Egypt anti-govt protests escalate

Thousands call for Tunisia-style ouster of president Hosni Mubarak, while two protesters and a police officer have died. Last Modified: 25 Jan 2011 20:55 GMT

Two Egyptian civilians and a police officer have died after a wave of unusually large anti-government demonstrations swept across the country. The two civilians died in the eastern city of Suez, according an interior ministry offical. One, who had respiratory problems, died after inhaling tear gas; the other died after being hit with a rock thrown during a protest, the official said. Meanwhile, in Cairo, a police officer died after being hit in the head with a rock during the capital's biggest protest in Tahrir Square in the city centre, the official said. Thousands of Egyptians took to the streets on Tuesday in what were reportedly the largest demonstrations in years, and which they explicitly tied to the successful uprising in nearby Tunisia. On Tuesday night, hours after the countrywide protests began, the interior ministry issued a statement blaming the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's technically banned but largest opposition party, for fomenting the unrest. Inspired by events in Tunisia, thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo and elsewhere, calling for reforms and demanding an end to the presidency of Hosni Mubarak, which has now lasted for nearly three decades. The demonstrations prompted US secretary of state Hillary Clinton to assert during a press conference that "Egypt's government is stable." Water cannons and tear gas Egypt's Day of Protest In pictures: 'Day of Anger' Update: Egypt protests Unrest in social media Some protesters in downtown Cairo hurled rocks and climbed atop an armoured police truck. Police responded to the demonstrators blasts from a water cannon, and set upon crowds with batons and acrid clouds of tear gas to clear them crying out "Down with Mubarak'' and demanding an end to the country's grinding poverty. Police have also used rubber bullets against protesters, with some injuries, reported Rawya Rageh, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Cairo. Clinton urged all sides in Egypt to exercise restraint following the street protests, saying she believed the government was looking for ways to respond to its populations concerns. But at least 30 people are already reported to have been arrested in Cairo, official sources said. More protests Protests also broke out in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the Nile Delta cities of Mansura and Tanta and in the southern cities of Aswan and Assiut, witnesses reported. The rallies had been promoted online by groups saying they speak for young Egyptians frustrated by the kind of poverty and oppression which triggered the overthrow of Tunisia's president. Egyptian blogger Hossam El Hamalawy said technology was important in facilitating "the domino effect" needed for demonstrations like this one to progress. Mamdouh Khayrat, 23, travelled from the governorate of Qalubiya to attend protests in Cairo. He spoke to Al Jazeera's Adam Makary. "We want a functioning government, we want Mubarak to step down, we don't want emergency law, we don't want to live under this kind of oppression anymore," he said. "Enough is enough, things have to change and if Tunisia can do it, why can't we?" Khayrat added. El Hamalawy told Al Jazeera the protests were necessary "to send a message to the Egyptian regime that Mubarak is no different than Ben Ali and we want him to leave too". On Tuesday downtown Cairo came to a standstill with protesters chanting slogans and marching towards what Al Jazeera's Rageh called the "symbols of their complaints and their agony," the headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party, the foreign ministry and the state television. Scenes such as these have not been seen in the capital since the 1970s. A day of revolution Fact File Hosni Mubarak is Egypt's third and longest-serving president, having ruled for three decades. Egyptians voice complaints that are similar to those in Tunisia: surging food prices, poverty, unemployment, government corruption and authoritarian rule. Around 40 million Egyptions survive on just $2 a day, according to the UN. Soaring food prices in 2008 led to street protests at the time. The Muslim Brotherhood is the largest opposition bloc to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). Black-clad riot police, backed by armoured vehicles and fire engines, have been deployed in a massive security operation in Cairo, with the biggest concentrations and likely flashpoints, including: the Cairo University campus, the central Tahrir Square and the courthouse where protesters are said to be gathering. Coinciding with a national holiday in honour of the police, a key force in keeping president Mubarak in power for 30 years, the outcome in Egypt on Tuesday is seen as a test on whether vibrant Web activism can translate into street action. Organisers have called for a "day of revolution against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment". "Activists said they wanted to use this particular day to highlight the irony of celebrating Egypt's police at a time when police brutality is making headlines," Al Jazeera's Rageh reported. Banned demonstrations The Egyptian government had earlier warned protesters. "The security apparatus will deal firmly and decisively with any attempt to break the law," the government's director for security in the capital Cairo said in a statement released ahead of the protests. Since Egypt bans demonstrations without prior permission, opposition groups say they have been denied such permits, any protesters may be detained. Habib el-Adli, the interior minister, had earlier issued orders to "arrest any persons expressing their views illegally". "Beginning of the end" Activists have been relying heavily on social networks to organise the protests. "Our protest on the 25th is the beginning of the end," wrote organisers of a Facebook group with 87,000 followers. "People are fed up of Mubarak and of his dictatorship and of his torture chambers and of his failed economic policies. If Mubarak is not overthrown tomorrow then it will be the day after. If its not the day after its going to be next week," El Hamalawy told Al Jazeera. Rights watchdog Amnesty International has urged Egypt's authorities "to allow peaceful protests". Protests in Egypt, the biggest Arab state and a keystone Western ally in the Middle East, tend to be poorly attended and are often quashed swiftly by the police, who prevent marching.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies