Tunisia’s uprising has transfixed Egypt’s elite but Mubarak’s survival strategy proves he has learnt nothing from Ben Ali’s fall, writes Kamel Labidi
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As protests continue in Cairo on day of departure, the intimidation of journalists trying to cover the developments persists. Earlier today, correspondents from the Guardian group Peter Beaumont and Jack Shenker were interrogated by the Egyptian army, while Patrick Martin and Sonia Verma of the Globe and Mail were attacked by a pro-Mubarak supporters. In addition two correspondents from Radio Free Europe, Robert Tait and Abdelilah Nuaimi, have been detained and the office of Al Jazeera Arabic was raided by pro-Mubarak supporters.
London, 16.30 GMT Index on Censorship condemns the tactics of intimidation and violence being used against peaceful protesters, journalists and human rights activists in Egypt. Over the past 24 hours, there have been reports of both Egyptians and foreigners being injured, detained and intimidated in the beginning of a crackdown. Incidents include: the arrest of three al Jazeera journalists; the disappearance of Swedish reporter Bert Sundström; the harassment of reporters from Daily News Egypt; the beating of Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey; the arrest of Washington Post journalists Leila Fadel and Linda Davidson; the attacks on hotels in Cairo housing foreign journalists; and the detention of foreign and Egyptian human rights workers.
We call on the government and the authorities to release all journalists, human rights workers and protesters who are being unlawfully held and to abide by Egypt’s legal obligations in respecting freedom of expression and the right to protest. We remind President Mubarak that Egypt is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. We ask the EU, the United States and the UN to put pressure on the Egypytian government to restrain forces acting in its name.
The internet suddenly came back up this morning, which means that flood of amateur video uploads I predicted should really start flowing today.
But anybody who thought the return of the net meant some sort of softening of President Hosni Mubarak’s stance was quickly disillusioned.
Angry pro-Mubarak demonstrations have been marching throughout the city since the morning.
Around 2pm, a mass of those protestors managed to rush into Tahrir Square and confront the demonstrators occupying the square. Inconsistent reports that the Army troops supposedly protecting the Tahrir demonstrators either were overwhelmed or just let it happen.
Heading to Tahrir now with a knot in my stomach. This is looking like a real “ugly face of the regime” day. For anybody who’s still wondering, the images you’ll see on television today are the reason the protests happened in the first place.