Egypt: Is revolution scheduled for Friday?

Publication time: 27 January 2011, 22:14

Reports from Egypt say that protests against the regime of Hosni Mubarak and riots spread to more and more cities. In addition to Cairo and Suez to the north-east of the capital, demonstrations and clashes with the police took place on Thursday in the cities of Ismailia in the east, and Tanta and Alexandria in the north.

Opposition calls on its supporters to hold mass protests on Friday - after evening prayers. One of the main political opponents of Mubarak, a former IAEA head Mohamed El-Baradei, joined the opposition. He came to Egypt from Austria, to take personal part in the demonstrations, and is willing to head temporarily Egypt.

A state of emergency was declared in Cairo airport in anticipation of the arrival of the opposition leader.

Protests are continuing in Egypt since January 25. The number of victims among the protesters in clashes with the police reached 7 people, over 100 of them were injured. About 1,000 protesters, including 8 journalists, were arrested.
 
Egyptian authorities are acting tough. 40 people from among the opposition supporters have been accused of a coup attempt on Thursday. Authorities are also trying to block access to social networks on the Internet through which the protesters are coordinating their actions.

As reported from Cairo by a correspondent of the Azan News website, the Egyptian opposition has created a new page in the Facebook entitled "We are all Khaled Said", where they call on citizens to continue the "Revolution of Anger" after Friday prayers on January 28.
 
Khalid Said was a 28-year-old Egyptian man who was beaten to death by police.

At the moment, the page at Facebook was visited by over 400 thousand people and more than 20 thousand posted approving comments.

Egyptian opposition claims they can bring hundreds of thousands of people into the streets of the cities after the late afternoon prayer on Friday.
 
Egypt's Islamic organizations are reported to have taking active part in the events.

It was previously reported that a son of the dictator Mubarak and some others of his family members fled the country, but the Egyptian authorities deny this information.

Meanwhile on Thursday, protesters burnt a fire brigade station building in Suez to the north-east of Cairo. In contrast to Cairo, where the situation is limited to clashes with the police, buildings in Suez are blazing for a second day already. During this period, two police posts and a building of city administration burned out.

There was an attempt to burn a local branch office of the ruling party, but the building survived a hail of Molotov cocktails. If the riots continue, there would be nobody to extinguish fires in this port city. First, the demonstrators were demanding the handing-over of the dead bodies of rioters killed during the demonstrations, and then the release the detainees.
 
Demonstrations in Alexandria, a third city where riots took place, on Thursday, were suppressed by Egyptian security forces, local media outlets reported.

Earlier on Wednesday, members of the mass protests in two largest cities of Egypt, Cairo and Suez, clashed with the police, who used rubber truncheons and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. Minister of Home Affairs said he would not allow mass gatherings anymore: anyone who goes out into the streets to protest against the existing authorities will be punished.

Meanwhile, a state of emergency has been imposed at Cairo International Airport in connection with the arrival of Mohammed El-Baradei.
 
A former head of the IAEA and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed El-Baradei said on Thursday he was ready to head temporarily Egypt.
 
An Arabic news station Al Arabiya quoted El-Baradei as saying he was ready to take power for a transitional period if protesters asked him to do so.

Earlier on Thursday in Vienna, before flying to Cairo, he demanded the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.

"He has served the country for 30 years and it is time for him to retire", said the former head of the IAEA.
 
Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center