vendredi 11 février 2011

.Live blog Feb 11 - Egypt protests Live blog Feb 11 - Egypt protests

Live coverage

(All times are local in Egypt, GMT+2)



From our headquarters in Doha, we keep you updated on all things Egypt, with reporting from Al Jazeera staff in Cairo and Alexandria.

12:20pm Pro-democracy protesters continue to pour into Tahrir [Liberation] Square in Cairo. They call for president Mubarak to step down. The Imam during the Friday prayer in the square urged the people to stay strong and stick to their demands.

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12:15am
Reuters news agency has reported Egypt's army said it would lift emergency law "as soon as current circumstances end," conceding a key demand to anti-government protesters but indicating it wanted them off the streets.

It also guaranteed a free and fair presidential election, constitutional changes and protection of the nation.


11:27am
Vice-President Omar Suleiman has told Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq to appoint a deputy premier from a council of "wise men" who have been in talks with the government. The state news agency says the deputy prime minister would take responsibility for "a national dialogue".

11:22am A few thousand protesters have gathered in Alexandria. Our correspondent says the crowd is expected to "increase massively" after midday prayers.

11:09am Massive crowds in Tahrir are chanting "the people and the army are hand in hand".

10:43am Photo sent in by journalism student @ghazalairshad from Tahrir Square with caption "broken bones but not broken spirit".

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10:28am
The Associated Press news agency has reported that a former Israeli Cabinet minister who has long known Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, says Mubarak is looking for an honourable way out.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer of Israel's Labor Party says he spoke with Mubarak just hours before the president's speech yesterday in which he transferred authorities to his deputy but refused to step down.

Ben-Eliezer told Army Radio that Mubarak knew "this was the end of the road" and wanted only to "leave in an honorable fashion."


10:07am
Egypt state TV reported that they have not been able to enter or leave the building since last night.

9:51am
An army officer joining protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square says 15 other middle-ranking officers have also gone over to the demonstrators.

"The armed forces' solidarity movement with the people has begun," Major Ahmed Ali Shouman tells Reuters.

9:24am The state news agency MENA says Egyptian military leaders have held an "important"' meeting and will issue a statement to the people. MENA says the chief commander and defence minister Hussein Tantawi chaired the meeting of the Armed Forces Supreme Council.

8:50am Mona Seif, an activist, posted this image of pro-democracy protesters this morning outside the national TV building. She wrote on her Twitter feed: A new morning, a new liberated area, national tv building #Jan25

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8:30am
A video posted on Youtube shows a solidarity protest song titled Sout al Horeya, 'the sound of freedom', by Moustafa Fahmy, Mohamed Khalifa, and Mohamed Shaker.

"I went down and I said I am not coming back, and I wrote on every street wall that I am not coming back.

"All barriers have been broken down, our weapon was our dream, and the future is crystal clear to us, we have been waiting for a long time, we are still searching for our place, we keep searching for a place we belong too, in every corner in our country.

"The sound of freedom is calling, in every street corner in our country, the sound of freedom is calling..

"We will re-write history, if you are one of us, join us and don't stop us from fulfilling our dream.

The sound of freedom is calling.



7:55am
Don't forget, if you're in Britain - and have Freeview, you can watch us live on TV - right now! And if you're in the US, you can Demand Al Jazeera on your network, too...


7:50am YouTube.com has linked to Al Jazeera across their entire site. http://aje.me/YouTB


7:00am
Ramy Raoof, an Egyptian activist, tells Al Jazeera: the demonstrators in Tahrir [Liberation] Square are peaceful demonstrators, if any violence erupts it will come from the regime's side not the demonstrators.



6:39am
Daniel Williams in Los Angeles Times: Egypt's power players

"In Egypt, the military is not a profession; it's a ruling caste. If that doesn't change, ousting Hosni Mubarak will mean little."

5:52am Thousands of protesters have moved overnight towards the sensitive presidential palace, in the upscale neighbourhood of Heliopolis in central Cairo.

In addition to Tahrir Square, pro-democracy protests have already blocked access to the parliament building near the Liberation Square.

Thousands of protesters were also surrounding the radio and television building in Cairo, which they see as a mouthpiece for Mubarak's regime.

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[AFP]

5:48am
After two-and-a-half weeks of calls for him to go, president Hosni Mubarak's TV speech was eagerly anticipated. But hopes they would be hearing a resignation speech were dashed . Al Jazeera's Jackie Rowland reports.



5:20am
Thomas L.Friedman in The New York Times: Out of Touch, Out of Time. . .

This man is staggeringly out of touch with what is happening inside his country. This is Rip Van Winkle meets Facebook.


4:30am
Jim Hoagland in The Washington Post: Dear Hosni Mubarak . . .

Not nearly enough, Mr. President. Not within a million miles of enough.

3:51am Scenes from Tahrir Square: Mubarak's Non-Resignation (by one of our web producers in Cairo)

3:34am Robert Fisk of The Independent: As Mubarak clings on... What now for Egypt?

To the horror of Egyptians and the world, President Hosni Mubarak – haggard and apparently disoriented – appeared on state television last night to refuse every demand of his opponents by staying in power for at least another five months.

3:24am Canadian cartoonist Patrick Corrigan responds to Mubarak's speech (posted by globalcartoons via twitpic).

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3:14am Al Jazeera Arabic reports roughly 10,000 protesters are surrounding the state TV building in Cairo. The protesters are planning to spend the night there.

3:00am Statement of US president Barack Obama on Egypt:

The Egyptian people have been told that there was a transition of authority, but it is not yet clear that this transition is immediate, meaningful or sufficient. Too many Egyptians remain unconvinced that the government is serious about a genuine transition to democracy, and it is the responsibility of the government to speak clearly to the Egyptian people and the world. The Egyptian government must put forward a credible, concrete and unequivocal path toward genuine democracy, and they have not yet seized that opportunity.[...]

2:55am CNN says there are 1,000-2,000 protesters who have reached the presidential palace, an extremely sensitive site which nobody has marched to thus far. We're hearing that they are settling in for the night. That means there could be consistent, camped-out protests at Tahrir, parliament, and the presidential palace.

2:41am Pro-democracy protesters call for 20 million Egyptians to march tomorrow after Friday prayers.

2:25am More photos of angry protesters on Tahrir square listening to Mubarak’s speech (posted by @LaurenBohn via twitpic)

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2:05am Marc Lynch in Foreign Policy: Responding to the Worst Speech Ever

It's hard to exaggerate how bad Hosni Mubarak's speech today was for Egypt....

2:00am An angry crowd has gathered in front of the Egyptian State TV building in Cairo. Protesters are chanting against the regime and calling for Mubarak to resign. (posted by @Gsquare86)

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1:45am Slavoj Žižek in The Guardian: For Egypt, this is the miracle of Tahrir Square

There is no room for compromise. Either the entire Mubarak edifice falls, or the uprising is betrayed.

1:35am Britain's Foreign Minister William Hague:

It is not clear what powers Mubarak is handing over to his deputy.

1:22am Protesters gathered in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square brandished their shoes - a serious insult in the Muslim world - while others shouted "Get out!" and "Down, down Hosni Mubarak".

1:05am Tunisians call on Egyptian protesters to see through their pro-democracy demonstrations after Mubarak announced his intention to stay in his position.



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