Thousands of Albanian protest despite warnings Summary: A peaceful response to a violent reaction. Excerpts:
Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in the Albanian capital Tirana Friday for a silent protest closely monitored by police, a week after another demonstration turned deadly. The opposition went ahead with the protest in defiance of international appeals and police warnings, insisting it would be a peaceful gathering to honor the three people killed last week.
The demonstrators headed by the leadership of the opposition socialists and the families of the victims started their march on the government buildings, passing by the spot where the people were shot, placing flowers at the scene in silence.
Organizers said there were 200,000 protesters but AFP journalists put the number at several tens of thousands. Police would give no figure.
And:
Last Friday, tens of thousands of people turned out for a protest rally organized by Rama, calling on the government to resign over allegations of corruption and electoral fraud.
The subsequent clashes between demonstrators and the security forces left three people dead and a fourth critically wounded.
This is the longest ever political crisis in Albania, which began after the opposition disputed the results from the June 2009 parliamentary election.
Not big enough to be close to critical, tensions in Jordan, nonetheless, could flare up from growing discontent with Prime Minister Samir Rifai. Excerpts:
Thousands of people in Jordan have taken to the streets in protests, demanding the country's prime minister step down, and the government curb rising prices, inflation and unemployment.
In the third consecutive Friday of protests, about 3,500 opposition activists from Jordan's main Islamist opposition group, trade unions and leftist organisations gathered in the capital, waving colourful banners reading: "Send the corrupt guys to court".
The crowd denounced Samir Rifai's, the prime minister, and his unpopular policies.
Many shouted: "Rifai go away, prices are on fire and so are the Jordanians.''
Tame, for the moment.. We'll see, won't we? Any finally, the most desperate and volatile of the three, Yemen.. But.. Maybe the Yemeni government has learned a little something from the events of previous weeks. Calls for talks with opposition, warns of conflict Yemen ruling party urges dialogue to halt protests Excerpts:
Yemen's ruling party has called for dialogue with the opposition, the country's state news agency said late on Friday, in a bid to end anti-government protests fuelled by popular unrest across the Arab World.
Thousands of Yemenis have taken to the streets of the capital Sanaa in recent days demanding a change of government, inspired by the overthrow two weeks ago of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Al Ben Ali and spillover to Egypt.
"We ... call for the halting of media propaganda and urge all political parties to work together to make the dialogue a success and arrange for upcoming elections," a committee of the ruling General People's Congress (GPC) party was quoted as saying on the website of the Saba state news agency.
And:
Saleh, a key ally of the United States in a war against a resurgent al-Qaeda wing in Yemen, has ruled the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state for over 30 years.
Yemen is trying to quell a secessionist rebellion in its south and cement a truce with northern Shiite rebels.
Security measures at the demonstrations appeared relaxed, but were tight around the interior ministry and the central bank.
The political heat in the Mid East continues to intensify, growing hotter and faster in some areas over others, but growing nonetheless. Day Five in Egypt is already underway. It's gonna get hotter 'fore it cools..
Showing posts with label revolution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label revolution. Show all posts
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Revolution Roundup, Egypt Edition - Day Two
Protesters in Egypt defy ban amid crackdown Excerpts:
CAIRO Clashes erupted again Wednesday in downtown Cairo, where riot police had used rubber bullets and water cannons overnight to disperse a huge anti-government demonstration. Hundreds of protesters defied a government order and gathered in Cairo and other cities, vowing to topple the U.S.-backed authoritarian Egyptian regime even as momentum appears to have dissipated since the first wave of demonstrations.
The Egyptian stock market plunged Wednesday as investors reacted to rumors of an impending revolution.
Skirmishes between protesters and security forces broke out at two small gatherings - in front of the lawyers' and journalists' union offices - but columns of riot police prevented crowds of more than a few hundred from amassing anywhere downtown. One chant that rose from a group of protesters posed the question of the hour: "1, 2, Egyptians, where are you?"
The modest turnout, just a day after demonstrations of a size unseen since the 1977 bread riots, raised serious doubts as to whether Egyptians will seize the moment and demand a new government. Large-scale protests planned for after midday prayers Friday will be a key test of the opposition's ability to turn widespread frustration into real street power.
Egypt Tightens Security in Cairo to Prevent Further Rallies Excerpts:
Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Egyptian authorities banned protests and tightened security overnight to prevent demonstrators from repeating the rally of Jan. 25, when thousands took to the streets of Cairo and major cities to denounce President Hosni Mubarak, inspired by the revolt that toppled Tunisia’s leader.
Truckloads of riot police were deployed yesterday in central Cairo after demonstrations in which at least three people were killed, sending Egypt’s benchmark EGX30 index tumbling the most since November 2009. Security forces clashed with several hundred protesters outside the country’s lawyers’ association and restricted access to Tahrir Square, the scene of the largest protests the previous day.
And:
Egyptian police detained 860 protesters during two days of anti-government demonstrations, the Associated Press reported, citing officials who weren’t identified by name. About 2,000 people gathered late yesterday in central Cairo, with some saying the protests would continue. A Facebook page with more than 405,000 members that called for the Jan. 25 protests has called for another mass outing on Jan. 28.
And:
Egypt, Algeria and Yemen all rank in the bottom half, well below 59th-placed Tunisia, in Berlin-based Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index of 180 nations. All Arab countries except Lebanon and Iraq are classified as authoritarian regimes in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2010 Democracy Index.
Risks of global instability are rising as governments cut subsidies that help the poor cope with surging food and fuel costs to ease budget crunches, the head of the United Nations’ World Food Program said three days ago.
“We’re in an era where the world and nations ignore the food issue at their peril,” Josette Sheeran said in an interview at the agency’s Rome headquarters.
Secretary of State Clinton only pretends to be neutral..
Egypt Protests LIVE Updates: Mubarak Protestors Fill Cairo's Streets Excerpts:
There were signs that the crackdown on protesters was taking a toll on Egypt's international standing. In Washington, White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs would not say whether President Hosni Mubarak, the target of demonstrators' anger and a close U.S. ally, still has the Obama administration's support. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the government should allow peaceful protests instead of cracking down.
A Manifesto for Change in Egypt by Mohamed ElBaradei Read this, please, but here's the excerpts:
Then, as protests built in the streets of Egypt following the overthrow of Tunisia’s dictator, I heard Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s assessment that the government in Egypt is “stable” and “looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people”. I was flabbergasted—and I was puzzled. What did she mean by stable, and at what price? Is it the stability of 29 years of “emergency” laws, a president with imperial power for 30 years, a parliament that is almost a mockery, a judiciary that is not independent? Is that what you call stability? I am sure not. And I am positive that it is not the standard you apply to other countries. What we see in Egypt is pseudo-stability, because real stability only comes with a democratically elected government.
If you would like to know why the United States does not have credibility in the Middle East, that is precisely the answer. People were absolutely disappointed in the way you reacted to Egypt’s last election. You reaffirmed their belief that you are applying a double standard for your friends, and siding with an authoritarian regime just because you think it represents your interests. We are staring at social disintegration, economic stagnation, political repression, and we do not hear anything from you, the Americans, or for that matter from the Europeans.
So when you say the Egyptian government is looking for ways to respond to the needs of the Egyptian people, I feel like saying, “Well, it’s too late!” This isn’t even good realpolitik. We have seen what happened in Tunisia, and before that in Iran. That should teach people there is no stability except when you have government freely chosen by its own people.
Egypt: Truly, a nation on the brink. Can this form of change be instituted peacefully? More importantly, can the Mubarak regime stop this movement of change even remotely peacefully? I don't think they can. And now, the world watches..
CAIRO Clashes erupted again Wednesday in downtown Cairo, where riot police had used rubber bullets and water cannons overnight to disperse a huge anti-government demonstration. Hundreds of protesters defied a government order and gathered in Cairo and other cities, vowing to topple the U.S.-backed authoritarian Egyptian regime even as momentum appears to have dissipated since the first wave of demonstrations.
The Egyptian stock market plunged Wednesday as investors reacted to rumors of an impending revolution.
Skirmishes between protesters and security forces broke out at two small gatherings - in front of the lawyers' and journalists' union offices - but columns of riot police prevented crowds of more than a few hundred from amassing anywhere downtown. One chant that rose from a group of protesters posed the question of the hour: "1, 2, Egyptians, where are you?"
The modest turnout, just a day after demonstrations of a size unseen since the 1977 bread riots, raised serious doubts as to whether Egyptians will seize the moment and demand a new government. Large-scale protests planned for after midday prayers Friday will be a key test of the opposition's ability to turn widespread frustration into real street power.
Egypt Tightens Security in Cairo to Prevent Further Rallies Excerpts:
Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Egyptian authorities banned protests and tightened security overnight to prevent demonstrators from repeating the rally of Jan. 25, when thousands took to the streets of Cairo and major cities to denounce President Hosni Mubarak, inspired by the revolt that toppled Tunisia’s leader.
Truckloads of riot police were deployed yesterday in central Cairo after demonstrations in which at least three people were killed, sending Egypt’s benchmark EGX30 index tumbling the most since November 2009. Security forces clashed with several hundred protesters outside the country’s lawyers’ association and restricted access to Tahrir Square, the scene of the largest protests the previous day.
And:
Egyptian police detained 860 protesters during two days of anti-government demonstrations, the Associated Press reported, citing officials who weren’t identified by name. About 2,000 people gathered late yesterday in central Cairo, with some saying the protests would continue. A Facebook page with more than 405,000 members that called for the Jan. 25 protests has called for another mass outing on Jan. 28.
And:
Egypt, Algeria and Yemen all rank in the bottom half, well below 59th-placed Tunisia, in Berlin-based Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index of 180 nations. All Arab countries except Lebanon and Iraq are classified as authoritarian regimes in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2010 Democracy Index.
Risks of global instability are rising as governments cut subsidies that help the poor cope with surging food and fuel costs to ease budget crunches, the head of the United Nations’ World Food Program said three days ago.
“We’re in an era where the world and nations ignore the food issue at their peril,” Josette Sheeran said in an interview at the agency’s Rome headquarters.
Secretary of State Clinton only pretends to be neutral..
Egypt Protests LIVE Updates: Mubarak Protestors Fill Cairo's Streets Excerpts:
There were signs that the crackdown on protesters was taking a toll on Egypt's international standing. In Washington, White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs would not say whether President Hosni Mubarak, the target of demonstrators' anger and a close U.S. ally, still has the Obama administration's support. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the government should allow peaceful protests instead of cracking down.
A Manifesto for Change in Egypt by Mohamed ElBaradei Read this, please, but here's the excerpts:
Then, as protests built in the streets of Egypt following the overthrow of Tunisia’s dictator, I heard Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s assessment that the government in Egypt is “stable” and “looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people”. I was flabbergasted—and I was puzzled. What did she mean by stable, and at what price? Is it the stability of 29 years of “emergency” laws, a president with imperial power for 30 years, a parliament that is almost a mockery, a judiciary that is not independent? Is that what you call stability? I am sure not. And I am positive that it is not the standard you apply to other countries. What we see in Egypt is pseudo-stability, because real stability only comes with a democratically elected government.
If you would like to know why the United States does not have credibility in the Middle East, that is precisely the answer. People were absolutely disappointed in the way you reacted to Egypt’s last election. You reaffirmed their belief that you are applying a double standard for your friends, and siding with an authoritarian regime just because you think it represents your interests. We are staring at social disintegration, economic stagnation, political repression, and we do not hear anything from you, the Americans, or for that matter from the Europeans.
So when you say the Egyptian government is looking for ways to respond to the needs of the Egyptian people, I feel like saying, “Well, it’s too late!” This isn’t even good realpolitik. We have seen what happened in Tunisia, and before that in Iran. That should teach people there is no stability except when you have government freely chosen by its own people.
Egypt: Truly, a nation on the brink. Can this form of change be instituted peacefully? More importantly, can the Mubarak regime stop this movement of change even remotely peacefully? I don't think they can. And now, the world watches..
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
While We Looked Elsewhere, Egypt Decided To Stage A Revolution..
Cairo erupts as Egyptian protesters demand Mubarak resign. From Raw Story. Excerpts:
Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Egypt Tuesday, facing down a massive police presence to demand the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in protests inspired by Tunisia's popular uprising.
Gamal Mubarak, son of President Hosni Mubarak, had fled the country along with his family, according to the Adnkronos International news service.
..
Chanting "Down with Mubarak" -- in reference to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak who has been in power for three decades -- they broke through several police cordons and began marching towards Tahrir Square, in scenes seldom witnessed in Egypt.
Others shouted "Tunisia is not better than Egypt" as the crowds began to swell.
A security official told AFP that at least 20,000 to 30,000 police had been mobilized in the center of the capital alone, and that the area housing the interior ministry had been sealed off.
And, as per the 21st century revolution suppression handbook, Twitter is down..(Same article)
The US-based microblogging service that allows people to use mobile phones to broadcast short text messages was out of service in Egypt on Tuesday, according to the herdict.org tracking website recommended by Twitter.
A Twitter spokesman declined to comment on what was causing the service outage in Egypt.
"Egypt is going wild and I'm not sure we'll really have a sense of it until the dust clears," Digital Democracy's Mark Belinsky told CNET. "Hard to say whether or not it's just getting overloaded though...(physically severing) Internet was done in Burma after a while but it usually leads to international uproar. What they generally do is slow down the signal to a crawl, as they did in Iran, which they can then say was infrastructure failure or any other made up excuse."
Cairo knows how to rock! Video here:
Man stand up to a bus/water cannon.
Protestors chasing police!
That was an active Day One. I wonder what tomorrow holds for both Egypt and the region?
Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Egypt Tuesday, facing down a massive police presence to demand the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in protests inspired by Tunisia's popular uprising.
Gamal Mubarak, son of President Hosni Mubarak, had fled the country along with his family, according to the Adnkronos International news service.
..
Chanting "Down with Mubarak" -- in reference to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak who has been in power for three decades -- they broke through several police cordons and began marching towards Tahrir Square, in scenes seldom witnessed in Egypt.
Others shouted "Tunisia is not better than Egypt" as the crowds began to swell.
A security official told AFP that at least 20,000 to 30,000 police had been mobilized in the center of the capital alone, and that the area housing the interior ministry had been sealed off.
And, as per the 21st century revolution suppression handbook, Twitter is down..(Same article)
The US-based microblogging service that allows people to use mobile phones to broadcast short text messages was out of service in Egypt on Tuesday, according to the herdict.org tracking website recommended by Twitter.
A Twitter spokesman declined to comment on what was causing the service outage in Egypt.
"Egypt is going wild and I'm not sure we'll really have a sense of it until the dust clears," Digital Democracy's Mark Belinsky told CNET. "Hard to say whether or not it's just getting overloaded though...(physically severing) Internet was done in Burma after a while but it usually leads to international uproar. What they generally do is slow down the signal to a crawl, as they did in Iran, which they can then say was infrastructure failure or any other made up excuse."
Cairo knows how to rock! Video here:
Man stand up to a bus/water cannon.
Protestors chasing police!
That was an active Day One. I wonder what tomorrow holds for both Egypt and the region?
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