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Wael Abbas – Award Winning Journalist and Blogger
Amid these circumstances, there are wondering: Where paradise Abhamid???
about 4 hours ago via Mobile WebI saw young people get, Molotov cocktails in the street in Dokki preparation if thugs attacked
about 4 hours ago via Mobile Webtook pics of tear gas canisters with made in usa on them! Dear americans this is where your taxes go!
about 4 hours ago via Mobile Web6000 escape of prisoners from Abu Zaabal after flight Guard – Oasis de police who are working, we were black!!!
about 4 hours ago via Mobile Web…
met a tunisian guy protesting with the egyptians in tahrir sq carrying a banner written in french and took hid pic
about 5 hours ago via Mobile Webrumors : mubarak prepares to step down
about 5 hours ago via Mobile Weba red shaheen car just opened machine gun fire at people protecting the streets in dokki and they returned fire
about 5 hours ago via Mobile WebWa7damasrya my Dad from Alexandria : The Army asked ppl who protect streets to wear white shirt couse the army will start to shoot on thugs 😀 #jan25
about 5 hours ago via Mobile WebRetweeted by waelabbas and 73 others . the presidential guard has already been deployed in heliopolis – saw them myself earlier today in salah salem street
about 5 hours ago via Mobile Webpeople fear the army troops might be replaced by the presidential guard
about 5 hours ago via Mobile Webetc.
[some text Google translation from Arabic – Oui]
>> Chaos engulfs Cairo
Chaos Engulfs Cairo As Mubarak Points To Successor
CAIRO (AP) – With protests raging, Egypt’s president named his intelligence chief as his first-ever vice president on Saturday, setting the stage for a successor as chaos engulfed the capital. Soldiers stood by – a few even joining the demonstrators – and the death toll from five days of anti-government fury rose sharply to 74.
Saturday’s fast-moving developments across the north African nation marked a sharp turning point in President Hosni Mubarak’s three-decade rule of Egypt.
Residents and shopkeepers in affluent neighborhoods boarded up their houses and stores against looters, who roamed the streets with knives and sticks, stealing what they could and destroying cars, windows and street signs. Gunfire rang out in some neighborhoods.
Tanks and armored personnel carriers fanned out across the city of 18 million, guarding key government buildings, and major tourist and archaeological sites. Among those singled out for special protection was the Egyptian Museum, home to some of the country’s most treasured antiquities, and the Cabinet building. The military closed the pyramids on the outskirts of Cairo – Egypt’s premier tourist site.
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As the army presence expanded in Cairo Saturday, police largely disappeared from the streets – possibly because their presence seemed only to fuel protesters’ anger. Egyptian police are hated for their brutality.On Friday, 17 police stations throughout Cairo were torched, with protesters stealing firearms and ammunition and freeing some jailed suspects. They also burned dozens of police trucks in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. On Saturday, protesters besieged a police station in the Giza neighborhood of Cairo, looted and pulled down Egyptian flags, then burned the building to the ground.
There were no clashes reported between protesters and the military at all, and many in the crowds showered soldiers with affection.
One army captain joined the demonstrators in Tahrir Square, who hoisted him on their shoulders while chanting slogans against Mubarak. The officer ripped apart a picture of the president.
“We don’t want him! We will go after him!” demonstrators shouted. They decried looting and sabotage, saying: “Those who love Egypt should not sabotage Egypt!”
Some 200 inmates escaped a jail on the outskirts of the city, starting a fire first to cover their breakout. Eight inmates were killed during the escape.
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A leaked U.S. diplomatic memo said Gamal and his clique of ruling party stalwarts and businessmen were gaining confidence in 2007 about controlling power in Egypt and that they believed that Mubarak would eventually dump Suleiman, who was seen as a threat by Gamal and his coterie of aides.Gamal launched his political career within the ranks of the ruling National Democratic Party, climbed over the past 10 years to become its de facto leader, dictating economic policies and bolstering his own political standing.
Gamal’s close aide and confidant, steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz, resigned from the party on Saturday, according to state television. Gamal and Ezz are suspected of orchestrating the rigging of the last parliamentary election in November, making sure the ruling party won all but a small fraction of the chamber’s 518 seats.
Nineteen private jets carrying families of wealthy Egyptian businessmen with ties to the Mubarak family left Cairo late Saturday, most of them bound for Dubai, an airport official.
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The Internet appeared blocked for a second day to hamper protesters who use social networking sites to organize. And after cell phone service was cut for a day Friday, two of the country’s major providers were up and running Saturday.In the capital on Friday night, hundreds of young men carted away televisions, fans and stereo equipment looted from the ruling National Democratic Party, near the Egyptian Museum.
Others around the city looted banks, smashed cars, tore down street signs and pelted armored riot police vehicles with paving stones torn from roadways.
Banks and the stock market will be closed on Sunday, the first day of the week, because of the turmoil.
William Burns at Inter-Agency Principals Meeting
Egypt transition scenarios, as intelligence chief sworn in as VP
National Security Advisor Tom Donilon convened the inter-agency principals committee meeting on Egypt at 9:30 AM Saturday, White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said.
Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Amb. to Egypt Margaret Scobey participated in the two-hour meeting by video conference, while attending the meeting in person were White House chief of staff Bill Daley, CIA chief Leon Panetta, Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough, Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Bill Burns, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy, the NSC’s Ben Rhodes, White House counterterrorism advisor John Brennan, U.S. Amb. to the UN Susan Rice, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, and Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs Lael Brainard.
Obama will be briefed by his national security staff on further Egypt developments throughout the day, Vietor said.
Ambassador Burns is the author of Economic Aid and American Policy Toward Egypt
See also my new diary – Post 9/11 Failed Bush Policy and Aging Dictators in ME
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."