Egyptian Government Figures Join Protesters

[babylonsister]

Egyptian Government Figures Join Protesters

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Egyptians gathered to enter Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday morning.
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and ALAN COWELL
Published: February 4, 2011


CAIRO — With signs of fracturing within Egypt’s ruling elite, hundreds of thousands of people packed Cairo’s central Tahrir Square on Friday, chanting slogans, bowing in prayer and waving Egyptian flags to press a largely peaceful campaign for the removal of President Hosni Mubarak.

As the uprising entered its 11th day, there were few signs of the violent Mubarak supporters who the protesters said were organized and dispatched by the Mubarak government over the last two days in an effort to capture the initiative. Lurking fears among the opposition that their movement may have lost momentum were banished by the sheer numbers of the protesters and the level of their passion.

Some carried baskets of bread, food and water for those who camped out in the central square overnight after days of running battles, urging the president to depart at one of the most decisive moments in Egypt since the 1952 revolution against the monarchy. “Leave, leave, leave,” protesters chanted.

Tens of thousands of jubilant protesters turned out in the port city of Alexandria, the site of bitter and deadly clashes in the last week.

Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League and a former foreign minister serving Mr. Mubarak, appeared among the crowds in Tahrir Square, seeming to align himself with the protest. Twice he sought to address the crowd, but both times he was drowned out by roars of approval at what seemed a tacit endorsement of their cause.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/world/middleeast/05egypt.html?_r=1&hp

[chimpymustgo]

1. Get on the right side of history; perhaps our president can take a page out this democratic playbook