protesters. The bloc, called Al-Wafaq, controls 18 of Bahrain's 40-seat parliament. The move raises a new hurdle for Bahrain's Sunni ruling family, robbing it of a legitimate, political counterparty with which to negotiate a settlement to the unrest.
The Guardian's Ian Black has a new article up on how the events in Bahrain are making its neighbours nervous:
This sectarian division puts Bahrain on a regional faultline, with an assertive Shia Iran glowering across the Gulf at a country that is also home to the US 5th fleet and a key ally for Washington. The Saudis, with their Shia majority in the oil-producing eastern provinces, are watching nervously.
Bahrain is the odd one out economically as well, lacking the hydrocarbon riches of Qatar or the UAE and thus the ability easily to buy off dissent in exchange for political quiescence.
Some good quality video from a march in Bahrain yesterday, with what looks like a peaceful chanting crowd followed by the sound of rounds fired.
The Guardian's Giles Tremlett, recently back from Morocco, reports:
Morocco's government appears to be trying to calm fears over price hikes on basic goods as Facebook-arranged youth demonstrations called for Sunday, 20 February, draw closer. Today it has doubled the money it sets aside for state subsidies to counter rising global commodity prices.
The move comes as Twitter and YouTube are seeing increasing traffic about the marches, which are to be held across a country whose leadership claims it will be an exception to the wave of protest and revolution sweeping through the region.
The government will add 15bn dirhams ($1.8bn) to the 17bn dirhams allocated by the 2011 budget for the government's subsidy fund called Caisse de Compensation, Morocco's official MAP news agency said.
Reuters makes its calculations of the economic impact:
This means that at 32bn dirhams the Caisse de Compensation alone would cost 4% of the country's GDP in 2011, if the 5% growth target is met.... Morocco heavily subsidises staples, such as cooking gas, sugar and flour. Last month, the government promised to keep staples affordable at any price even if a surge in global prices of food and oil have a severe impact on its public finances this year.
At various points today Hosni Mubarak has been declared to be near death or in Israel according to various media outlets. Reuters is now reporting that he is in Sharm el-Sheik making phone calls, although it covers all the bases:
A military source said Mubarak, 82, believed to be in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, was "breathing". Another Egyptian source with links to the family said he was unwell. But a source who said he spoke to Mubarak on Tuesday described him as "fine" and receiving telephone calls.
Asharq al-Awsat online, quoting a former security official, has this:
What is certain is that his state of health is declining drastically. In addition there is information that he is refusing to receive the required medical treatment.
Most Americans approved of Obama's handling of the protests in Egypt, according to this poll just published by USA Today.
It found that 68% of those polled said President Obama did a good or very good job.
The poll by Gallup of 1,000 adults also found:
• By 37%-22%, they predict events in Egypt will increase rather than decrease the chances for enduring peace in the Middle East; 28% say it won't make a difference.
• By 28%-21%, they say it will help rather than hurt US efforts to fight terrorism; 41% say it won't make a difference.
• By 47%-44%, they say it will result in democracy taking hold in other countries in the region.
A full text of Hillary Clinton speech on internet freedom is available online here.
More details on the second death of a protester in Iran resulting from yesterday's protests. Kazem Jalali, spokesman of the Iranian parliamentary committee on national security, told the Ilna news agency that one of injured protesters has also died. The victim was not identified.
Meanwhile, acting police commander General Ahmad Reza Radan has told the state run IRNA outlet that several people were arrested. Radan claimed that members of the Iranian opposition group Mujahadeen-e-Khalq had opened fire at police and protesters, although there appears to be no evidence for such an allegation.
A cracking and all too rare interview with a Yemeni activist, Tawakul Karman, by Reuters journalist Mohammed Ghobari:
Tawakul Karman, a short, veiled woman with a fiery tongue, has become a thorn in the side of [President] Saleh, a key US ally against al-Qaida who has ruled the Arabian Peninsula state for 32 years.
Hundreds of protesters took to the streets last month when authorities arrested the 30-year-old Karman, a member of the Islamist opposition party, Islah, for organising what it said were illegal protests. She was later released. Tens of thousands joined in protests she helped organise two weeks ago.
"A revolution will be easier in Yemen than in Egypt," Karman told Reuters in an interview. "The poverty is worse and there is more hunger ... the anger in Yemen is stronger than elsewhere."
Here's the ominous news: of Yemen's 23 million people, 40% live on less than $2 a day, a third face chronic hunger and one in two people owns a gun. That's a lot of guns.
Despite the intimidation Karman says she faces from police, the journalist continues to march in the streets, confident that Yemenis will soon revolt.
"The international community's response was heartening. We feel confident and secure after the position it took in support of Tunisia and Egypt. That encourages our revolution," she said.
Hoisted from the comments section below, reader Ozzicht points out that the digital campaigning organisation Avaaz is organising a global petition calling on G20 countries to take action over the Mubarak family's wealth.
There may now be less need, since the US, the EU and Switzerland are already working on formal requests from the Egyptian government on freezing Mubarak clan assets, but any encouragement can't hurt.
Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov doesn't think that the US or other countries should be stirring up the wave of protests in the Middle East:
We are convinced that calls for revolutions are counterproductive. We have had more than one revolution in Russia, and we believe that we don't need to impose revolutions on others. We don't think that we need to tighten the screw, or take sides.
That's certainly a change from the Soviet Union's policies.
The big takeaway from Hillary Clinton's internet freedom speech today is that the US will spend $25m on plans to help internet users circumvent curbs such as the "Great Firewall" of China, the blocks on Facebook and other social media sites in Iran, as well as attempts to thwart anti-government protests by pulling the plug on online access:
The United States continues to help people in oppressive internet environments get around filters, stay one step ahead of the censors, the hackers, and the thugs who beat them up or imprison them for what they say online .... Some have criticized us for not pouring fundinginto a single technology – but there is no silver bullet in the struggle against internet repression. There's no "app" for that.
This year we will award more than $25 million in additional funding. We are taking a venture capital-style approach, supporting a portfolio of technologies, tools, and training, and adapting as more users shift to mobile devices. We have our ear to the ground, talking to digital activists about where they need help, and our diversified approach means we're able to adapt to tackle the range of threats against Internet freedom. We support multiple tools, so if repressive governments figure out how to target one, others are at the ready. And we invest in the cutting edge because we know that repressive governments are constantly innovating their methods of repression. We need to stay ahead of them.
For those interested in following Clinton's speech and the issues it raises, Alec Ross, the state department's senior adviser for innovation, and Dan Baer, deputy assistant secretary for democracy, human rights and labour, will participate in worldwide webchat on internet freedom.
The webcast and follow-on webchat will take place on the CO.NX Facebook page and here. The webchat will begin at approximately 2pm ET (7pm GMT).
Hillary Clinton moves on to WikiLeaks and the need for security on the internet – and likens the leaking of the US embassy cables to stealing documents in a briefcase:
Government confidentiality has been a topic of debate during the past fewmonths because of WikiLeaks. It's been a false debate in many ways. Fundamentally, the WikiLeaks incident began with an act of theft. Government documents were stolen, just the same as if they had been smuggled out in a briefcase.
Some have suggested that this act was justified, because governments have a responsibility to conduct all of their work out in the open, in the full view of their citizens. I disagree. The United States could neither provide for our citizens' security nor promote the cause of human rights and democracy around the world if we had to make public every step of our most sensitive operations.
Confidential communication gives our government the opportunity to dowork that could not be done otherwise. Consider our work with former Soviet states to secure loose nuclear material. By keeping the details confidential, we make it less likely that terrorists will find the nuclear material and steal it.
Or consider the content of the documents that Wikileaks made public. Without commenting on the authenticity of any particular documents, we can observe that many of the cables released by WikiLeaks relate to human rights work carried out around the world. Our diplomats closely collaborate with activists,journalists, and citizens to challenge the misdeeds of oppressive governments. It's dangerous work. By publishing the diplomatic cables, WikiLeaks exposed people to even greater risk.
Then she denies any involvement by the Obama administration in the moves against WikiLeaks by companies such as Amazon:
There were reports in the days following the leak that the US government intervened to coerce private companies to deny service to Wikileaks. This is not the case. Some politicians and pundits publicly called for companies to dissociate from Wikileaks, while others criticized them for doing so. Public officials are part of our country's public debates, but there is a line between expressing views and coercing conduct. But any business decisions that private companies may have taken to enforce their own policies regarding WikiLeaks was not at the direction or the suggestion of the Obama Administration.
If people are to come together through the internet then "we need a shared global vision," Clinton says.
Now Clinton mentions the variety of positive uses of the internet in places such as Russia, China and Syria but then notes:
At the same time, the internet continues to be constricted in myriad ways worldwide. In China, the government censors content and redirects search requests to error pages. In Burma, independent news sites have been taken down with distributed denial of service attacks. In Cuba, the government is trying to create a national intranet, while not allowing their citizens to access the global Internet.
Clinton's speech is being followed by zero US cable news networks, perhaps because Obama's press conference was enough for one day.
Events in Egypt and Iran are about more than just the internet, Clinton says, as much as they are about protests and activity:
What happened in Egypt and Iran – where this week again violence was used against protesters – was about a great deal more than the internet. In each case, people protested because of a deep frustration with the political and economic conditions of their lives. They stood and marched and chanted, and the authorities tracked and blocked and detained them. The Internet did not do any of those things. People did.
As a result, says Clinton, "there is a debate underway in some circles about whether the internet is a force for liberation or repression":
But that debate is largely beside the point. Egypt isn't inspiring because people communicated using Twitter, it is inspiring because people came together and persisted in demanding a better future. Iran isn't awful because the authorities used Facebook to shadow and capture members of the opposition, it is awful because it is a government that routinely violates the rights of its people.
"The events in Egypt recalled another protest movement, 18 months earlier in Iran, when thousands marched after disputed elections," says Clinton:
The authorities used technology as well; the Revolutionary Guard stalked members of the green movement by tracking their cellphones. For a time, the government shut down the internet and mobile networks altogether. After the authorities raided homes, attacked university dorms, made mass arrests, tortured, and fired into crowds, the protests ended.
But in Egypt, says Clinton, "the story ended differently":
The protests continued despite the internet shutdown. People organized marches through flyers and word of mouth,and used dial-up modems and fax machines to communicate with the world. After six days, the government relented, and Egypt came back online.
Hillary Clinton is taking the stage at George Washington University in DC, for her address on "Internet Rights and Wrongs". Her introduction mentioned the events in the Middle East as making it especially relevant.
Clinto says there is a need for a "vigorous debate" about how the internet is maintained – and begins by speaking of how "the internet went dark across Egypt" on 28 January:
Cell phone service was cut off, TV satellite signals were jammed, and Internet access was blocked for nearly the entire population. The government did not want the people to communicate with each other. It did not want the press to communicate with the public. And it did not want the world to watch.
Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is also planning a press conference of his own, scheduled for 6pm GMT / 1pm ET / 9.30pm IRST, but that time may slip.
Obama's press conference has just concluded and there a sense that the US president feels justified in how he handled America's response to the protests in Egypt, as reported below.
Obama's argument was that the change happened rapidly without major bloodshed and that subsequent events are positive so far.
There's another press conference by Hillary Clinton coming up in 10 minutes – the subject is "Internet Rights and Wrongs: Choices & Challenges in a Networked World" – which may well touch on events in the Middle East. You can follow it on the State Department's website, and we'll be live blogging it right here as well.
My colleague Richard Adams is taking the helm now.
More from my colleague Richard Adams on Barack Obama's press conference:
Obama said the US was "on the right side of history" in its approach to Egypt, after he was asked if the US had been too cautious in its approach to the protests.
"I think history will end up recording that, on every juncture in Egypt, that we were on the right side of history. What we can't do is pretend that we could dictate the outcome, because we can't."
Obama said the US message was consistent throughout the crisis. "Particularly if you look at my statements, I started talking about reform two weeks before Mr Mubarak stepped down."
In general: "I think we calibrated it just right ... there was relatively little anti-American sentiment, relatively little anti-Israeli sentiment, or even anti-western sentiment. I think we got it about right."
Asked what effect the events in the region would have on the Middle East peace process, Obama said: "I think it offers an opportunity as well as a challenge." The opportunity comes in the outlook of the young people being "less likely to channel their frustrations into anti-Israel" activity.
"The challenge is that democracy is messy. If you try to negotiate with a democracy you just don't have one person [to negotiate with] ... but I like the odds of getting a better outcome."
Here is an evening summary:
• Bahrain: thousands of protesters have descended on Pearl Roundabout in the Bahraini capital Manama for a peaceful demonstration (see 1.59pm). Many have been setting up tents in echoes of Egypt's Tahrir Square and say they will stay there until their demands are met. A man named as Fadhel Salman Matrook was killed in Bahrain when security forces fired shots at a crowd of people who had gathered for the funeral of Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima, who was shot dead yesterday (see 7.53am). The king later expressed his sorrow at the deaths and announced an investigation (see 4pm). The main Shia opposition group in Bahrain, al-Wefaq, denounced the "bullying tactics and barbaric policies pursued by the security forces" and said it was suspending its participation in parliament, where it holds 18 of the 40 seats (see 10.40am).
• Iran: A second person was killed in yesterday's demonstrations in Iran, a member of the country's parliament said (see 1.31pm). The protester shot dead yesterday has been named as 26-year-old Sane Jaleh by the opposition leader Mir Hussein Mousavi's official website, Kaleme.org (see 9.29am). Acting police commander general Ahmad Reza Radan said dozens of people, including nine members of the security forces, also were wounded. He blamed the violence on the opposition. One opposition group described his comments as "ridiculous" (see 4.14pm). The Iranian judiciary said that 1,500 people were arrested in yesterday's demonstrations and transferred to Evin prison, according to the Human Rights Reporters Committee (see 4.43pm). The committee said that families of the detainees who were protesting at their imprisonment were attacked by security forces outside the prison. Members of the Iranian parliament have called for the death penalty to handed out to Mousavi and fellow opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, both of whom who were put under house arrest ahead of yesterday's protests (see 11.22am).
• Yemen: there have been clashes in the country for a fifth consecutive day. About 1,000 protesters, marching down a street that leads to the presidential palace, were blocked by anti-riot police, a Reuters reporter said. As they dispersed into side streets, they were confronted by hundreds of government backers and both sides hurled rocks at each other (see 11.42am).
• Egypt: the Muslim Brotherhood announced that it plans to set up a political party (see 10.35am). It had previously said that it would not put up a candidate for the presidential election or seek a parliamentary majority.
• Jordan: the country's leaders tried to head off protests by easing restrictions on public gatherings (12.04pm). Jordan's interior minister Saed Hayel Srour said that protesters would still have to inform authorities of any gathering two days in advance to ensure public safety. However, he said the government would no longer interfere in such matters.
• Tunisia: the country extended a state of emergency that has been in place since Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia but ended a curfew imposed during the protests (4.15pm).
The Iranian judiciary today announced the names of 1,500 people arrested in yesterday's demonstrations and transferred to Evin prison, the Human Rights Reporters Committee reports.
Families of detainees gathered in front of the revolutionary court, where the detainees' files were being initiated, but they were attacked by special guards of the security forces and dispersed.
The authorities are refusing to inform families about what's happening to individual detainees.
The announcement of the 1,500 names comes after security commander Ahmadreza Radan confirmed to the media that 150 people had been arrested. He said the protests had been carried out by a handful of seditionists.
Asked specifically about the stability of Saudi Arabia and the effect on oil prices, Obama didn't respond in detail. On Iran he said:
My hope and expectation continues to be that the people of Iran have the courage to express a desire for greater freedom and a more responsive government. Understand that America cannot dictate what happens inside of Iran.
Speaking more generally, Obama said that America was obviously concerned about stability throughout the region. The message was, he said: "The world is changing, and if you govern these countries you've got to get out ahead of change, you can't be behind the curve."
On the Middle East more widely, Obama said:
Obviously we are concerned about stability throughout the region. Each country is different. The message we have sent ... is that the world is changing; you have a young vibrant generation within the Middle East.
You cannot maintain power through coercion; at some level in any society there has to be consent and that's particularly true in the new era where people can communicate, not just through some central government, but they can go onto a smartphone or to a Twitter account and mobilise hundreds and thousands of people.
Real change in the Middle East doesn't come from terrorism, it comes from moral force, Obama said. "That's how governments bring about lasting change."
My colleague Richard Adams was also watching the Obama press conference. He reports that Ben Feller of the Associated Press asked the president if the spread of protests in the Middle East jeopardised US interests. Obama said: "With respect to the situation in the Middle East, obviously there's still a lot of work to be done in Egypt but what we've seen is positive."
Obama said "Egypt needs help" to create democratic institutions and for its economy. "But so far at least we've seen the right signals out of Egypt." He specifically noted the military administration's confirmation of Egypt's existing peace treaties with Israel.
For the rest of the region, Obama noted that "each country is different, each country has its own traditions" and America couldn't dictate to them. But violence can't be used as a solution by those governments. "It's important in all the protests we've seen around the region, it's important that governments respond to peaceful protests peacefully."
On Iran, Obama said:
I find ironic that Iran pretended to celebrate what's happened in Egypt when they act directly contrary to what happened in Egypt by gunning down and beating people.
Barack Obama has been giving a press conference and was asked about Saudi Arabia and Iran specifically. He talked at length about Iran but did not speak directly about Saudi Arabia and just talked generically about Middle Eastern leaders (he did not mention Yemen, Bahrain etc either).
He was asked whether the US had been strong enough in its utterances on Iran during the opposition protests that were crushed in 2009.
He said the US said in 2009 and is saying now "that what is true in Egypt should be true in Iran, which is that people should be able to air their ... grievances" without facing violence (although that wasn't true of Egypt in 2009).
He said, just like in Egypt, the US cannot "dictate what happens" but it can lend "moral support".
Tunisia has extended a state of emergency that has been in place since Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia but ended a curfew imposed during the protests, the Associated Press reports:
The curfew was in place since 13 January, the day before President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia in the wake of clashes between police and protesters angry about unemployment, corruption and repression.
The state of emergency, declared 14 January, forbids any public street gathering of three people or more, though that rule has rarely been enforced. It also authorises police and security forces to use their weapons against suspects who do not turn themselves in when ordered to do so, and against fleeing suspects who cannot be apprehended.
An Iranian opposition group has rejected accusations from a police commander that it fired on an opposition protest in Tehran (see 8.01am), branding the report a lie, reports the Associated Press:
Iran's IRNA news agency cited acting police commander General Ahmad Reza Radan as saying that members of the opposition group Mujahedeen Khalq, or MEK, opened fire at police and protesters. He did not provide any evidence to back up his claim.
The France-based National Council of Resistance in Iran, which speaks for MEK, says the claim is "ridiculous and false".
The group said Tuesday the claim was "fabricated by the regime even when everyone knows that it is the ruling power and its organs repressed the protesters by shooting at them".
The MEK, which stands for the People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran, is on the US government's list of foreign terrorist organizations. Its thousands-strong army based in neighbouring Iraq has been disarmed by US troops.
The group participated in Iran's Islamic Revolution but soon fell out with the clerics in charge of the country. The group's supporters argue it no longer engages in armed struggle in its quest for a new leadership in Iran, and the European Union removed it from its list of banned terrorist groups in 2009.
A couple of interesting comments from below the line:
The problem here is that where the west had some leverage in Tunisia and Egypt, and indeed Algeria and Yemen to some extent, I don't think Iran has any interest or motive in keeping the west sweet.
If Iran chose to gun down these protesters, what exactly could anyone do to stop them? How much resolve can these people have against such naked aggression?
Anything reactions / events happening in KSA to all of this?
I thought that was meant to be one of the more precarious regimes.
The Guardian has video of King Hamad of Bahrain's speech in which he expressed sympathy for the death of two people linked to anti-government protests and promised an investigation.
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Spain's foreign minister Trinidad Jimenez has threatened to recall the country's ambassador to Iran unless Tehran explains – and apologises for – yesterday's arrest of one of its consular representatives within 48 hours, according to a report on monsters and critics.
Ignacio Perez-Cambra was detained in front of the Spanish embassy in Tehran after taking a walk with the ambassador in an area where government opponents were staging a protest rally on Monday. The Spaniard was held for over four hours before being released.
Iran had violated the Vienna Convention regulating diplomatic relations, because it did not inform Perez-Cambra of the reasons for his arrest, Jimenez said.
The Bahrain interior ministry's response to the large protest at Pearl roundabout ... is to warn of congestion:
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The UK Foreign Office has upgraded its travel advice for British citizens with respect to Egypt. It says it is safe for them to travel to Luxor (since 28 January it had advised against all but essential travel to the city). The Foreign Office continues to advise against all but essential travel to Cairo, Alexandria and Suez but "in light of the improved situation on the ground after the resignation of President [Hosni] Mubarak, we have removed our advice to British nationals without a pressing need to be in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez to leave by commercial means."
In further echo of Tahrir Square protesters appear to be setting up camp at Pearl roundabout in Bahrain. Protesters can be seen unfolding a large section of canvas sheeting in this video on Bambuser.
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Bahrain's Pearl roundabout has been renamed the "Nation's Square" by protesters, says the Associated Press. It also reports – significantly given that the protesters are largely Shia and some have even accused them of being supporters of Iran – that they have been shouting chants of solidarity with Sunni Muslims. "No Sunnis, no Shiites, we are all Bahrainis," is the chant.
New video has emerged from Bahrain that appears to show tear gas being fired at mourners who gathered for the funeral of protester Ali Abdulhadi Mushamai.
It is impossible to verify whether the film was shot today, but it appears to tally with eyewitness reports of what occurred this morning. Another protester was killed after the security forces fired tear gas and bird shot at the crowd.
Harrowing photos purportedly of Fadhel Salman Matrook, the Bahraini man killed at a funeral this morning (see 7.53am) have been posted online. (Warning: the images are upsetting and some are graphic.)
Hosni Mubarak's health is deteriorating rapidly, according to a new report in the Saudi Arabia's Asharq al-Awsat newspaper which says the former Egyptian president is refusing medical treatment.
The source also revealed that there had been attempts to convince Mubarak to travel abroad for medical treatment, most probably to Germany, where he previously underwent treatment to remove a gall bladder last year. However the former security official clarified to Asharq Al-Awsat that "Mubarak is refusing this … in fact, he has asked those around him to allow him to die in his country, and I believe this is just a matter of time" adding: "It is unfortunate that this is how it will end."
A Facebook tribute group, modelling on a similar group in Egypt, has been set up for the protester killed in Bahrain yesterday.
Protesters in Bahrain are also sharing information at a Facebook group called True Royal Democracy, which has more than 24,000 supporters.
Thousands of protesters, including children, have gathered for a rowdy protests at the Pearl (also known as Lulu) roundabout, according to live mobile phone footage uploaded to Bambuser.
This is Matthew Weaver taking over again. Thanks Haroon. A second person was killed in yesterday's demonstration in Iran, a member of the Iranian parliament said today.
"At Monday's rally ... two people were martyred and many were wounded; one person was shot dead," Kazem Jalali was quoted as saying by Iranian news agency ISNA.
An opposition website claimed at least 1,500 people were arrested while taking part in the banned protests.
Ahram online has some quotes from the king of Bahrain's televised address (see also 12.49pm). It was reportedly quite a short speech. King Hamad said:
In light of the incidents that took place yesterday and today ... There have been sadly two deaths. I express my deep condolences to their families. Everyone should know that I have assigned deputy prime minister Jawad Al-Orayedh to form a special committee to find out the reasons that led to such regrettable events."
Ali, a student activist at Amir Kabir University in Tehran, has been talking to InsideIran.org about organising a student demonstration on Monday.
Q: What groups of people were there today?
A: We saw people from all walks of life. Many students but lots of older people. We saw people with Islamic covers and beards in our ranks. There were people who looked poor. We didn't expect them to come. But I think they came because of economic pressure. Things have gotten worse since the subsidies reform.
Q: What is going to happen next?
A: We don't know. Moussavi was supposed to talk to BBC, but he is under house arrest. So is Karroubi. People need information but no one is adequately covering the events in Iran. Lots of people have good internet access at work and more people have basic internet at home. But there is not any information for them as what to do.
I think people are waiting for another call to protest. People want to take advantage of internal rifts in government. The Majlis and the government cannot work together. They always insult each other. And people are fed up with this situation that nothing gets done and there is so much infighting. Everything is getting more expensive because of Ahmadinejad's subsidy cuts. Metro tickets in Tehran are going to quadruple in price. People, especially the urban poor, cannot live like this. The same people who voted for him because of handouts are now getting tired of his policies.
He said he wanted to see Egyptian and Tunisian pro-democracy groups issue statements of support for the Iranian rebels.
King Hamad announced on state TV that there will be investigation into the deaths of the killed protesters.
In the wake of ongoing protests in Bahrain this week urging the government to consider political reform, fears are growing that the opening race of the 2011 season on 13 March could be hit.
Nabeel Rajab, vice president of campaign group Bahrain Center for Human Rights, said on Tuesday that the grand prix was being viewed as an opportunity for protesters to publicise their cause.
"For sure F1 is not going to be peaceful this time," Rajab told Arabian Business. "They'll be lots of journalists, a lot of people looking and [the government] will react in a stupid manner as they did today and yesterday. And that will be bloody, but will be more publicised."
This is interesting. Our Middle East editor Ian Black has been trawling through WikiLeaks releases of US diplomatic cables about Bahrain. He found this mini-portrait of King Hamad and the country's intelligence relationship with the US. The secret briefing was prepared for Denis Blair, Barack Obama's director of national intelligence, in December 2009.
12. (C) King Hamad is personable and engaging. He rules as something of a "corporate king," giving direction and letting his top people manage the government. He has overseen the development of strong institutions with the restoration of parliament, the formation of a legal political opposition, and a dynamic press. He is gradually shifting power from his uncle, Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, who remains the head of the government, to his son, the Crown Prince. Crown Prince Salman received his high school education at the DOD school in Bahrain and earned a BA from American University in 1985. He is very Western in his approach and is closely identified with the reformist camp within the ruling family - particularly with respect to economic and labor reforms designed to combat corruption and modernize Bahrain's economic base. King Hamad is committed to fighting corruption and prefers doing business with American firms because they are transparent. U.S. companies have won major contracts in the past two years, including: Gulf Air's purchase of 24 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, a USD 5 billion joint-venture with Occidental Petroleum to revitalize the Awali field, and well over USD 300 million in Foreign Military Sales.
13. (S) Director of BNSA (Bahrain National Security Agency) Sheikh Khalifa bin Abdallah Al Khalifa figures prominently into the King's efforts on reform and stability. Charged by the King to "Bahrainize" and professionalize BNSA, Sheikh Khalifa is determined to rid BNSA of the last vestiges of British influence and grow BNSA into a world-class intelligence and security service with global reach. Sheikh Khalifa understands well that if he is to fulfill his mandate of protecting Bahrain, he must "go deep" and develop robust intelligence liaison relationships with partners around the world. To that end, he has embarked on a program to establish and strengthen intelligence ties abroad, with a central focus on counterterrorism. Against this backdrop, Sheikh Khalifa unabashedly positions his relationship with the U.S. Intelligence Community above all others, insisting that his key lieutenants communicate openly with their U.S. liaison partners and actively seek new avenues for cooperation. In your discussions, you will find Sheikh Khalifa to be frank and likeable, and he will no doubt emphasize his sincere desire to continue strengthening the already excellent relationship he enjoys with the U.S.
"The US seeks to hijack the great movement of the Egyptians. The Islamic Republic of Iran is against the interference of foreign sides in Egypt and believes that this is the Egyptian nation that should be the main decision-maker," he said, according to Press TV.
The leader emphasized that the British government is the main agent behind causing difference among Muslims and urged all Muslim countries to adopt their policies and strategies in line with strengthening unity in the Muslim world.
He didn't mention the protests in Iran. The Iranian newspaper Hamshari also ignored the protests on its front page today (see left), focusing instead on the state visit of the Turkish President Abdullah Gul.
Jordan continues to try to head off protest by showing a willingness to reform. King Abdullah II has already dismissed his cabinet and promised reforms; now the interior ministry said it will allow public gatherings.
Jordan's interior minister, bowing to public pressure to revoke restrictions on public gatherings, says protests will no longer need government permission.
Saed Hayel Srour says he has recommended the change to the cabinet, which is expected to endorse it quickly.
In street protests in the past five weeks, Jordanians demanded that the government lift restrictions on free speech and assembly ...
Srour said that protesters would still have to inform authorities of any gathering two days in advance to ensure public safety. However, he said the government would no longer interfere in such matters.
Time for a summary of events so far.
• A person has been killed in Bahrain when security forces fired shots at a crowd of people who had gathered for the funeral of Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima, who was shot dead yesterday (see 7.53am). At least 10,000 people reportedly gathered for Mushaima's funeral, where people chanted anti-government slogans and held aloft defaced pictures of the king.
• The main Shia opposition group in Bahrain, Al Wefaq, denounced the "bullying tactics and barbaric policies pursued by the security forces" and said it was suspending its participation in parliament, where it holds 18 of the 40 seats (see 10.40am).
• The Iranian protester shot dead yesterday has been named as 26-year-old Sane Jaleh by the opposition leader Mir Hussein Mousavi's official website, Kaleme.org (see 9.29am). Iranian police have confirmed the death of a protester. Acting police commander general Ahmad Reza Radan said dozens of people, including nine members of the security forces, also were wounded. He blamed the violence on the opposition.
• Members of the Iranian parliament have called for the death penalty to handed out to Mousavi and fellow opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, both of whom who were put under house arrest ahead of yesterday's protests (see 11.22am).
• The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt announced that they plan to set up a political party (see 10.35am). It had previously said that it would not put up a candidate for the presidential election or seek a parliamentary majority.
• Pro- and anti-government protesters have clashed in the Yemeni capital Sana'a. Four anti-government protesters were wounded (see 11.42am).
Pro- and anti-government protesters have clashed in Sana'a, according to Reuters.
Hundreds of anti-government demonstrators and government loyalists fought with rocks and batons in the Yemeni capital today in political unrest fuelled by the Egyptian uprising.
About 1,000 protesters, marching down a street that leads to the presidential palace, were blocked by anti-riot police, a Reuters reporter said. As they dispersed into side streets, they were confronted by hundreds of government backers and both sides hurled rocks at each other.
Police managed to stamp out the fighting. Four of the anti-government protesters were wounded, the Reuters reporter said, two bleeding from head injuries.
"Ali, leave, leave, and take your sons with you!" protesters shouted, referring to President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Many expect Saleh, who has ruled this Arabian Peninsula state for 32 years, will hand power to his son, a charge he denies.
Protesters have complained of repression but have also pointed to economic conditions – around 40% of Yemen's 23 million people live on less than $2 a day, while a third face chronic hunger.
Loyalists have countered demonstrators with increasing violence. Three ambulances had accompanied the protesters from the start of the march, a sign that eruptions of violence are now expected.
Some of the loyalists beat a parliament member who had joined anti-government protesters. Ahmed Seif Hashid told Reuters that he was also stabbed, and accused the ruling party of bringing in hired men for backup.
"Most of them were not members of the ruling party, they were hired thugs," he said. "Some of them tried to stab me in the back. The attacks here keep happening, they want to occupy the places used for protests."
A few hundred men had been waiting for protesters as they gathered today at Sana'a University, which has become the launch pad for anti-government rallies. Some waved pictures of Saleh, most carried batons.
"You cowards, you American collaborators! The people want dialogue to start," Saleh loyalists chanted.
CrowdVoice, a user-generated website for compiling reports of protests, has compiled what it says is video and photographic evidence of violence used against protesters in Bahrain and Iran.
Iran's Press TV has shown footage of members of Iran's parliament calling for the execution of the opposition leaders Karroubi and Mousavi.
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An angry crowd of up to 20,000 people have gathered in Bahrain at the funeral of Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima, who was killed in yesterday's protests, according to an eyewitness in an audio interview.
The witness, who did not wish to give her full name, said:
The scene is just unbelievable. There are thousands upon thousands on the road ... There were definitely chants against the regime. The crowd was getting angrier and angrier. A lot of signs said they are peaceful, and this is what we get in return.
It has been peaceful, but people are angry, they are very frustrated. I am assuming that people are going to keep marching. It has been announced that people will be marching again tomorrow for the funeral of the second guy who was killed today.
This is definitely a lot more than people expected when we heard there was going to be some protests. Nobody expected this much turnout.
They are just chanting they want reform, that's all they want. I can see people as far as my eyes can see. There could be 20 [thousand].
AP reports that 10,000 people gathered for the funeral of Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima, the protester killed yesterday. One person was killed in initial clashes with the mourners, but then the police withdrew, allowing the funeral to take place.
Police watched from a distance as at least 10,000 marchers streamed from the hospital to the Shia Muslim cemetery about a half-mile (1km) away. Mourners chanted against the government and some even held aloft portraits of Bahrain's king defaced with an X, a possible signal that their anger could shift toward the monarchy itself.
Bahrain's protesters have claimed they do not seek to overthrow the ruling family but want greater political freedoms and sweeping changes in how the country is run. The demands include transferring more decision-making powers to the parliament and breaking the monarchy's grip on senior government posts.
The death [today] is likely to boost sectarian tensions that make the tiny island kingdom of about 525,000 citizens among the most volatile nations in the Gulf.
Bahrain's Shia majority, about 70% of the population, have long complained of systemic discrimination by the Sunni rulers. A crackdown on perceived dissent last year touched off weeks of riots and clashes in Shiite villages.
The main Shia opposition group, Al Wefaq, denounced the "bullying tactics and barbaric policies pursued by the security forces" and said it was suspending its participation in parliament, where it holds 18 of the 40 seats.
The declaration falls short of pulling out the group's lawmakers, which would spark a full-scale political crisis. But Al Wefaq warned that it could take more steps if violence persists against marchers staging the first major rallies in the Gulf since uprisings toppled long-ruling regimes in Tunisia and Egypt.
A statement from Bahrain's interior minister, Lt Gen Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, expressed "sincere condolences and deep sympathy" to Mushaima's family. He stressed that the death will be investigated and charges would be filed if authorities determined excessive force was used against the protesters.
The Muslim Brotherhood said they had no plans to put up a candidate for the presidential elections in Egypt, but today they said they plan to set up a political party.
The Muslim Brotherhood's media spokesman Dr Essam El Erian has stated that steady and gradual reform must begin now, and it must begin on the terms that have been called for by millions of Egyptians over the past weeks ...
Mohsen Rady, an MB leader, agreed, adding once an official legitimate committee has been formed it will apply to become an official party highlighting that the former tyranny of autocratic rule which had once prevented the establishment of a party will give way to immediate reform demonstrating a serious commitment to change, the granting of freedoms to all and the transition toward democracy.
Shadi Hamid, a Middle East analyst from the Brookings Institute, says that if an election was held now in Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood would win. But speaking on Bloggingheads TV he points out they are not interested in seizing power. "There is this misconception that Islamists are obsessed with seizing power. The Brotherhood is not a political party, it is a religious movement," Hamid says. "They don't want to win [elections]," he adds.
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Helen Pidd in Berlin reports on debate in Germany about refugees from Tunisia.
The German parliament – and the ruling coalition – are divided over whether they should heed Italy's call and take in Tunisian refugees. Angela Merkel's CDU party doesn't want Germany to get involved, but her coalition partners the FDP think the country has a moral responsibility to share the burden. So do the Greens and the other opposition parties.
Alexander Alvaro, the spokesman of the FDP in the European parliament, said: "We can't just welcome a revolution in one country and then refuse to deal with the consequences."
But CDU politicians said it would wrong for Germany to accept an influx from Tunisia. They are even arguing that to do so would violate the Schengen agreement, which permits free travel between EU member states but makes it difficult for non EU citizens to enter the Schengen zone. One politician even suggested that those EU countries that welcome Tunisians should be punished in the form of sanctions.
Another gives an idea of the scale of the demonstrations.
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The Iranian regime continues to try to blame the opposition for yesterday's violence.
Members of the Iranian parliament today called for the death penalty to handed out to opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, who were put under house arrest ahead of the protests, according to Reuters.
"Mehdi Karroubi and Mirhossein Mousavi are corrupts on earth and should be tried," the official IRNA news agency quoted them saying in a statement.
The loose term "corrupt on earth", a charge which has been levelled at political dissidents in the past, carries the death penalty in the Islamic Iran, Reuters points out.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei said: "Those who created public disorder on Monday will be confronted firmly and immediately."
Anti-government groups, including members of the anti-Iran terrorist group Mujahedin Khalq Organisation (MKO), staged riots in Tehran on Monday.
The rioters opened fire on bystanders, killing one and leaving several other people injured as well.
Parliament speaker Ali Larijani accused the United States and its allies of providing support to the opposition.
"The main aim of Americans was to stimulate the recent events in the Middle East in Iran to divert attentions from those countries," Larijani said, state radio reported.
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Bahrain's interior ministry has confirmed that "clashes" took place at the funeral of a protester today.
Police used teargas to break up the funeral. "They were dispersed with teargas close to the hospital and then gathered again," Ibrahim Mattar, a member of parliament from the Shia opposition group Wefaq, told Reuters.
Mattar said a second protester died today. Al-Jazeera reported he was killed in clashes at the funeral procession.
The police have confirmed that one person was killed during clashes between security forces and protesters yesterday. Acting police commander general Ahmad Reza Radan said dozens of people, including nine members of the security forces, also were wounded.
In the Iranian capital Tehran, anti-government groups, including members of the anti-Iran terrorist group Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), have staged riots, killing one person.
The rioters opened fire on bystanders on Monday, leaving several other people injured as well, Fars news agency reported ...
The opposition had asked for permission to hold a public rally "in support of the people in Tunisia and Egypt" but the Iranian government refused to give permission and declared all such rallies illegal.
The government said that no more demos were needed as the Iranian people already expressed their solidarity with the Egyptians and Tunisians on 11 February.
Shockwaves from the uprising in Egypt continue to be felt.
One person was killed in Bahrain today after the security forces fired shots at a crowd of people who had gathered for the funeral of a protester shot yesterday.
AP has this:
Officials at Bahrain's Salmaniya Medical Complex the meeting point for the mourners say the 31-year-old man died from injuries from bird shot fired during the melee in the hospital's parking lot.
The mourners had gathered at the hospital Tuesday for a funeral procession for a man killed a day earlier in Egypt-inspired protests.
Tuesday's death raises the possibility of more marches and challenges to the ruling monarchy in Bahrain.
The protesters want changes to the country's constitution, an elected prime minister, the release of political prisoners, and an end to the use of torture.
Supporters of the Green movement appeared in scattered groups in various locations in central Tehran and other big cities in what was seen as the Iranian opposition's first attempt in more than a year to hold street protests against the government.
They faced attacks by government supporters wielding broken bottles, daggers and rocks. Police were unable to control the crowds in Taiz, where thousands of Yemeni protesters had held an all-night rally. The disturbances occurred while Saleh and the main opposition group were preparing for talks to avert an Egyptian-style revolt.
Egypt
A meeting between military leaders and pro-democracy representatives produced details about plans for fresh elections and constitutional changes. Attempts to clear Tahrir Square of protesters were only partly successful. Former president Hosni Mubarak is reported to be ill in Sharm el-Sheikh, while veteran politician Amr Moussa said he wants to run for president.