Middle East Revolutions: Current Bahrain protests getting violent

[isladar]

I have to imagine you misheard, Dantrag? This is coming up from NPR when I search for 'Suez Canal':

How Turmoil in Egypt Could Hurt the Global Economy

Egypt isn't a big oil exporter. But oil flows through Egypt, which is home to the Suez Canal and the Suez-Mediterrannean Pipeline, both of which are "World Oil Transit Chokepoints" — places that are "a critical part of global energy security," according to the U.S. government.

Lots of other cargo goes through the Suez Canal as well — about 8 percent of all global trade, according to Bloomberg News.

Ships are still moving through the canal, but shippers are warning of possible delays, the WSJ reports. And some canal workers are leaving work early to comply with the curfew that's been imposed, Bloomberg says.

If the canal were closed off entirely — which doesn't seem likely at this point, according to canal managers and shipping underwriters at Lloyd's — it would slow global trade significantly. For example, Bloomberg says, the trip from Saudi Arabia to Houston would take 12 days longer if the canal were closed and ships were forced to sail around the tip of Africa.

[Dantrag]

I have to imagine you misheard, Dantrag? This is coming up from NPR when I search for 'Suez Canal':

How Turmoil in Egypt Could Hurt the Global Economy

Must have been. I think the only thing they said that was insignificant was the overall oil that travels through there.

[Cadsuane]

A little opinion narrative piece on wlcentral:

The Muslim Brotherhood opposed the January 25th protests and stated very publicly that they would not be participating. That did not stop the Egyptian government from blaming the Muslim Brotherhood for fomenting the unrest a few hours after the protests started. Fear of a Islamic takeover in Egypt has been a cow that the Mubarak regime has milked for years and they weren't going to let the facts stand in the way this time either. As Cablegate memo 06CAIRO2933 noted about Mubarak.

"He clearly hopes that his elder statesman value, combined with the implicit threat of the Muslim Brotherhood's rise, will temper foreign pressure for more and faster democratic reforms."

...

Since his thugs failed to scare people off the streets and break the back of the revolution with terror, Soleiman began talks with a carefully selected group of opposition leaders, including the banned Muslim Brotherhood. Although Soleiman's hatred for the Muslim Brotherhood is well known, he knows that giving the Muslim Brotherhood a prominent place in negotiations will be troubling to many in the west and in Egypt and make them more likely to support the regime's persistence. This angle was played to the hilt by the major media in the United States that can't stop talking about the Muslim Brotherhood but never mentions any of the groups that called the protests in the beginning.

http://wlcentral.org/node/1247

There are lots of complicated, confusing elements to this revolution. Where the NDP typecasts the opposition as atavistic islamists, the muslim brotherhood responds by furnishing seemingly effective and surprisingly progressive statesmen, who nevertheless maintain a moniker and the spectre of an ideology that makes secular liberals in the west and indeed, the very protestors in Tahrir nervous that the movement will be delegitimized. This is actually a fairly old and often repeated story. Non-arabs have always been cynical about the middle east and its idiosyncrasies; that you can always count on the endless manipulability of arab populations to be persuaded that the greatest threat to society is the length of a woman's skirt or the broadcasting of rock-and-roll. The soul of the Egyptian revolution is by all appearances already saved in this regard (even if it is in danger of betrayal), but when even the islamists realize this and start coming to terms with modernity and their place in history, maybe one becomes hopeful that the cycle is truly broken.

[Kuya]

Sometimes i get the feeling that people only mention the Muslim Brotherhood because it has the word Muslim in it.

[Correction]

Sometimes i get the feeling that people only mention the Muslim Brotherhood because it has the word Muslim in it.

Brotherhood is also a scary word to White Middle Class America.

[isladar]

I just hope the clip of the gentleman crying "It doesn't matter what your religion is, we want our goddamn rights" gets more notice. Or the shots of people kneeling to pray while being blasted with water cannons. Or the hundreds of photographs of Coptics and other sects protecting those who are praying, and vice versa.

[Darus Grey]

I'm starting to think violence is the only way the protesters are going to win this one. Mubarak seems content to just wait out the siege because he probably has no fear for his life from "peaceful" protests.

[isladar]

The disruption of the workforce / Suez canal etc. is putting him in an economic bind, so it's not as if all he has to deal with are the limp-wristed STRONGLY DISAGREES of the international community. You're right, if the only thing he had to contend with was reputation, he'd be fine, but money is going to bite him in the ass.

[Ragnus]

I'm starting to think violence is the only way the protesters are going to win this one. Mubarak seems content to just wait out the siege because he probably has no fear for his life from "peaceful" protests

As said earlier, this is exactly what Mubarak wants since he has the protesters outgunned. He just can't overtly do it because he would be seen as even more of a monster than he is right now.

[Cadsuane]

Sometimes i get the feeling that people only mention the Muslim Brotherhood because it has the word Muslim in it.

It's hardly surprising. Islamophobia seems to have benefited Mubarak since he took office.

[quannum]

Sometimes i get the feeling that people only mention the Muslim Brotherhood because it has the word Muslim in it.

Egypt's new vice president, Omar Suleiman, has long sought to demonize the opposition Muslim Brotherhood in his contacts with skeptical U.S. officials, leaked diplomatic cables show, raising questions whether he can act as an honest broker in the country's political crisis.

The cable, which uses the spelling Soliman, said he had told Mueller that the Brotherhood was "neither a religious organization, nor a social organization, nor a political party, but a combination of all three."

The cable went on: "The principal danger, in Soliman's view, was the group's exploitation of religion to influence and mobilize the public."

well they've been conditioned very well.

[quannum]

Tensions rose in Egypt's capital Wednesday as the army confronted protesters occupying new territory in front of the parliament building and the vice president warned of a possible coup, saying demonstrations must end or "the dark bats of the night" would emerge to terrorize the nation.

Anti-Semitism spiraled out of control under Mubarak. Yesterday in Tahrir Square, a bearded member of the Muslim brotherhood called on Egyptian Jews to return and to take part in this revolution. Such calls would have been unthinkable two weeks ago under Mubarak’s status quo and would have been faced with a serious crackdown.

You see, American—the problem with the Americans is that when you—the moral values of the United States become disentangled from the national interest at critical moments like this.

You know, we all want democracy, but not if we lose Mubarak, who is Israel’s man, etc., etc. And this, of course, doesn’t come as a great surprise to the Arabs, although, as I wrote in the paper, had Obama decided to say, "Look, I’m with the democrats [protesters]; they’re doing what I talked about in Cairo 18 months ago, 17 months ago," there would have been American flags all over Cairo, all over Egypt.

And indeed, it would have solved, in many Arab minds, all the wounds that the Arab and Muslim world has sustained from the United States, and particularly Britain as well, over the last 10 years.

this was a squandered opportunity. once again, the US stands alone as the force oppressing the arab muslim world. that is a dangerous ledge to dangling from.

Wael Ghonim addresses thousands in Tahrir Square (subtitled)

[Olo401]

I'm starting to think violence is the only way the protesters are going to win this one. Mubarak seems content to just wait out the siege because he probably has no fear for his life from "peaceful" protests.

The disruption of the workforce / Suez canal etc. is putting him in an economic bind, so it's not as if all he has to deal with are the limp-wristed STRONGLY DISAGREES of the international community. You're right, if the only thing he had to contend with was reputation, he'd be fine, but money is going to bite him in the ass.

As said earlier, this is exactly what Mubarak wants since he has the protesters outgunned. He just can't overtly do it because he would be seen as even more of a monster than he is right now.

With the addition of the labor unions to the protest group the whole thing is starting to approach general strike level. The continuation of canal operations and the military are the only things keeping Mubarak with some semblance of power now, and if either joins the protest movement he'll have lost all of his remaining reasons for staying in power until September.

[quannum]

The Egyptian military has secretly detained hundreds and possibly thousands of suspected government opponents since mass protests against President Hosni Mubarak began, and at least some of these detainees have been tortured, according to testimony gathered by the Guardian.

The military has claimed to be neutral, merely keeping anti-Mubarak protesters and loyalists apart. But human rights campaigners say this is clearly no longer the case, accusing the army of involvement in both disappearances and torture – abuses Egyptians have for years associated with the notorious state security intelligence (SSI) but not the army.

.

[quannum]

A week into the demonstrations in Egypt, Hosni Mubarak's once unshakeable power structure was in full panic mode. What was once unimaginable had become reality: Egyptians seemed on the verge of overthrowing their government. Last week, hundreds of thousands marched through the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, and other Egyptian cities, shouting again and again their Tunisia-inspired mantra: "The people demand the downfall of the regime!"

As one protester told me and my colleague after viewing some of the dead at one of Alexandria's morgues, "We want to uproot this tree all the way down to its roots, and then plant a new tree" -- terrifying words for the entrenched Egyptian autocracy.

.

22 :26
Newly appointed Minister of Culture Gaber Asfour hands in resignation New

15 :23
Human Rights: Death toll since Jan 25 reaches 302 New

14 :51
Amr Mousa to Le monde: The Wests' analysis on MB is incorrect New

12 :34
Massacre in Kharga kills 2 and injures 40 protestors after security fires live bullets New

12 :26
VP Suleiman warns regimes patience may thin if protests continue much longer New

12 :18
Workers nationwide continue to join protestors and numbers are still rising

12 :16
MB describes gov't offhanded condolences to protestors deaths as provocative

12 :13
MB and opposition continue to call for immediate step down of Mubarak and dissolution of parliament and shura council elected through riggings

12 :11
MB denounces regimes efforts buying for time

12 :10
MB condemns regimes lack of assuming responsibility to protestors deaths

00 :46
Renowned preachers Mohamed Hassan and Khaled Elgendy call on Mubarak to step down following bloodshed of innocent protestors and call on protestors to continue their stand in Tahrir Square

[Antithesis]

The one thing that surprises me the most is that Mubarak has not been assassinated yet. You'd think with the millions of people that despise him, someone who has contact with him would inform the protesters (or a small bunch) of his whereabouts, schedule, etc. I'm not sure, I just think if Mubarak keeps this up he'll end up like Rafael Trujillo. Anyway, sorry for the slight derail.

[BardonGaruda]

http://blogs.news.sky.com/foreignmat...7-1708e7e9153e

Cairo. Exaggerating Numbers Which Count

Day after day many media outlets have consistently inflated the numbers of people protesting in Cairo's Tahrir Sq.

Some reporters may have been a little overexcited, some a little inexperienced, some nervous at being out of step with their peers, and a few may have been guilty of seeking a better headline .

The numbers in an uprising matter enormously. It is in the protesters interests to inflate numbers and for the state to downplay them. After all, both sides are claiming to represent the masses. Naturally this has happened in Egypt over the past two weeks. But it is not for the media to play that game.

I've received a degree online abuse for my estimates. To some anti Mubarak emailers/twitterers I was a 'counter revolutionary lackey', to others 'blind', and to some 'naive.' I admit my estimates may be wrong but I am certain the high end numbers reported are way off the mark.

I've been covering demonstrations and riots for twenty five years, and equally importantly, going to football matches for 40 years, and I am 100% convinced that at no point was there ever 2 million people in Tahrir Sq as one Arabic channel reported. Nor was there even 1 million - the figure to which they later downgraded their assessment.

I have been in a crowd of a million several times, for example when Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan, and in Kerbala a few days after the fall of Saddam when the Shia were allowed to worship in the manner of their choosing for the first time in thirty years. I know what a crowd of a million feels like from within, and looks like from above.

From within it is a seething mass. You are carried along by surges which ebb and flow. You are crushed into the people in front and behind you. Turning is almost impossible. Making your way from one side of the crowd to other is impossible. It is a frightening place to be. From above you see the density of people packed together and you cannot see concrete or grass as every inch of it is covered. A good example is the funeral of Ayatollah Khomeini. If you watch the video you see the size of the Tehran square utterly dwarfs Tahrir.

Some British media reported 'hundreds of thousands' in Tahrir Sq at one point. I have been in crowds of hundreds of thousands, for example during the day of peaceful demonstration in Tehran in 2009 after the days of violence. I do not believe there were ever hundreds of thousands in Tahrir Sq.

I've been in crowds of several thousand on hundreds of occasions at both demonstrations and football matches. At many games, the away fans are given about 3,000 tickets. They are gather in the same area and after the match they all move together in the same direction. Based on seeing this hundreds of times, my estimate of the numbers of hard core protestors staying in the square all night is about 3,000.

Estimates can be based on experience and science. Several analysts have looked at satellite imagery of Tahrir Sq. Clark McPhail, a professor at the University of Illinois is in good company with his assessment that given the physical size of the square it could accommodate a fairly dense crowd of around 200,000 but thinks at most there were 100,000 present.

The U.S. National Park Service has a long history of measuring crowds. It says there is a dense crowd when people are packed in at one person per 2.5 sq feet of space, this is said to be like a tube train in the rush hour.

Day after day I walked through the square, and in almost all parts of it you would easily stroll through, only occasionally bumping up aagaint people. In several key areas, infront of the stages for example, it was packed, but nowhere else. Large areas had very few people in them, or were covered in make shift tents.

The area directly in front of the Washington Mall is slightly larger than Tahrir Sq. When densely packed, as for Obamas inauguration, it is estimated to hold 250,000 people. If the density is extended all the way back down the Mall you might squeeze in a million people.

There was only one day when large sections of the square were densely packed. On the first day of demonstrations, Jan 25th, I was in there in the evening and estimated a maximum of 10,000 people. On the 'March of Millions' day, at the very high end of my estimate, I'd say, if I was being very generous, there were about 100,000 people, but more likely it was around the 60,000 mark.

Crowd estimates are not an exact science, nor is reporting, but there is supposed to be an honesty about both of them.

One of sky's more Fox-leaning reporters trying to justify why they stopped covering the Egyptian revolution. He also tried to say that there are lots more places in the world that should be covered, mentioning Tibet, Zimbabwe etc. They would have stood up better if Sky's two non-UK news items weren't the latest twist is Berlusconi's sex scandals and a bunch of kids swimming with polar bears.

Also if anyone goes onto the site feel free to call this guy out:

Posted by: jerome webber from Ramat Gan, Israel on February 10, 2011 9:10 AM

Jasmineiscool, what pathetic drivel you write! the Internet is just another tool in the hands of the extremists like their bombs, but at the end of the day Egypt will still be ruled by a Pharoh. Western Democracy will Never take root in the Arab World until it first rids itself of Islam. True Democracy is a Fusion of Ancient Greek Ideals & Judaeo-Christian Humanistic Values something with is Fundamentaly Incompatable with Islam. The best the Egyptian people can hope for is Benevolent Dictatorship. Mubarak failed to give the people the Carrot & Only gave them the Stick & thus brought about his own demise.He will be replaced but little will change. No viable opposition exists in Egypt except the Islamo Fascist Muslim Brotherhood - far worse than Pharoh Mubarak. The US by failing to support Mubarak has signalled to Islamic Extremists that they have a chance to seize power & you Jasmine, as a woman, will suffer a worse fate under their rule than that of Mubarak & other Arab Tyrrants.

The person he's refering to posted something about sky not covering Egypt anymore. Wasn't particularly great but it was heartfelt. Where as this guy sounds like he's angling for a job on Fox.

[kuronosan]

Democracy just means a government of the people. I really fail to see what religion has to do with that. That's more a of a theocracy.

[Ragnus]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226003947985

SAUDI Arabia has warned Barack Obama not to push for swift regime change in Egypt, vowing to bankroll President Hosni Mubarak if the White House cuts aid to Cairo.

In a testy telephone call on January 29, King Abdullah told the US President not to humiliate Mr Mubarak and said the Egyptian leader should be allowed to stay on to oversee the transition towards democracy and then to leave with dignity, The Times of London reported yesterday.

King Abdullah threatened to step in with funding for Egypt if the US withdrew its $US1.5 billion ($1.47bn) a year aid program.

"Mubarak and King Abdullah are not just allies, they are close friends, and the king is not about to see his friend cast aside and humiliated," a senior source in the Saudi capital told The Times.

Two sources confirmed details of the king's call, made four days after Egyptians took to the streets.

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The revelation of Saudi concerns sheds new light on America's apparent diplomatic paralysis and lays bare the biggest rift between the nations since the oil price shock of 1973, according to The Times. It said the tough line from Riyadh was driven by concern that Western governments were too eager to shove aside Mr Mubarak, without proper consideration of what should follow him.

"With Egypt in chaos, the kingdom is Washington's only major ally left in the Arab world and the Saudis want the Americans to remember that," said a source in Riyadh.

Riyadh's intervention seriously undermines the US leverage in the Egyptian crisis.

The White House declined to comment on the revelations by The Times yesterday, but warned Egypt's leaders to expect unrelenting protests unless they began real reforms and a transition to a freer society. Government concessions offered so far did not meet even the minimum threshold of what the people wanted, the White House said.

Obama administration officials were increasingly blunt in describing the limits of their leverage. The US was not seeking to dictate events in Egypt - and could not. "We're not going to be able to force them to do anything," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Mr Gibbs and other officials called on Egypt's leaders to end the harassment of activists, to broaden negotiations with opposition leaders, to lift a repressive emergency law, and to take up a series of other moves the Obama government has requested for days.

Mr Obama reinforced that message yesterday. In a phone conversation with the Saudi king, he emphasised the need for "immediate steps towards an orderly transition that is meaningful, lasting, legitimate and responsive", the White House said.

Thousands of state workers joined strikes and protests around the country yesterday, despite warnings from Vice-President Omar Suleiman that they won't be tolerated much longer.

Calling on labour unions to join it, Egypt's opposition movement extended its protest to new ground outside parliament, blocking the street and access to other government buildings and forcing cabinet ministers to move a meeting ahead of a mass protest tonight.

Mr Gibbs suggested that some Egyptian leaders thought they could wait out the protesters by offering up some concessions and assuming "life will return to normal" after years of repression.

"I think that's largely been answered by a greater number of people, representing a greater cross-section of Egyptian society, who have come out," he said.

"Those are not likely to dissipate until the government takes some genuine steps."

The Times

Take the above article for what you will. I can only find it on Conservative sites so I took it all with a grain of salt. It was originally found on Drudge but they were linking to Fox "News" so I tried to find the story from someone else. I'm not really versed on who is credable yet but I know that Fox and Dailymail are not great.



http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/wo...t.html?_r=1&hp

Spoiler: show

February 10, 2011
Egypt Foreign Minister Warns of Military Intervention
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, ANTHONY SHADID AND ALAN COWELL
CAIRO — As Egypt’s uprising entered its 17th day on Thursday, bolstered by strikes and protests among professional groups in Cairo and workers across the country, a senior official in President Hosni Mubarak’s embattled government was quoted as saying the army would “intervene to control the country” if it fell into chaos.

Among the latest to join the protests, thousands of chanting lawyers in black robes and physicians in white laboratory coats marched into Tahrir Square — the epicenter of the uprising — to join the clamor for Mr. Mubarak’s ouster.

Engineers and journalists also headed for the square on Thursday as the numbers there began to swell once again into their thousands, with demonstrators mingling among the tents and graffiti-sprayed army tanks that have taken on an air of semi-permanence.

The warning by Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit seemed to add a further ominous tone to earlier comments by the newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman who said the alternatives facing tens of thousands of demonstrators demanding Mr. Mubarak’s ouster were dialogue with the authorities or “a coup.”

Mr. Aboul Gheit told Al Arabiya television: “We have to preserve the Constitution, even if it is amended.”

“If chaos occurs, the armed forces will intervene to control the country, a step which would lead to a very dangerous situation,” he was quoted as saying on the broadcaster’s Web site , a day after he dismissed calls by Egyptian protesters and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scrap the country’s emergency laws, which allow the authorities to detain people without charge.

Up until now, the military has pledged not to use force against the protesters who have occupied Cairo’s central Tahrir Square and whose tactics have broadened to the establishment of a fresh encampment outside the Egyptian Parliament. But it has also deployed tanks and reinforcements across the city, setting up a narrow access point to the square that forces would-be protesters into single file after they stand in long lines to enter.

The apparently hardening official line — and the stubborn resistance of the protesters — coincided with a surge of strikes and worker protests affecting post offices, textile factories and even Al Ahram, the government’s flagship newspaper.

The presence of lawyers and other professionals joining the demonstrations seemed to broaden the participation in the uprising, reflecting the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has strong support among Egyptian attorneys and other professions..

Some of the protesters say they have been inspired by Wael Ghonim, a Google executive who has emerged as a prominent voice in a revolt galvanized in part by social networking sites. On Thursday, a Twitter feed in his name in English declared: “I promise every Egyptian that I will go back to my normal life & not be involved in any politics once Egyptians fulfill their dreams.”

But, in an interview on CNN, he was also quoted as saying he was “ready to die” for the opposition’s cause. “And I’m telling this to Omar Suleiman,” he said. “He’s going to watch this. You’re not going to stop us. Kidnap me, kidnap all my colleagues. Put us in jail. Kill us. Do whatever you want to do. We are getting back our country. You guys have been ruining this country for 30 years. ”The protests at Al Ahram by freelance reporters demanding better wages and more independence from the government, snarled one of the state’s most powerful propaganda tools and seemed to change its tone: On Wednesday, the front page, which had sought for days to play down the protests, called recent attacks by pro-Mubarak protesters on Tahrir Square an “offense to the whole nation.”

And on Thursday, the newspaper’s online edition in English broke news of hotel closures in Sharm El-Sheikh, the heart of Egypt’s Red Sea tourism industry, which was badly hit when many visitors fled the country as the uprising broke out.

Outside Cairo’s main post office, about 100 people gathered to demand higher wages and more jobs as a series of stoppages percolated through the capital. “Everyone has begun demanding their rights,” said Ahmed Suleiman, 29, a part-time postal worker. “And it’s time for the government to meet them.” He spoke under a banner proclaiming: “Egyptian post office in solidarity with the youth of Tahrir Square.”

As the city braced for bigger protests that organizers are trying to muster for Friday — the Muslim holy day and the beginning of the weekend — the authorities appeared to have strung more razor wire around the state radio and television building towering over the Nile. The move seemed to reflect concern that protesters may attempt to move to new locations, expanding their presence.

On the diplomatic front, Mr. Aboul Gheit’s retort to Mr. Biden played into the complicated relationship between Mr. Mubarak’s government and the Obama administration, which had urged swift steps toward a political transition, then endorsed Mr. Mubarak’s remaining until the end of his term later this year. Since then, Mr. Biden has suggested that the United States still expects some immediate changes to be made.

On Wednesday, the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, responded to the Egyptian government’s claims that such changes were premature, saying, “What you see happening on the streets of Cairo is not all that surprising when you see the lack of steps that their government has taken to meet their concerns.”

That attempt to put some distance between the United States and Mr. Mubarak, though, was unlikely to impress the protesters, who say that the Obama administration, by continuing to back the president, also ignores their concerns.

By nightfall on Wednesday, more than 1,000 protesters prepared to sleep outside the Parliament building for a second night, a symbolic move that showed the opposition’s growing confidence as the protesters expanded the scope of their activism beyond Tahrir Square.

Reports from around the country of vigorous and sometimes violent protests also suggested a movement regaining steam.

Security officials said that 5 people died and more than 100 were injured during protests on Tuesday in El Kharga, 375 miles south of Cairo. Protesters responded Wednesday by burning police stations and other government buildings. In Asyut, protesters blocked a railway line. Television images showed crowds gathering again in Alexandria, Egypt’s second-largest city.

Even protests that were not directly against Mr. Mubarak centered on the types of government neglect that have driven the call for him to leave power.

Protesters in Port Said, a city of 600,000 at the mouth of the Suez Canal, set fire to a government building, saying local officials had ignored their requests for better housing. And in one of the most potentially significant labor actions, thousands of workers for the Suez Canal Authority continued a sit-in on Wednesday, though there were no immediate suggestions of disruptions of shipping in the canal, a vital international waterway.

On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch reported that since Jan. 28, when troops took up positions in Egyptian cities, army officers and the military police had arbitrarily detained at least 119 people. In at least five cases, the group said, detainees said they had been tortured.

There were signs that the police, under the jurisdiction of the hated Interior Ministry, were trying to remake their image. The authorities have announced in recent days that prosecutors are weighing charges against Habib el-Adly, recently removed as interior minister. The charges, including murder, are related to the killing of protesters by security officers during the unrest.

On Wednesday, some cellphone customers in Egypt received the equivalent of marketing messages from the new minister, Mahmoud Wagdy. One read, “From the Ministry of Interior: The police will do nothing but serve and protect the people.” Another said, “Starting today, we will only deal through truthfulness, honesty and rule of law.”

As Mr. Mubarak held on to power, influential groups and people seemed determined to distance themselves from his government’s legacy. Members of a prominent journalists’ association moved toward a no-confidence vote against their leader, Makram Mohamed Ahmed, a former Mubarak speechwriter, the daily Al Masry Al Youm reported on its English-language Web site.

And the recently appointed culture minister, Gaber Asfour, a literary critic, resigned Wednesday after pressure from his colleagues, according to Al Ahram.

Outside groups, meanwhile, continued to try to take advantage of the Egyptian uprising. In an online forum, a group in Iraq affiliated with Al Qaeda called on Egyptians to “wage violent jihad to topple the regime in Egypt,” according to Khaled Hamza, the editor of the Web site of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition movement.

He bristled at the comments, saying the revolt in Egypt was nonviolent and included “all sects, trends and religions.”

“Egyptians are capable of solving their problem without intrusion, meddling and prying from foreign groups such as Al Qaeda and similar groups advocating the use of violence,” he said.

Increasingly, the political clamor for Mr. Mubarak’s ouster seemed to be complemented by strikes nationwide. While many strikes seemed to focus on specific grievances related to working conditions, labor leaders suggested they were energized by protests against Mr. Mubarak.

The protest against the Suez Canal Authority began Tuesday night and was staged by about 6,000 workers. In Helwan, 6,000 workers at the Misr Helwan Spinning and Weaving Company went on strike, Ms. Refaat said.

More than 2,000 workers from the Sigma pharmaceutical company in Quesna began a strike while about 5,000 unemployed youths stormed a government building in Aswan, demanding the dismissal of the governor.

In Cairo, sanitation workers demonstrated outside their headquarters.


David D. Kirkpatrick and Anthony Shadid reported from Cairo, and Alan Cowell from Paris. Kareem Fahim, Liam Stack, Mona El-Naggar and Thanassis Cambanis contributed reporting from Cairo, and Helene Cooper from Washington.

[BardonGaruda]

Seems like military council has finally told Mubarak to GTFO and has massed troops outside Cairo. They said "we will take steps to protect people". News conference from Cairo later today.