Egypt Day 15 Recap – Protest Surged and Spread to Parliament Building

A recap of today’s event in Egypt. As predicted on this blog yesterday, the Ghonim interview have resulted in a huge surge in the number of protesters. Tahrir square was very packed today and the turn out was said to be the largest since the revolution started on January 25.  The Nile bridge was said to be packed with people trying to get into Tahrir. Wael Ghonim made his appearance on Tahrir today. Academics from University, lawyers and newspaper workers have openly came out in support of the protesters. Lots of new faces and first timers have also joined the protest.

The protest have spread to the front of the Parliament building where some people are planning a sleepover. There were talks of organizing a protest in front of the State TV. However, there were checkpoints and blockades setup along the way to prevent people from getting there.

The planned Suez Canal strike talked about yesterday also materializes but only subsidiary of companies were affected and there were no effects on navigation through the Suez Canal at this point.

The spirit of the protesters were re-invigorated just as government seems to be gaining confidence that they could sit this out. Pundits were also talking about fear that the protesters might be losing momentum. The government also started talking to Muslim Brotherhood, who were not the driving force. Today’s protest surge gave the momentum back to the original organizer of the protest, who are now rallying behind Wael Ghonim.

White House have added a call for Egypt to lift their emergency rule in a sign that the record breaking crowd today might have shaken U.S. official. Soleiman, the successor favored by U.S. and Israel also offered concession announcing they have a timetable for transition.

More stories of abuses surfaces including L.A. Times accounts of the torture suffered by a young lawyer by the name of Mohamed Badr . He was part of the protesters who were arrested and tortured.

Large protest were also reported in Alexandria and other parts of Egypt. Marches are being planned to go to Presidential Palace tomorrow. The atmosphere at Tahrir was festive and protester’s spirit were high.

Video from Parliament where a banner was placed on the gate that says “Closed for business until Mubarak steps down”

A group of convoy quietly bring blanket to protestors in the newly established protest site in front of Parliament building.

UK’s Channel 4 News Coverage of today’s event

I would like to thank the Egyptians at Twitter’s #Jan25 for providing play by play of the events at Egypt as it unfolds.

Major Turn of Events in Egypt’s Revolution

Wael Ghonim, a Google marketing manager in the Middle East have been freed after being detained for 12 days. It has also been revealed that he was behind the Facebook page for Khaled Said. Khaled Said died in police hands and his face was disfigured as a result of being severely beaten. Wael Ghonim gave an emotional interview about Egyptian’s fight for freedom, which have instantly turned him into a hero.

Call for General Strike at the Suez Canal

Another major development is the call for general strike at the Suez Canal. U.S. have sent naval ship there recently, just in case there is a need to evacuate U.S. citizens. U.S. is worried about interruption to Suez Canal and have said that they will consider diplomatic, economic and military intervention if that happens. Suez have also seen protest and violent crackdown as reported by L.A. Times – Fear and Desperation Grips Egypt’s Port City of Suez. Suez canal is considered a critical shipping route. When Suez went on strike back in May 1919, British Army and Navy were used to keep it open (source: NYT archive – click on pdf link).

Major Push Tomorrow?

Judging by the Egyptian’s reactions to the Wael Ghonim’s interview, tomorrow’s rally could be huge. It might also help turn the opinion of some people who have so far been brain washed by the State TV’s constant streams of propaganda. Some are referring to Wael Ghonim as the new leader of the protest. Some people and families in Egypt reportedly cried after watching his interview. This has re-energized the protesters who are now calling for another million man march and are considering making a push out of Tahrir square to add pressure on the government. Up to this point, there have not been a clear leader for the pro-democracy group. El Baradei and Muslim Brotherhood were not considered the main driving force.

A Modern Democracy

If the protesters win, it is highly likely that Egypt could become the first Modern Democracy with a transparent government written into the constitution. This observation is based on TV interviews and discussions / comments on the internet. Wikileaks cables continue to show corruption among government officials even in developed democracy. It would be nice to see transparency as a reality rather than just an empty political campaign slogan.

Here is the first interview with Wael Ghonim and an intro video by the talk show host. A longer interview with that host is currently being edited by some people to add English subtitle. I will link to the video here as soon as it is up. In the meantime, here is the article from Al Jazeera – Blogger’s Release Reignites Egypt.

Interview Videos:

h/t  Ramy Yaacoub

(updated  – complete videos of interview at Dream TV, Part 1 to 3)

Full text transcript of the interview (h/t Ramy, Sarah, forsoothsayer, Jan25 Voices):  Wael Ghonim’s Dream Interview

Other Middle East News – Lebanon’s Internet Being Jammed By U.S. Navy?

Lebanon is accusing U.S. of jamming their internet. A telecom expert claim that it might not be intentional and might just be interference from the U.S. Navy’s Radar.

Instigator’s M.O.: Chaos During & After Revolution – Lessons from History

Having observed several revolutions unfold around the world throughout the years, there seems to be a constant trend. That is during and after a peaceful revolution or protest, there are always instigators who will sow chaos and violence to discredit the peaceful revolutionaries or protesters. A peaceful revolution is a potent weapon that could quickly shift public opinion and raise awareness. The best way to discredit them is if the public perceive them as just violent thugs who are just troublemakers. So the common modus operandi (M.O.) of these instigators is to foment violence and try to pit one group against the other.

Violence in the Midst of Revolution

Humans are easily manipulated into being divided along religious, cultural or ethnic & racial line. Incidence in some part of the world have shown that a simple rumour attributing a violence or killing of a person from one ethnicity or religion to another group could easily spark a riot and tit-for-tat retribution, quickly spiraling out of control. Egypt have seen its share of such kind of instigation with Christian church being bombed. Tunisia have incidence of Synagogue being bombed.

During the onset of Tahrir revolution, the violent thug M.O. almost succeeded with simultaneous violence breaking out on different protest sites across Egypt immediately following Mubarak’s speech. But fortunately this time, it did not work. The power of connected people giving instant update from the ground overwhelmed the attempts by the State to stage a scripted justification for violent crackdown. If it is not for technology that allows real-time update from large amount of people on the ground, we might have easily been fooled into thinking that protesters have resulted to violence. Hence they deserve what they get –  a common excuse for being apathetic.

After Mubarak’s announcement of not running again, Voice of America immediately release news saying Egyptian’s were applauding Mubarak’s decision. BBC says people will likely accept this decision. But direct reporting from people on the ground indicate that is not the case. Imagine if few main stream media, who nowadays tend to recycle news from one source, simply repeated the false news. That would severely alter our public opinion and could have led us to think that things are winding down. And the remaining protesters are just hardliners and stubborn.

Mubarak’s attempts were well orchestrated. Simultaneous, widespread, all forms of violence from acid, stone and molotov cocktail being thrown, and sniper fire killing protesters. This would normally create panic and cause the protesters to disperse. The dispersal of crowd would have created the impression that the protest have dwindled following Mubarak’s convincing speech. Or at least that’s how the script was supposed to be. But what makes it different this time was the grassroots journalism – made possible by the new technology of the information age. This have created thousands to millions of independent eye witness disputing the lies, contradicting what the State and its allies / cronies are trying to propagate. There is also no shortage of hard evidence through thousands of cellphones equipped with video cameras.

This is not to say the technology is fool-proof. Some authoritarian in the future could use the technology to spread misinformation also. It won’t be surprising if some political parties in democratic institutions already do, through staffing their marketing and campaign facilities with people who post and spread their speaking points on various discussion forum on the web. As Nazi’s chief propagandist Joseph Goebbel have said:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

Post-Revolution Violence

If Tunisia and Egypt ever get past the revolution stage and started forming their democracy, they should look into history again to see how groups with interest to see them fail could try to sabotage their gain. Same tactic could again be used. Bombing and sabotage to create sense of chaos and losing of control, including staged assassination. Violence to try to provoke ethnic and religious tension. This have been employed repeatedly in some new democracies. In one instance, sniper fired into protesters to blame it on the new government. It then create chaos and the new government popularity suffers. Coup is then staged pretending to be saviour of the people. Such tactic of violence to undermine government  have been used repeatedly, it must have been on some authoritarian textbook somewhere.

The best counter for such tactic is to educate people not to fall into hate and retaliation so easily. Tunisia and Egypt offers such hope. The protesters in both countries consist of large number of educated youth who don’t easily fall for such manipulation. The determination of Egyptians to remain peaceful in the face of all sorts of violence directed against them ensure public opinion and world opinion / sympathy remain solidly behind them. Their reputation have not been tainted. That’s why when report of pipeline blast came out, suspicion did not fall on the protesters. Instead murmur start to spread that it might have been orchestrated by the government, to reinforce western government’s stereotype and fear that a post-Mubarak regime might fall into chaos. The government later came out and said it was an accident and not sabotage.

The Antidote

Remaining peaceful like Gandhi had done, and the Egyptian’s are doing now, ensure the line between the oppressed and the oppressor is not muddled. However, that is easier said than done. It takes extraordinary courage and willingness to sacrifice oneself to withstand such onslaught of severe violence, intimidation and threat to life.

The Egyptian’s revolution is still ongoing with a ruthless government unafraid to use force and commit murder, which are repeatedly being caught in video cameras from hand-held devices. A government that is ready for war of attrition while at the same time employing the State TV to sow fear and paranoia. The number of people who are still falling for the government propaganda shows that we still have some way to go to learn to think independently and to let rationale thought conquer fear, hatred and paranoia. We should learn not to simply take the word of a man in power or be blinded by personality worship without independent verification and giving the benefit of the doubt.

A quote from Sri Chinmoy Ghose remain relevant to this day:

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will truly know peace.

 

Recommend This Post (progressivebloggers.ca)

Journalist That I had “h/t’d” Arrested by Egyptian Army; Another Video Surfaces

The journalist that I had “h/t’d” (hat tip / credited) on my previous post have been arrested by the Egyptian Army. Al Jazeera have released that video and also showed a video where a protester got shot with what appears to be green laser sight scope appearing on the screen.  It does make one pause and think about the journalist and protesters risking their lives there. Not sure why Mubarak’s man decide to arrest the journalist now. If they blame him for the release of the video then they could not be more wrong. Because the video was already flooding tweeter at that time with links to youtube posted by different people. This attempt to control the information is pointless when there are thousands of people providing eye witness accounts and millions witnessing the atrocities.

Here is the latest video from Al Jazeera. At the end is part of the video I have linked to earlier.

There have been reports of sniper fire in previous day that have killed several protester. It came at a day when Mubarak’s man started attacking protester with stones and petrol bomb or molotov cocktail causing fight to broke out. Actually seeing it on video give us a very tiny bit feel of what the protester must actually be going through right there.

In the last few days, Al Jazeera have started concealing their reporters name when talking to them saying it is for their safety. Mubarak’s man have been hunting down journalist especially those from Al Jazeera.

Please help raise awareness about the arrest of journalist Ayman Mohyeldin by retweeting any post at #Jan25 with the hashtag #freeAyman. So that it will show up in the trending list of Tweeter and catch more people’s attention.

Harper’s Response to Media Skirted Question on Privacy and Egypt; New Disturbing Video

Reporter Question: ….. Canadians will be asking how much of our sovereignty and our privacy rights will be given up to have more open borders and an integrated economy.  And while I have you on your feet, I want to ask you about Egypt, as well, whether you feel that Mr. Mubarak should be stepping down sooner, it would help the transition?

(Full transcript @ Macleans.ca)

Harper talks about need for security and says it is not about sovereignty. He also did not address the part about how much of our privacy rights we are giving up.

On Egypt he says “On the question of Egypt, let me just agree fully with what President Obama has said.” and repeated pretty much the same line as Obama on need for transition and questioned what type of transition it will be. And how it is up to Egyptian people.

I think it is important for Harper to be forthcoming about what privacy we are giving up. Canadians need to know that. He is representing Canada. This is not Mubarak’s Egypt where he get to decide by himself. He promised transparency during election so it is not too much to ask that he be transparent and honest with Canadians with regards to this issue.

With regards to Egypt, it is quite obvious what Egyptians wants and that is for Mubarak to step down right-away. On other occasions, Harper was quick to come out and condemned other leaders, groups or government. His silence on Egypt amidst the orchestrated violence against the pro-democracy protesters might be seen as being complicit.

Let us just cut through the claim that orderly transition and preventing a constitutional vacuum is of utmost importance. When there were revolutions against other dictators or when Communist regimes were overthrown, were there concerns about following the flawed constitution of the Communist or oppressive regimes during the transition period? There have been so many cases of a transitional government starting fresh and drafting a new constitution. Surely a united opposition’s transitional government working to achieve democratic reform can’t be worse than a proven oppressive regime. Surely these protesters are not just going to stand idly by and let Islamic Fundamentalist hijack their new-found democracy. They stand willing to die as Mubarak throw all sort of violence and intimidation at them.

How can a conscientious human allow daily occurrence of atrocities to continue or worse allow a slow transition to prolong people’s suffering? Can Harper watch this video and say yep transition need to be slow and orderly?

WARNING: Disturbing video of atrocities.

(h/t Ayman Mohyeldin of Al Jazeera)

And one of the many victim – Khaled Said

One of the tweet on Egypt’s revolution hashtag #Jan25 quoted Martin Luther King. And this quote is very relevant at this juncture in the history of Egypt and the Middle East where open-minded youth are leading the fight for democracy.

“There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”

Mubarak Resort to Nazi’s Scare Tactics; U.S. Tout Soleiman for Egypt

Mubarak is employing Nazi Germany’s scare tactic of xenophobia and paranoia to turn people against each other. State TV have been said to be spreading lies that protesters consist of foreign infiltrators. And people joining protest are either foreign spies or being used.This has resulted in people, foreigners and journalist getting arrested, attacked, mobbed and killed.

I know there is an outcry every time comparison to Nazi is used. But it is fair to use the Nazi comparison here since it is used to point out why this practice is evil (and Nazi serves as a perfect breathing and real life example). This does not make light of what Nazism did. Instead it serves as a reminder lest we let our guard down by supporting a dictator that won’t blink an eye to kill and oppress his people to stay in power.

A journalist has died as a result of this tactics. Some people are still missing.

U.S. government is not inexperienced when it comes to revolution and supporting one. So I am dumbfounded that they think a revolution can happen by having an official from the regime being overthrown lead the change. Clinton announced support for VP Soleiman to lead the change. They just seem to be repeating Mubarak’s line of the need to stay longer else there will be chaos. Other revolution did well with a transition government free from officials of the regime being overthrown. Despite the fear mongering by FoxNews and other questionable so called news establishement, the spirit at Tahrir shows people from different walks of life and religion all getting along. Here are some tweet criticizing BBC and U.S. government line of letting Mubarak/Soleiman control the transition of power.

Tom_El_Rumi Tom Trewinnard

This is really pissing me off now. Why is the BBC asking every Egyptian they speak to why they can’t “just wait a few months”? #jan25

mbatlin mbatlin

@monaeltahawy: we must prevent suleiman becoming prez in US deal. He’s involved in torture and crackdowns. #1 thug. #Egypt #Tahrir #Jan25

Here are videos that caught some of these foreign infiltrators. Be careful out there. 😉

There’s no shortage of humour despite the violence the protesters have to endure. Here are some taken from twitter:

ibrahimelshamy Ibrahim Elshamy

Tahrir chants de jour: “Condoleezza, Condoleezza, go get Mubarak a visa” / “Hillary, Hillary, take Mubarak to the distillery” #Egypt #Jan25

weddady weddady

RT @gamaleid Khamenei calls for an Islamic regime in #Egypt, we say get lost we’re making a democracy in #Egypt #Jan25 #Iranelection

mohamedahmos Mohamed Ahmos ✔

FREEDOM LOADING ███████████████████░ 99% [ Error : Please remove Mubarak and try again ! ] #Jan25 #Egypt #Mubarak #Tahrir

Here is a breaking news from Onion News Network (ONN) – U.S. Negotiating Mubarak’s Severance Package. (h/t Rahul Varshney)

More photos and videos from Egypt at:

http://crowdvoice.org/emergency-law-and-police-brutality-in-egypt

and Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/feb/04/egypt-protest?CMP=twt_gu

Sight and sounds from Egypt:

New York Times Photo Gallery

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/world/middleeast/201101-egypt-protest-gallery/

RIP to those who died fighting for their freedom:

http://1000memories.com/egypt

Recommend this Post (progressivebloggers.ca)

Day of Sniper Fire and Unprecented & Coordinated Assault on Journalist

The day has broken at Cairo in a day being dubbed as “Day of Departure” (for Mubarak).  Will the 11th day of protest be the end of  Mubarak and a new beginning for Egypt? The 10th day have been another violent day with sniper shots fired at protester and a coordinated assault on Journalist. Mubarak’s man charged into hotel arresting and questioning media. Familiar names in journalism have gone missing, been assaulted, interrogated, and/or have their equipment taken away. Canadian Globe and Mail reporter was detained for three hours. Bloggers have also been hunted down and beaten including sandmonkey.

Lots of misinformation from the government using State TV to sow fear of foreign spies. This has lead to foreigners being mobbed and attacked.

Committee to Protect Journalist list the various atrocities committed against the journalist in Egypt.

Pro-democracy protesters successfully hold onto their position and have taken over Oct 6 bridge previously held by Mubarak’s forces – to hurl molotov cocktail down at the makeshift barrier of pro-democracy forces. Lots of people suffers head injuries, which lead people to create customized head protection gear.

(image taken from Al Jazeera English Flickr Photostream)

(image taken from i.imGur.com)

Nicholas Kristof of New York Time interviewed an 80 year old woman advocate. She stayed at Tahrir square inspite of the ongoing violence there. The heavy woman presence among protesters belie the claim being made by FoxNews that Islamist fundamentalist will be taking over.

Anxiety and determination among pro-democracy demonstrators fearing a bloodbath. One of the tweet from #Jan25:

BloggerSeif Ali Seif

I want to say, looking around from the window, i have a very terrible feeling about today. I had this feeling before clashes.

There is a rumour that U.S. is arranging for Mubarak to step down and will have VP Soleiman take over as interim.  Sentiments on tweet seems to suggest this won’t be accepted by the pro-democracy forces.

However, CNN quoted a U.S. official as saying:

“It’s simply wrong to report that there’s a single U.S. plan that’s being negotiated with the Egyptians,” the official said.

It was a quiet night as people rest up for the big day today and Mubarak forces seems to have retreated for now. Mubarak’s man have used all sort of violence to try to disperse the protesters. This latest attempt seems to have failed but people remain fearful of being attacked while making their way to Tahrir square which one tweet claim is the safest place in Egypt right now (once you make it there).

Viral video of the day:

WARNING: Graphic video of people being run down by Police Van.

Spreadsheet of some of the people who were killed: People Killed in Egypt @ Google Online Spreadsheet

Mubarak’s Man Open Fire At Protester

Eye witness accounts and media report talks about Mubarak’s man opening fire at protester. At least 5 people killed by live bullets. Not counting deads and hundreds of injured during the day. It’s been a crazy day with Mubarak’s man attacking using camel and horses. Instead of scaring protesters away, they just became more determined. Crowds includes women and children. Some crying as they relate what they have witnessed to Al Jazeera. Still they are determined not to leave. Some talks about their realization that they might die but remain steadfast manning barricade. Mubarak’s man is also said to be angry at media and is hunting down Al Jazeera’s reporter. CNN Anderson Cooper have also been harassed as well as CBC’s reporter.

The attackers continue to be bused in and some claim they were being offered $100-$200 bucks to join in attacking the protesters. The attackers were said to be police officers since they have tear gas and rubber bullets. There is also cars dropping off and replenishing supplies of molotov cocktails for Mubarak’s man.

Soldier who used to breakup clashes just stood by and watched as Mubarak’s man attacked the protesters. Some soldiers even pulled back as Mubarak man attack. One tweet also claim soldier won’t let them go to Tahrir but are letting armed Mubarak’s man pass. One soldier cried as he feel helpless for not being allowed to stop the attack on civilians.

The protesters determination and bravery are amazing. Even after machine gun fire were heard and five people died, nobody ran away. People continue to chant.

Anger towards U.S. seems to be growing as violence escalate. One user tweet saying: “To Hillary Clinton: The “violence” in #Egypt isn’t a “shocking development.” It is a massacre backed by you and your Zionist cohorts.” Looks like the uglier it gets, the more damage it will be to Egyptians people’s view of U.S. It might reverberate for a long time just as Rwanda still haunts us to this day.

Another tweet from Mohamed ElGohary says: “Egypt death toll now tops toll for Iran protests, which US and West widely condemned as an atrocity.”.

(Source: Sarah Carr @ Flickr)

Pictures of Christians Surrounding and Protecting Muslims As They Prayed

A live broadcast from a protester’s cellphone

http://bambuser.com/channel/RamyRaoof

 

Most of the account above are based on Tweet throughout the day and eye witness account as was related to the media.

Update:

Soldiers are said to look anxious and have started detaining people.

Sequence of Today’s Events in Egypt; Obama and Mubarak Speak

Today’s sequence of events in Egypt:

• The day started with news of Israel being shocked at Obama’s betrayal of Mubarak. They questioned whether Obama is a reliable ally.
• Hundreds of thousands, possibly millions gathered at Tharir square. Millions across Egypt rallies.
• U.S. asked Mubarak Not To Seek Re-Election. However, Egyptian election is not due until September. Which is sure to disappoint protester demanding Mubarak step down now. Election in Egypt are also fraudulent, which is what kept Mubarak in power for so long.
• There is a report that President Obama’s envoy told Mubarak that it was time for him to step down.
• Mubarak gave a speech saying he will not seek re-election but will be staying until the election in September. He calls for Parliament to debate reforms. Egyptian tweet saying Parliament is made up of Mubarak’s men and that offer is not acceptable. Mubarak says he will die in Egyptian soil and threaten arrest against outlaws and instigators.
• Conflicting report: Voice of America (VOA) claims protesters applauded Mubarak announcement that he won’t seek re-election. While tweet accounts from Egyptians and report from Guardian reports anger.  According to one tweet from Sidhe D’mento, BBC think protester might accept such offer:  “Just woke up to BBC saying Mubarak isn’t going to run for Pres. again and saying “the street” might accept it. I f**n doubt it!”
  That VOA news item have been taken down at around 8pm EST and now shows a 404 page not found error. Google search of “Egyptians Applaud Mubarak” still shows various sites quoting VOA report.
  
• People are said to be chanting “leave, leave, leave” and “not enough, not enough!”
• Based on tweet accounts and eye witness accounts given to Al Jazeera, right after Mubarak’s speech, man armed with knives and weapons approached various protest sites simultaneously. These armed man in motorcycles and cars chanted support for Mubarak and started attacking crowd at Port Said and Alexandria causing them to disperse. The crowd tried to fight back with stones and clashes broke out. Soldiers fired in the air to disperse the fight.
• Nicholas Kristof from New York Times Tweet: “Just back from Tahrir. A bit unnerving: mob of pro-Mubarak forces running around, very aggressive, almost picking fights.”
• The simultaneous attack also targeted people at Tharir Square according to some tweeter’s account on #Jan25.
• A tweet from Noornet claimed 5 people were stabbed by “thugs” at Alexandria.
• Obama delivered a short speech but did not call for Mubarak to step down rightaway. He did however said transition must start now. So it is not clear if he is OK with Mubarak staying until September if transition or debate for reform happens now. Mubarak already announced he will start the transition and process for reform through Parliamentary debate. Obama acknowledged the youth of Egypt. Obama walked away right after reading his speech ignoring a question yelled out by a member of the press. He had stressed that transition must be peaceful.

A good humored tweet by tweetactivist before Mubarak’s speech:

Riot police [Not working] Curfew [Not working] Cabinet reshuffle [Not Working] Mubarak’s Jet [Not working?]

A tweet expressing support:

ReemAbdellatif: If a revolution pauses, it ends. #jan25 #keepgoing #egypt #freedom The world is with you.

And a tweet of advice:

monaeltahawy: Uprising has been beautifully peaceful. Imperative it stays that way. Must not allow #Mubarak thuggery 2 provoke. Selmiyya! Peaceful!

Pictures from MotherJones.com

 

What makes Egypt’s revolution so special is there are no political speeches, no grandstanding, no dominating leader. Just people, lots of them, making a statement in numbers. That’s how any democracy should be like. A real power of the people, for the people, by the people.

 

D-Day for Egypt

Tomorrow could become a day that will forever be in Egypt’s history book. With a goal of a million people making their way to the Presidential Palace, people will likely push their way into the palace unless Mubarak step down. If there are indeed a million people there, no forces will be able to stop the advance toward the palace. Currently, the government is said to have stopped trains and blocked highways in an attempt to stop people from flowing into Cairo.

People are unlikely to be satisfied with the newly appointed Vice President Suleiman (aka Soliman) taking over. Egyptian’s tweet claim Suleiman is in charge of torture in Egypt. Amnesty International claim that:

Suleiman was the Egyptian conduit for the US extraordinary rendition flights closely linked to torture. Many of those flights took off from an airport in Johnston County, NC (Huffington Post Jan 31, 2011)

Israel have thrown their support behind Mubarak, asking U.S. and Europe to tone down their criticism of Mubarak and warning that Egypt could become like Iran. Egyptians revolution are led by youth not aligned with religious organization or political parties. It is unthinkable that the youth who now feel empowered would standby and allow religious fundamentalist to take over power and take their country backwards.

Wikileaks cable released show that as far back as 2005, Suleiman was already considered a likely successor to Mubarak.

Kudos to Google for launching speak-to-tweet. Allowing Egyptians to tweet by phone.  (Speak2Tweet)

A human rights activist interviewed by Al Jazeera claim that Tahrir Square have never been this clean. She complimented people volunteering and cleaning up the square.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent Dan Nolan have been released but his camera, laptop and phone have been sequestered.  (Dan Nolan Tweet)

Egypt’s last internet service provider Noor Group have now been shutdown. Land line might be the only form of communication tomorrow. Cellphone is also going to be shutdown before tomorrow’s march. Leah McElrath from Cairo tweet that only DNS services are being taken down. So people can still tweet through IP address 128.242.245.148.

Youtube seems to be slow tonight.

(source: Selintellect)

More protest pics here >> The Egypt Protest