Reply #106: Live updates from The Guardian

[Lars77]

2.53pm: Here's a link to live footage from Cairo on Bambuser.

2.50pm: In the comments, hszmnedz sends this from her husband in Tahrir Square:


About 50,000-100,000 peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators are still in Tahrir Square, made up of all walks of life: popular rock singers, lawyers, engineers, youth, religious figures, university professors. There is unity between secular and religious, liberal and conservatives.

All are saying we are not anarchists, we are calling for democracy and the rule of law.

About 400 members of the foreign community in Cairo are participating with the peaceful demonstrators calling for freedom for Egypt, chanting "hurreya", which translates to "freedom". For their safety, we are not saying what they are wearing.

Thank you for every one of them.

A nearby mosque has been transformed to a makeshift hospital.

Army still not engaging.

2.44pm: The writer Ahdaf Soueif reports arrests at a law centre:

A good friend just saw eight to 12 people being dragged out of 1 Souq el-Tawfikiyyah Street and bundled into a civilian micro-bus while a military police vehicle waited nearby.

The people were being beaten and the street had been told they were "Iranian and Hamas agents come to destabilise Egypt" so the street was chanting against them.

Number 1 Souq el-Tawfikiyyah Street is the home of the offices of the Hisham Mubarak Legal Aid Centre, The Centre for Social and Economic Rights and The 6th April Youth.

My brother-in-law, the lawyer Ahmad Seif, works at the centre.

2.41pm: More on the arrest of journalists:

Al-Jazeera's Gregg Carlstrom tweets that three of his colleagues have been arrested:


Three Al Jazeera journalists were arrested today by Egyptian secret police.

Blogger Wael Abbasn tweets:

Swedish TV has lost contact with correspondent Bert Sundström. He was on foot close to Marriot. Seems to be abducted.

2.33pm: My colleagues Peter Beaumont and Jack Shenker in Cairo send the following about the role of the army in Tahrir Square today:

They were barely visible at first, a glimmer of tan clothing among the ranks of pro-Mubarak fighters lined on a low overpass above the entrance to Tahrir Square. It was from here that rocks, petrol bombs and bullets had been raining down on the anti-regime opposition defending their barricades below.

At 9am first one, then a second, and then dozens of Egyptian army soldiers – the same military forces who had stood back and watched as last night's bloodshed unfolded – finally appeared at this key strategic flashpoint and began driving back those on the bridge. Before them lay a no man's land carpeted with broken bricks and burnt out vehicles that spoke of the extraordinary violence that had played out in the darkness. This was the morning after the night before.

It was the beginning of a day of to-and-fro street clashes in the densely-populated neighbourhoods surrounding the square, as anti-Mubarak protesters fought close-quarter battles to hold Tahrir and, in a hail of warning shots and automatic gunfire, the army sporadically attempted to establish buffer zones.

One thing was clear after a night of fighting that left over 1,000 injured and several dead from gunshot wounds. That is that despite the denials of Egypt's government and interior ministry who claimed these events were not state-orchestrated, all the evidence strongly suggested otherwise.

I'll post the link to the full version as soon as we have it.

2.33pm: Omar Suleiman has confirmed that Gamal Mubarak won't be running for president, according to Reuters citing State TV.


#Egypt vice president says leader Hosni Mubarak's son will not run for president - State TV

2.32pm: The former minister of the interior, Habib al-Adly, is being questioned for his role in the unrest last Friday, al-Jazeera reports, citing state TV. The minister was responsible for ordering police off the streets, it was reported.

Other ministers in the former government are also being investigated. Their assets have been frozen and travel documents removed, the BBC tweets.

2.23pm: Here's Josh Halliday's report on the attacks on BBC, CNN and al-Jazeera journalists in Egypt.

And here's a video of some of today's clashes.

And here, from the comments, is protester marwaa, who has had difficulties getting into Tahrir Square today.


Today I am unable to go down to Tahrir to join my colleagues in this struggle because the NDP thugs who are supposedly "pro-Mubarak" supporters have blocked any entrances. I decided then, to communicate with my friends in Tahrir who are suffering and to keep their experiences posted. At the moment, the thugs have blocked any FOOD SUPPLIES, MEDICAL SUPPLIES, and even BLOOD DONATIONS to people in Tahrir. It has reached the point where they would capture the supplies, empty, and urinate on them on the pavement right in front of the people who need it. Now, all the people in Tahrir have been blocked from medical and food supplies and are very much insisting not to leave (at some points they are not even ALLOWED to leave). "We will stay till we starve if that's what it takes."

2.15pm: Pro-Mubarak forces are being pushed further and further back, Peter Beaumont reports from Cairo. He says forces loyal to the president haven't come out in the numbers that they did yesterday. Some of the groups are only a few hundred strong:


The army has been trying to put themselves in between them. Tanks are not the greatest crowd-control weapons. Tanks are driving in and swinging their turrets around, trying to intimidate people by waggling round the main gun. Occasionally we'll see groups of soldiers run down trying to break up a knot of people, or we will hear warning shots.

He should be apologising for the violence. We have seen numerous identity cards taken from people captured by the opposition, identifying them as police.