Trích:
A stone-made Welcome to Freedom slogan is placed on the street at Cairo's Tahrir square - AFP
AFP, Cairo, February 8, 2011
@@@
Egypt protests draw biggest crowd yet
AFP
Feb. 8, 2011
By Sara Hussein
CAIRO (AFP) – Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators flooded Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square and towns across Egypt on Tuesday, in the biggest show of defiance towards President Hosni Mubarak since the revolt began.
In Cairo, the immense crowd hailed as a hero a charismatic cyberactivist and Google executive whose Facebook site helped kickstart the protests on January 25 and who was released after being detained and blindfolded for 12 days.
AFP journalists overlooking the square confirmed it was the biggest gathering yet in a movement which began last month. Witnesses in Egypt's second city Alexandria said a march there also attracted record numbers.
Many protesters carried the symbols of the Internet social networks Facebook and Twitter, which have become vital mobilising tools for the opposition, thanks to online campaigners like the Google executive, Wael Ghonim.
"I like to call it the Facebook Revolution, but after seeing the people right now, I would say this is the Egyptian people's revolution. It's amazing," Ghonim said, after he was mobbed by adoring supporters in the crowd.
"Egyptians deserve a better life. Today one of those dreams has actually come true, which is actually putting all of us together and as one hand believing in something," he said.
Ghonim has become a hero to many in the protest movement, having started one of its Facebook sites and having been seized by the regime on January 27.
"I'm not a hero, you are the heroes, you're the ones who stayed on this square," Ghonim told the crowd that surged around him, many weeping, clapping and shouting: "Long live Egypt, long live Egypt!"
Full Article Here - http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110208/wl_mideast_afp/egyptpoliticsunrest
@@@
Egypt protests draw largest crowd to date
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Freed young leader energizes crowds in Cairo
CAIRO: Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators flooded Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square and towns across Egypt Tuesday, in the the biggest show of defiance toward President Hosni Mubarak since the uprising began.
In Cairo, the immense crowd hailed as a hero a charismatic cyberactivist and Google executive whose Facebook site helped kickstart the protests on Jan. 25 and who was released after being detained and blindfolded for 12 days.
Journalists overlooking the square confirmed it was the largest gathering yet in a movement which began last month. Witnesses in Egypt’s second city Alexandria said a march there also attracted record numbers.
Many protesters carried the symbols of the Internet social networks Facebook and Twitter, which have become vital mobilizing tools for the opposition, thanks to online campaigners like the Google executive, Wael Ghonim.
“I like to call it the Facebook Revolution, but after seeing the people right now, I would say this is the Egyptian people’s revolution. It’s amazing,” Ghonim said, after he was mobbed by adoring supporters in the crowd.
Ghonim was greeted with cheers, whistling and thunderous applause when he declared: “We will not abandon our demand and that is the departure of the regime.”
Ghonim spoke softly and briefly to the huge crowd from a stage and began by offering his condolences to the families of those killed. “I’m not a hero but those who were martyred are the heroes,” he said and then broke into a chant of “Mubarak, leave, leave.”
When he finished, the crowd erupted in cheering, whistling and deafening applause.
Ghonim has emerged as a rallying point for protesters, who reject a group of traditional opposition groups that have met with the government amid the most sweeping concessions the regime has made in its three decades in power. Vice President Omar Suleiman, a long-time intelligence chief, led talks this week with opposition groups including the Muslim Brotherhood.
In comments broadcast on state television, he said: “A clear road map has been put in place with a set timetable to realize the peaceful and organized transfer of power.”
So far the government has conceded little ground in talks and Mubarak has promised only to stand down when his term expires in September.
While the government refuses to budge on the demonstrators’ main demands, Suleiman promised there would be no reprisals against the protesters. But the protesters dismissed his promises, accusing the government of playing for time, and swore they would not give up until the current “half revolution” was complete.
The state news agency said 34 political prisoners had been released, the first to be set free since Mubarak promised reforms to quell the popular uprising. The White House called on Egypt to release all arrested protesters and journalists immediately.
“The government has got to stop arresting protesters and journalists, harassment, beatings, detentions of reporters, of activists, of those involved in civil society,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said at a daily news briefing.
Further, US Vice President Joe Biden telephoned his Egyptian counterpart Suleiman to urged the government to broaden its dialogue with opposition groups. Protesters completely filled Tahrir Square for the third time since the demonstrations began on Jan. 25.
“I came here for the first time today because this cabinet is a failure, Mubarak is still meeting the same ugly faces,” said Afaf Naged, 71, a former member of the board of directors of the state-owned National Bank of Egypt. Many in a country where about 40 percent of people live on less than $2 a day are desperate to return to work and normal life, even some of those wanting to oust Mubarak. But some telecoms and steel workers were emboldened by the demonstrations and went on strike to demand better wages.
People on Tahrir Square were skeptical about the talks and suspicious of Mubarak’s motives. Youssef Hussein, a 52-year-old tourist driver from Aswan, held up a sign saying: “Dialogue prolongs the life of the regime and gives it the kiss of life. No dialogue until Mubarak leaves.”
“This dialogue is just on paper, it is just political manoeuvring to gain time,” said Sayed Hagaz from the Nile Delta.
@@@
Pop star's mediation angers Egyptian democracy protesters
NewsCore
February 10, 2011 4:03AM
AN Arabic pop star required military protection after making a disastrous attempt to mediate the Egyptian political crisis in Cairo's Tahrir Square, where thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators kept up their vigil.
Protesters were galvanised by the biggest demonstrations yet against President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule on Tuesday, which saw several hundred thousand people flood the iconic protest epicenter in the heart of the capital.
Around 1000 people marched on parliament yesterday to demand its members' resignation.
The protest was peaceful, and government troops secured the building, but the marchers swore they would not leave until the body was dissolved.
The crowd in Tahrir Square received an unwelcome visit by Arab pop star Tamer Hosni, who previously made statements urging demonstrators to leave because of political concessions offered by Mubarak, Al Jazeera reported.
The crowd reacted angrily, and the military was forced to intervene to keep them away from him, the Qatar-based broadcaster said.
Egypt's 82-year-old president deputised his vice president and former intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, to draw selected opposition groups into negotiations on democratic reform before elections in September.
Some parties joined the talks, but the crowds in Tahrir insisted Mubarak must go before they halt the protest. Suleiman, however, warned that the transition must be slow and orderly to avoid chaos, AFP reported.
"A clear road map has been put in place with a set timetable to realize a peaceful and organised transfer of power," he said on state television.
But "there can be no negotiation until [Mubarak] leaves. After he leaves, we can talk about all sorts of things," protester Essam Magdi said.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest opposition movement, reiterated its demand for Mubarak to go.
"The president must leave his position. A new era should start," senior Brotherhood member Mohammed Mursi said. The group participated in talks with Suleiman but said dialogue was not proceeding as hoped.
"The regime failed, but it looks like some people think this dialogue is a monologue," Mursi said.
The demonstrators, who plan to hold the square until Mubarak falls, are joined daily by supporters bringing food and staging street rallies.
While the atmosphere in the square remained defiant and upbeat, activists said they were still being harassed by thugs and secret police, Sky News reported.
The Cairo office of rights group Hisham Mubarak was trashed and its hard drives seized, raising fears the regime was preparing to crush the protest.
"Without true change, we are going to go back 20 or 30 years in terms of freedoms and liberties. Human rights defenders will be as restricted as they were 20 years ago," said Sally Sami, a spokeswoman for the group.
Human rights lawyer Malek Adly was arrested on suspicion of buying blankets for protesters in the square, he said. He told Sky News that he witnessed other prisoners being electrocuted, during three days of detention.
"The person fell down screaming because it makes a lot of pain, and they took him and put him in jail. I felt very angry. They aren't humans. They are animals," he said.
Outside the capital, it was reported that at least three people died and 100 were wounded in two days of clashes between police and demonstrators in a town in southern Egypt's New Valley region.
Police fired live rounds on Tuesday when local people rioted in the oasis town of El Khargo, about 550kms south of Cairo, an official confirmed.
The furious mob responded by burning seven official buildings, including two police stations and the local headquarters of Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party.
Demonstrators in Cairo were galvanised by encouragement from one of the movement's leaders as the standoff entered its third week.
Google executive Wael Ghonim, released on Monday after almost two weeks in detention, broke down in tears in an emotional TV interview about his 12 days in jail and then spoke to protesters from a stage in central Cairo.
"I don't feel guilty for the martyrs who died. I don't feel guilty for the officers who died. Those who should feel guilty are those who are looting this country," he said.
The US is watching events in the biggest country in the Arab world with great concern, hoping the transition to elected rule can take place without a descent into violence or an Islamist or military takeover.
On Tuesday, US vice president Joe Biden renewed an appeal for immediate and irreversible political change in a phone call to Suleiman, including a wider national dialogue with the opposition, a White House statement said.
Hết trích .
(còn tiếp .. ) .
No comments:
Post a Comment