Thousands of Egyptians gathered in Tahrir Square in Cairo to mark the first anniversary of the uprising that led to the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak.
Thousands of Egyptians rallied in Cairo and other cities on Friday to demand the military give up power and vent their anger after 17 people were killed in protests where troops beat and clubbed women and men even as they lay on the ground.
I had been abused and beaten and had my camera confiscated all in the confines of the cabinet building, the headquarters of Egypt’s nascent democracy. Now, for the better part of an hour, I was languishing in a makeshift holding pen somewhere at the entrance of the building.
Egypt\’s army would quit power immediately if the people voted for it in a referendum and a presidential election will be held by mid-2012, the head of the ruling military council said on Tuesday.
The vehemence of the Egyptian people’s response to the recent machinations of the military council caught a lot of people by surprise. Egyptians continue to show that they will march to the barricades when they smell a rat in the actions of their leadership.
The chants, tear gas and violence emanating from Cairo\’s Tahrir Square evoke the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. Protesters talk of a fight to the death with the ruling military council, whose entire transition plan looks shakier than ever.
Christians clashed with military police, leaving at least 24 people dead in Cairo, and the cabinet called an emergency meeting for Monday, vowing the violence would not derail Egypt\’s first election since Hosni Mubarak was toppled.\n
Israel evacuated its embassy in Jordan, amid fears that a planned anti-Israel protest could turn violent.
Egypt is not preparing to withdraw its ambassador to Israel, an Egyptian diplomat said on Tuesday, playing down an earlier threat to bring home the envoy in protest at the killing of five Egyptian security personnel near the Israeli border.
The distance between the speaker on the stage and the hundreds of spectators seated in front of him in the coastal city of Ismailia was not very far. But the gap between the thoughts and the enthusiasm of the two sides was unimaginably huge. The talk in this street rally — something that could never have happened two months ago — was about the Egyptian revolution that forced Hosni Mubarak to resign as president of Egypt on Feb. 11.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.