AP, CAIRO: Egypt's military pledged not to fire on protesters in a
sign that army support for President Hosni Mubarak may be unraveling
on the eve of a major escalation — a push for a million people to take
to the streets Tuesday to demand the authoritarian leader's ouster.
More than 10,000 people beat drums, played music and chanted slogans
in Tahrir Square, which has become the epicenter of a week of protests
demanding an end to Mubarak's three decades in power.
With the organizers' calling for a "march of a million people," the
vibe in the sprawling plaza — whose name in Arabic means "Liberation"
— was of an intensifying feeling that the uprising was nearing a
decisive point.
"He only needs a push!" was one of the most frequent chants, and a
leaflet circulated by some protesters said it was time for the
military to choose between Mubarak and the people.
The latest gesture by Mubarak aimed at defusing the crisis fell flat.
His top ally, the United States, roundly rejected his announcement of
a new government Monday that dropped his highly unpopular interior
minister, who heads police forces and has been widely denounced by the
protesters.
The crowds in the streets were equally unimpressed.
"It's almost the same government, as if we are not here, as if we are
sheep," sneered one protester, Khaled Bassyouny, a 30-year-old
Internet entrepreneur. He said it was time to escalate the marches.
"It has to burn. It has to become ugly. We have to take it to the
presidential palace."
Another concession came late Monday, when Vice President Omar Suleiman
— appointed by Mubarak only two days earlier — went on state TV to
announce the offer of a dialogue with "political forces" for
constitutional and legislative reforms.
Click image to see photos of anti-government protests in Egypt
Reuters/Yannis Behrakis
Suleiman did not say what the changes would entail or which groups the
government would speak with. Opposition forces have long demanded the
lifting of restrictions on who is eligible to run for president to
allow a real challenge to the ruling party, as well as measures to
ensure elections are fair. A presidential election is scheduled for
September .
In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs dismissed the naming
of the new government, saying the situation in Egypt calls for action,
not appointments.
Publicly, the Obama administration has declined to discuss the subject
of Mubarak's future. However, administration officials said Monday
that Washington prefers Mubarak not contest the upcoming vote. They
spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of
diplomacy.
The State Department said that a retired senior diplomat — former
ambassador to Egypt Frank Wisner — was now on the ground in Cairo and
will meet Egyptian officials to urge them to embrace broad economic
and political changes that can pave the way for free and fair
elections.
The army statement, aired on state TV, said the powerful military
recognizes "the legitimacy of the people's demands" — the strongest
sign yet that it is willing to let the protests continue and even grow
as long as they remain peaceful, even if that leads to the fall of
Mubarak.
If the 82-year-old president, a former air force commander, loses the
support of the military, it would likely be a fatal blow to his rule.
For days, army tanks and troops have surrounded Tahrir Square, keeping
the protests confined but doing nothing to stop people from joining.
Military spokesman Ismail Etman said the military "has not and will
not use force against the public" and underlined that "the freedom of
peaceful expression is guaranteed for everyone."
He added the caveats, however, that protesters should not commit "any
act that destabilizes security of the country" or damage property.
Looting that erupted over the weekend across the city of around 18
million eased — but Egyptians endured another day of the virtual halt
of normal life, raising fears of damage to the economy if the crisis
drags on. Trains stopped running Monday, possibly an attempt by
authorities to prevent residents of the provinces from joining
protests in the capital.
A curfew imposed for a fourth straight day — starting an hour earlier,
at 3 p.m. — was widely ignored. Banks, schools and the stock market in
Cairo were closed for the second working day, making cash tight. An
unprecedented complete shutdown of the Internet was also in its fourth
day. Long lines formed outside bakeries as people tried to replenish
their stores of bread.
Cairo's international airport was a scene of chaos as thousands of
foreigners sought to flee the unrest, and countries around the world
scrambled to send in planes to fly their citizens out.
Incidents of looting continued. In Cairo, soldiers detained about 50
men trying to break into the Egyptian National Museum in a fresh
attempt to steal the country's archaeological treasures, the military
said. An attempt to break into an antiquities storehouse at the famed
Pharaonic Karnak Temple in the ancient southern city of Luxor was also
foiled.
The official death toll from the crisis stood at 97, with thousands
injured, but reports from witnesses across the country indicated the
actual toll was far higher.
Mubarak appeared fatigued as he was shown on state TV swearing in the
members of his new Cabinet. The most significant change in the
shake-up was the replacement of the interior minister, Habib el-Adly,
who heads internal security forces and is widely despised by
protesters for the brutality some officers have shown. A retired
police general, Mahmoud Wagdi, will replace him.
Of the 29-member Cabinet, 14 were new faces, most of them not members
of the ruling National Democratic Party. Among those purged were
several of the prominent businessmen who held economic posts and have
engineered the country's economic liberalization policies the past
decades. Many Egyptians resented the influence of millionaire
politician-moguls, who were close allies of the president's son,
Gamal, long thought to be the heir apparent.
Mubarak retained his long-serving defense minister, Field Marshal
Hussein Tantawi, and Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
A major question throughout the unprecedented unrest has been whether
protests that began as a decentralized eruption of anger largely by
grass-roots activists can coalesce into a unified political leadership
to press demands and keep up momentum.
There were signs Monday of an attempt to do so, as around 30
representatives from various opposition groups met to work out a joint
stance.
The gathering issued the call for Tuesday's escalated protests but did
not reach a final agreement on a list of demands. They were to meet
again Tuesday to try to do so and decide whether to make prominent
reform advocate Mohamed ElBaradei spokesman for the protesters, said
Abu'l-Ela Madi, a spokesman of one of the participating groups,
al-Wasat, a moderate breakaway faction from the Muslim Brotherhood.
Unity is far from certain among the array of movements involved in the
protests, with sometimes conflicting agendas — including students,
online activists, grass-roots organizers, old-school opposition
politicians and the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, along with
everyday citizens drawn by the exhilaration of marching against the
government.
The various protesters have little in common beyond the demand that
Mubarak go. Perhaps the most significant tensions among them is
between young secular activists and the Muslim Brotherhood, which
wants to form an Islamist state in the Arab world's largest nation.
The more secular are deeply suspicious the Brotherhood aims to co-opt
what they contend is a spontaneous, popular movement. American
officials have suggested they have similar fears.
ElBaradei, a pro-democracy advocate and former head of the U.N.
nuclear watchdog, invigorated anti-Mubarak feeling with his return to
Egypt last year, but the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood remains Egypt's
largest opposition movement.
In a nod to the suspicions, Brotherhood figures insist they are not
seeking a leadership role.
"We don't want to harm this revolution," Mohamed Mahdi Akef, a former
leader of the group.
Still, Brotherhood members appeared to be joining the protest in
greater numbers and more openly. During the first few days of
protests, the crowd in Tahrir Square was composed of mostly young men
in jeans and T-shirts.
On Monday, many of the volunteers handing out food and water to
protesters were men in long traditional dress with the trademark
Brotherhood appearance — a closely cropped haircut and bushy beards.
