As of the fifth day of rage … Saturday January 29, 2011
Hundreds of anti-government protesters returned to the streets of central Cairo on Saturday, chanting slogans against Hosni Mubarak, just hours after the Egyptian president fired his Cabinet and promised reforms but refused to step down.
Thirty-eight protesters killed. 2,000 injured. Three Egyptian police killed.
Tens of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators in central Cairo protesting the leadership of President Hosni Mubarak. Cairo in anarchy.
Police and military are not necessarily cooperative. Police shoot into crowd. Police opened fire on 1,000 Egyptian protesters trying to storm the Interior Ministry in Cairo Saturday, Plainclothes police officers beating demonstrators with batons.
Protesters are trying to convince police officers to abandon their jobs and join the protesters.
Business looted in downtown Cairo mall. KFC and Hardee’s smashed and looted. Increase in looting and robberies reported.
Report of vigilante groups forming in middle class neighborhood. Militias forming.
Egyptian army secures famous national treasure, Egyptian Museum, while the ruling headquarters burned next door.
The Egyptian capital Cairo woke up to the prospect of another day of protest on Saturday, as tanks rumbled through the streets and crowds gathered once more. The smouldering ruins of tanks and buildings bore testimony to Friday’s unrest.
Tanks sent into Cairo. Crowd unchallenged by troops. Some troops smiled and shook hands and hugged protesters.
Photo-op …
Children of protesters were listed up on tanks in the middle of the square to have their photos taken with troops as the hulking remains of the National Democratic Party headquarters building, home to Mubarak’s ruling organization, burned in the background.
4 p.m. curfew on Saturday ignored.
Cellphone service was restored Saturday morning, 24 hours after a government-ordered communications blackout attempted to stop Friday’s protests. Internet access remained blocked.
Helicopters evacuated the Israeli embassy staff to an Egyptian airbase on Friday, where they were flown back to Tel Aviv.
Troops were deployed on the streets of Suez on Saturday, as demonstrations against the government of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak entered their fifth straight day in cities across the country.
In Suez, where protesters seized weapons stored in a police station and asked the policemen inside to leave the building before they burned it down