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Today was the largest protest against the Mubarak regime that has been stages yet. Vowing not to leave Tahrir Square in Cairo until Mubarak is gone. The day has been relatively peaceful and there have been only small clashed with the military establishing order keeping the pro-Mubarak supporters out of the square and re-instituting searches for weapons as people entered the square. Night is falling and thousands still remain.
The attacks on the independent news media continues with the burning of the Al Jazeera offices with all their equipment destroyed and Al Jazeera reporters beaten and arrested. The major American news media has taken refuge in hotels as it is completely unsafe for them on the streets. Also reporters from the New York Times, the BBC and others have also been detained and threatened.
Tahrir Square has turned into a small encampment as Evan Hill, a producer for al-Jazeera English who lives in Cairo, tweets:
Tahrir is a fully functioning encampment, with medical camps and pharmacies, amazing they’ve managed to keep it functioning
I found this video from Euro News showing on of the field hospitals that has been set up in Tahrir Square to treat the injured. Warning, if you’re at all squeamish, Don’t Watch.
h/t to chesapeake at Docudharma.
In a joint news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, President Barack Obama reiterated that Egyptians will determine Egypt’s future. President Obama denounced the violence, especially against journalists and aid workers, and suppression of the news media but fell short of calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down immediately.
“He is proud, but he is also a patriot,” Obama said. “He needs to consult with those around him in his government,” listen to the Egyptian people “and make a judgment about a pathway forward that is orderly but that is meaningful and serious.”
“His term is up relatively shortly,” the president noted. “The key question he should ask himself is how does he leave a meaningful legacy behind.”
Obama called Egypt “a great and ancient civilization” that is “going through a time of tumult.” But he reassured the Egyptian people that “they will continue to have a strong friend in the United States of America.”
From the news:
Al-Ahram reporter dies of wounds sustained in demonstrations
An Egyptian journalist for flagship state daily Al-Ahram died on Friday from injuries sustained during anti-government demonstrations on 29 January, medical sources said.
Health Minister: ‘Departure’ demonstrations leave 28 injured
‘Wise Men’ committee: Protesters demand that Mubarak step down
Cairo’s Tahrir Square: From traffic headache to revolutionary icon
New PM rules out presidential handover to Suleiman
The Guardian is reporting that the curfew has been eased, and now runs from 7pm to 6am local time.
Cairo’s biggest protest yet demands Mubarak’s immediate departure
Peace – alongside solid, stable community organisation – was the hallmark of Egypt’s “day of departure”, an event which produced the biggest turnout yet in Egypt’s 11-day-old national uprising. The target of that uprising was yet to be toppled as night drew in, but at times, amid the impromptu tea stalls, the neat rows of first aid tents and the well-manned security cordons, that almost didn’t seem to matter. At the centre of a city that is rife with chaos, Tahrir square had become an oasis of calm.
As a mark of how secure this anti-Mubarak stronghold has become after days of fierce fighting with armed supporters of the current regime, Egypt’s defence minister walked among the hundreds of thousands who packed the square. Hussein Tantawi was welcomed by the crowds, who chanted ‘Marshal, we are your sons of liberation’.
Diary of an Egyptian rebel: we will not turn back
Ahdaf Soueif looks back on a week of deceit and violence in Egypt – and finds it has also been a week of hope and democracy in action
British oil companies and banks in limbo over Egypt protests
Firms such as BP criticised for being too close to government of president Hosni Mubarak
The Right Word: Talk radio’s pharaoh fury
Ingraham regrets Obama is US president, Limbaugh wishes he were Egyptian president and Michael Savage thinks he’s Lenin
• 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)
Here is some of the news from the region:
Egyptian Government Figures Join Protesters
With signs of fracturing within Egypt’s ruling elite, hundreds of thousands of people packed Cairo’s central Tahrir Square on Friday, chanting slogans, bowing in prayer and waving Egyptian flags to press a largely peaceful campaign for the removal of President Hosni Mubarak.
‘Day of departure’ protests: hundreds of thousands return to Cairo’s streets
Tahrir Square packed for renewed protests calling for Mubarak to leave office immediately as army keeps rival factions apart
Yemen opposition parties call on Saleh to fire his relatives
Hosni Mubarak: What now for Egypt?
Egypt’s president refuses to stand down despite pressure from the US and EU. What next for his protest-torn country?
Al-Jazeera office attacked in Egypt protests
Cairo office of Arabic language news channel ransacked as intimidation of journalists continues
Egypt needs reform not repression, say EU leaders
Brussels summit demands transition towards democracy but fails to call for immediate removal of President Hosni Mubarak
Mubarak family fortune could reach $70bn, say experts
Egyptian president has cash in British and Swiss banks plus UK and US property
Egypt crisis ‘costing economy $310m a day’
Egypt’s uprising is costing the country at least $310m (£192m) a day, according to analysis from Credit Agricole bank.
‘Day of departure’ rally in Egypt
Algeria’s state of emergency will be lifted in the “very near future”, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is quoted as saying by local media.
Egypt violence exposes secret tools of state repression
nternational journalists covering events in Egypt this week have had a small but painful taste of “the dark side” – the secret security apparatus used by governments across the region, day in day out, to keep unpopular rulers in power.
Algeria state of emergency: Bouteflika ‘signals end’
Algeria’s state of emergency will be lifted in the “very near future”, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is quoted as saying by local media.
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Thanks TMC.