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Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Black Hole or Another Day of Revolution?
Friday, January 28, 2011 at 5:47AM |
Scott Lucas in
Africa,
EA Global,
EA Middle East and Turkey,
Middle East and Iran
1129 GMT: Al Jazeera from Suez, "Protests in Martyrs Street, Army Street, & Hamza mosque. All trying to get to al Arbaeen area."
Also a report of thousands in Dumyat in northern Egypt chanting, " Mubarak must leave!"
1125 GMT: First-hand from Cairo, "The
street is filled, we cannot see the pavement. Chanting "Mubarak has to leave."
1120 GMT: Egyptian police are now reportedly firing rubber bullets as well as tear gas.
Thousands are protesting in Sharqiya and clashing with security forces.
Demonstrations also reported in Suez, Ismailia, and other cities.
1119 GMT: Al Jazeera claims 20,000 protesters are at the Al Azhar Mosque protest in Cairo.
An Al Jazeera English reporter, Rawya Rageh, is amongst those tear-gassed in Alexandria outside the Qaed Ibrahim Mosque. She is choking through her report but describes "incredible scenes".
1115 GMT: Police are
tear-gassing protesters in Alexandria.
Al Jazeera reports thousands are protesting in front of main mosque at Minya Governorate in Upper Egypt.
1110 GMT: Nic Robertson of CNN,
Several hundred riot police w/ sticks [and] rubber bullet guns surround central mosque. Crowd 500-1000 in street outside. Both sides tense [and] nervous."
1105 GMT: Protests have erupted at Al-Azhar Mosque against the regime. Police are using water cannons against the protestors, who are throwing rocks and raising banners "Down with Dictatorship" and "End Corruption".
1105 GMT: Al Jazeera Mubasher (Live Channel) has been showing chants from Egyptian protestors, "Tell us, officer, how much do they pay you to suppress us?" and "This is a govt of "Hishek Bishek(jokers)."
The channel has now been taken off the Egyptian-controlled NileSat.
1059 GMT: It is reported that Mohamed ElBaradei (see 1009 GMT) performed Friday prayers in a public space in Cairo alongside 2000 worshipers.
1055 GMT: Reports coming in that security forces are intimidating journalists, "
chasing reporters all over Cairo" and preventing others from getting in at the airports.
1050 GMT:
The Guardian passes on this message, "
Security forces blocking the road between Ismailia and Suez and the road to the strategic Tahir Square and the local metro stating have been closed for the day. Security has been deployed in the Al Haram neighborhood."
1045 GMT: The
reaction via Twitter of the State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley to this morning's news, "We are concerned that communication services, including the Internet, social media and even this #tweet, are being blocked in #Egypt."
1040 GMT: This was
the message in the nationally-televised sermon from Dr Abdul Samad Al Saeedi:
We must thank those who provide us with security, those who disrupt peace are corrupting....Don't allow yourselves to be corrupted by others, if you made a mistake repent....It is forbidden to spill the blood of another Muslim.
1035 GMT: Omar Makram Mosque in Tahrir Square in Cairo is
reportedly closed and surrounded by police trucks.
1030 GMT: Retired General Rachid Benyelles, former Secretary-General of the Ministry of Defense and a Presidential candidate in 2004, says President Abdulaziz Bouteflika "is
not aware of the danger for Algeria".
1025 GMT: Dina Simak of Al Jazeera says 4000 security reinforcements arrived in Suez last night. And in Cairo, 26 security force trucks are now in Tahrir Square.
A Poster for Today: "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Egypt in Pictures: The "War Zone" in Suez
Latest Egypt (and Beyond) Video: Thursday's Protests
Egypt (and Beyond) Thursday LiveBlog: A Day to Breathe?
1010 GMT: Al Jazeera report that Belhassan Trabelsi, the brother-in-law of deposed Tunisian President Ben Ali, has been arrested in Canada.
We noted earlier (0820 GMT) that Trabelsi had been stripped of permanent residency by the Canadian authorities. He is reportedly in a Montreal hotel with his family.
1009 GMT: Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the National Association for Change,
declared this morning, "I'm sending a message...to the world that Egypt is being isolated by a regime on its last legs."
ElBaradei, who returned to Cairo last night from Vienna, continued, "Egypt today is one big prison. If the international community does not speak out it will have a lot of implications. We are fighting for universal values here. If the west is not going to speak out now, then when?"
1008 GMT: Friday Prayers have started in Egypt.
0950 GMT:
Daily News Egypt video journalist
Mohamed Effat is still detained.
0945 GMT: The influential Islamic scholar and televangelist Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi
has issued a fatwa that it is forbidden in Islam to shoot at protestors.
0945 GMT: An Egyptian grandmother
tells BBC Arabic Radio, "I am encouraging my family to protest. I will be proud of them."
0935 GMT:
A report from Mansoura in northeast Egypt, "Etisalat mobile service down, Vodafone up, Internet cut off."
0910 GMT:
Al Masry Al Youm reports that
Friday prayers in Egypt today will uphold freedom of expression but call on all to "to avoid conflict and discord, dissent, ...and vandalism and destruction".
0900 GMT:
Tim Marshall of Britain's Sky News reports, "Riot police now turning up in force at Tahrir Sq. They had been absent for two days."
And this: "Several hundred riot police and 8 riot trucks just turned up in street next to Tahrir Sq."
Tahrir (Liberation) Square is next to the Egyptian Parliament and many ministries. It was the site of Tuesday night's dramatic mass gathering.
0849 GMT: An Obama Administration official
summarises the US Government's position on protests in the Arab world. The approach had been to stand by allies and support "reform, but evolutionary reform", but now the question is "Do we favor changes that are quicker, but maybe a lot riskier?"
0845 GMT:
Sources in Egypt say Mobinil, Egypt's largest mobile phone network, is now completely shut down.
0840 GMT: Sudarsan Raghavan, writing for The Washington Post,
summarises Thursday's protests by "thousands"(see our updates) in Yemen calling for the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
0835 GMT: The English-language site of
Egypt's Ahram Online is down.
The
websites of Al Masry Al Youm are still "live". The lead story on the Arabic-language site is on the clashes in Suez.
0820 GMT: Canada
has stripped Belhassen Trabelsi, brother-in-law of former Tunisian President Ben Ali, of his permanent residency.
Trabelsi could now be extradited to Tunisia to face fraud charges after millions of dollars were allegedly taken out of the country. He, his wife, four children, a nanny, and two bodyguards are reportedly staying at Chateau Vaudreuil, a hotel in Montreal’s West End. [snip]
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