“A Day in Somi’s World”

Dutch website profiles Harlem-based singer Somi (of Rwandan and Ugadan descent, raised in downstate Illinois).

 For background, here‘s a link to a review of her latest release by my man Siddhartha Mitter. And below’s the video for her most recent release “Prayer to the Saint of the Brokenhearted.”

–Sean Jacobs

Our next Carolina Wren Press Poetry Series contest will take submissions with a deadline of 2/15/2011.  Final Judge is Lee Ann Brown.

Download full guidelines or see below:

Please note: many places have continued to list this contest with its old deadline of 12/1/10. Yes indeed, the NEW postmark DEADLINE is ABSOLUTELY February 15, 2011.

Full Guidelines: Send 2 copies of a 48-64 pp. manuscript. Manuscript should be single-spaced, paginated, and bound with a spring clip or paperclip. Please include a table of contents. Include one title page with all author contact information. Include one title page with manuscript title only, no author information. Include acknowledgement of individual poems that have been previously published on a separate sheet. Enclose a check payable to Carolina Wren Press for $20. This contest is open only to poets who have had no more than one full-length book published. Manuscript being submitted may not have been published or self-published in print or online as a whole. Simultaneous submissions are okay. Please let us know if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere. Contest results anticipated by September 30, 2011. Publication in January, 2013.

2011 Poetry Chapbook Competition

The winning chapbook will be published in Fall 2011 w/full-color cover art, and the winner receives a $1,000 honorarium.

Judge: ERIN BELIEU

• Entries must be between 32 – 40 numbered pages, excluding title page, table of contents, acknowledgments page. One-inch margins, 12-point font, and only one poem per page.
• Manuscripts as a whole must be previously unpublished.
• Translations will not be accepted.
• Manuscripts must not contain any identifying information. Include a separate cover page with name and contact information, including an email address.
• Entries must include a $15 reading fee (made out to Iron Horse Literary Review). Fee includes a one year subscription to IHLR.
• Mail entries to:

Poetry Chapbook Competition
Iron Horse Literary Review
Texas Tech University
English Department
Mail Stop 43091
Lubbock, Texas 79409

• Entries must be postmarked on or before February 28, 2011.
• Entries failing to meet formatting instructions will not be considered.

Guyana Prize for Literature Caribbean Award

 

 

THE GUYANA PRIZE FOR LITERATURE

CARIBBEAN AWARD

 

The Guyana Prize for Literature was established in 1987

 

 

• To provide encouragement for the development of good creative writing among Guyanese in particular and Caribbean writers in general.

 

During the Awards Presentation on the Twentieth Anniversary of the Prize it was declared that after contributing to the advancement of the literature through the recognition of Guyanese writers, the pledge to Caribbean writing should now be honoured in a specific and direct way. This need was further felt since there was still no literary prize offered within the region for Caribbean literature.

 

The pledge became a reality when it was announced in Georgetown on November 2, 2010, that the Government of Guyana had provided funds to the Management Committee of the Guyana Prize for the first Guyana Prize for Literature Caribbean Award, starting with the Prize for 2010.

 

There will be three Awards in the categories of Fiction, Poetry and Drama, with a prize of US$ 5,000 for the winner in each category.

 

ELIGIBILITY

 

The Prize is for published books and is open to works by citizens of Caribbean countries : Caricom States, the Commonwealth Caribbean, the Netherland Antilles.

 

To be eligible for entry, a book must have been

 

• originally written and published in English

 

• published in the calendar years 2009/2010; i.e. between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010;

 

for Drama, entries must

 

• be full-length plays, first published/performed between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010.

 

Each publisher may enter a maximum of 5 works in each category.

 

No more than one work by any author may be entered in each category.

 

It is the responsibility of the publisher to verify the nationality of the authors where necessary

 

SUBMISSIONS

Entries should be submitted to

 

The Management Committee

 

Guyana Prize for Literature Caribbean Award

 

School of Education and Humanities

 

University of Guyana

 

P.O. Box 101110 Georgetown, Guyana

 

Closing date for entries is February 28, 2011.

 

Entries must be accompanied by a separate sheet with the following information for each author

 

• name, date and place of birth, citizenship

 

• address, telephone number, Fax number, e-mail address

 

• title of work

 

• date and place of publication

 

• date(s) and place of performance or publication for plays

 

• brief bio-sketch/career resume of author

 

• photograph of author

 

Four copies of each entry must be submitted

 

Winners in the three categories will be decided by a Jury of eminent persons in the field. A shortlist of finalists will be announced approximately one month before the Awards Ceremony, and may be used as a part of promotion for the Prize.

 

The winners, as a condition of entry, are expected to attend the Prize Awards Ceremony to be held in Georgetown, Guyana in May, 2011, on a date to be announced, and should also be prepared to give public reading(s) from their works as organised by the Guyana Prize Management Committee. Airline tickets and expenses for the visit to Georgetown will be provided where necessary.

 

Al Creighton

 

Secretary, Management Committee

The Guyana Prize for Literature

 

University of Guyana

 

P.O. Box 101110

 

Phone 592-222-3470 / 222-4923

 

Fax 592-222-7015

 

e-mail : guyanapri@yahoo.com

 

Zukiswa Wanner (South Africa)

 

This brief interview features a young, dynamic South African writer, Zukiswa Wanner. She is a Joburg-residing novelist, blogger, and short-story writer. Zukiswa was born in Zambia to a South African father and a Zimbabwean mother. Her mother claims that she has been rebellious ever since her birth at the momentous time of the Soweto Uprisings.

Wanner, who did her primary and high school education in Zimbabwe, studied journalism at Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu. Her debut novel, The Madams, published in November 2006, dealt with racial role reversals in post-apartheid South Africa. In addition to writing fiction, she has also contributed essays to Oprah, Elle and Juice magazines, and literary reviews and essays to Afropolitan and Sunday Independent. Behind Every Successful Man (2008)is her second novel. A funky, witty tale of a mother turned entrepreneur – to the great exasperation of Andile, her husband and BEE tycoon.

Zukiswa is a founder member of the ReadSA initiative, a campaign encouraging South Africa to read South African works, together with other South African writers.Her third novel, Men of the South, came out in June 2010.

Zukiswa was too busy to make a list of the books she read in 2010 since I approached deep in the festive season, but I appreciated the time she took to share her thoughts about reading and writing. Below is the interview.

Brief Interview with Zukiswa Wanner

1. You recently announced that you ran out of books to read, that's really nice to hear. Approximately how many did you read?

I average about 2 books a week, more if there is less work writing work coming in. I have just finished Tendai Huchu's Hairdresser of Harare which I started yesterday (December 23)and on Wednesday when I did the status update (on Facebook), I had just finished Jassy Mackenzie's Stolen Lives. I am currently reading the Caine Prize short stories - A Life in Full. There are those who say I need a life beyond books. I say there is no life beyond books. Perhaps after, but not beyond.

2. What kinds of books do you like to read? Do you choose books by certain authors at specific times or do you read what's available?

I do NOT read so-called self-help books. Everything else is game. I am a particular fan of all sorts of fiction and in non-fiction, I love biographies.

3. Do you read as a writer or just as a reader enjoying (or not enjoying) the books you are reading?

Both I suppose. I can't divorce one from the other. I find myself admiring the prose of other writers and wishing I could write like them, as well as criticising any editorial or literary mistakes that I may encounter,but as a reader I have an obsession with finishing every book I start reading no matter what my reservations may be about it when I start reading because I always think that's the best way to judge the book fairly. I must say in this regard that I have read many books that have brilliant plots but lousy editing and vice-versa.

4. What's your balance of books read, more classics or more contemporaries?

I am a firm believer in celebrating the living so I tend to read more contemporary stuff and read classics only when my contemporary books are done.

5. What is the effect of reading to your own writing? Does it sometimes get in the way of your writing?

I try not to let my reading get in the way of my writing but alas, every now and again it does. I find it easier to excuse my not writing when I am reading a book than at any other time. On the other hand, I would not have it any other way as I always learn something new from reading - whether I find myself appreciating the book I have just finished reading or not. Forget phD in Literature or any such thing. The greatest way to improve your writing, in my opinion, is through exposing oneself to as much literature as possible so one can decide what to do/not to do and find their own voice, stylistically.

6. To the curious, who is Zukiswa?

Zukiswa is a writer, a mother, an African, and a woman - in that order.

Zukiswa and Wole Soyinka.

 

Posted by Emmanuel Sigauke at 9:11 PM

 

 

 

Cinema: Women in the spotlight

Written by Clar Ni Chonghaile in Nairobi

Monday, 10 January 2011 16:16

Female directors are achieving increasing success in the African film industry but those at the forefront want to be recognised for their skills, not their gender. Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu becomes very animated when she talks about Kathryn Bigelow’s best director Oscar this year for Hurt Locker – the first time a woman has won that award. “It’s ridiculous we had to wait this long. But even Kathryn Bigelow herself said she’d much rather be appreciated as a filmmaker than as a woman filmmaker.”     WANURI KAHIU Wanuri Kahiu has big ambitions. The petite Kenyan filmmaker with a lightning smile took her science fiction film Pumzi to Cannes this year and won the best short prize at the Cannes Independent Film Festival. Kahiu left Kenya at 16 to study in the UK, going on to do a master’s degree in film directing at the University of California before returning to Kenya in 2006.   Her first feature, From A Whisper, was based around the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. It won five Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2009, and she is now in talks about international distribution.   Kahiu’s vision of African film is radical – from her theories on how to improve distribution to the need to confront stereotypes. “It is the responsibility of artists to say we want to represent the place that we love in a different way. We want to represent it by showing the people who laugh with us, who cry with us, who make love with us. Not just people who molest and abuse and corrupt. There is more to Africa than tragedy.” Kahiu, who made waves in Cannes this year with her science-fiction short Pumzi, is among a group of young African filmmakers seeking to overturn on-screen stereo-types of the continent. She does not want to be judged based on her gender.   “It’s really frustrating that we still pigeonhole women,” she tells The Africa Report. “Do we not see the same images of violence and hurt that men see?”   The talk about Bigelow’s win illustrates how cinema has been dominated by men, and not just in Africa. Beti Ellerson, who directed the 2002 film Sisters of the Screen and produces the African Women in Cinema blog, says that hopes were raised in 1997 when more women than ever before entered the pan-African FESPACO film festival.   “I thought optimistically that this was evidence of African women’s growing presence and participation in cinema. And yet, the following years did not show such promise. There was not an exponential increase in production,” says Ellerson. Although women had made their mark on the cinematic landscape, some were discouraged from getting involved by lack of funds. She hopes digital technology might open up the industry.   There is a cohort of pioneering African women filmmakers who have helped smooth the way for today’s generation. In Kenya, Kahiu lists Judy Kibinge and Wanjiru Kinyanjui, whose The Battle of the Sacred Tree is Kahiu’s favourite African film. In North Africa, director Raja Amari pays homage to fellow Tunisian Moufida Tlatli, whose 1994 film The Silences of The Palace was the first feature film directed by an Arab woman.   Still, short film projects such as Mama Africa, a workshop collaboration organised in Harare by Zimmedia in 2000 that resulted in six shorts by African women directors, and the 1997 series Africa Dreaming have remained two largely isolated events rather than a sustained momentum to showcase female directing talent.   The funding dilemma   One South African-based advocacy group, Women of the Sun, aims to help African women filmmakers exploit opportunities and share their skills. It is organising a forum of African women filmmakers in Johannesburg on 1-4 September, alongside the African Women Film Festival. Women of the Sun’s Eve Rantseli has noticed many more women entering the industry in South Africa, but she says there remain very few feature-film directors. “If you look beyond directing, if you look at actors and actresses, you find their fees are not the same,” she says. “You find that many productions take place in a white, male environment. People tend to deal with people they know, and if you are dealing with an environment that is white and male or just male, people tend to work with other males.”   SHIRLEY FRIMPONG-MANSO Shirley Frimpong-Manso is all about quality, and the Ghanaian director’s dedication to improving production standards in her films is paying off. The 33-year-old, who heads Sparrow Productions, won the best director award for The Perfect Picture at this year’s Africa Movie Academy Awards in Nigeria.   A former radio presenter who studied at Ghana’s National Film and Television Institute, Frimpong-Manso said she made a decision to tell tales about modern Ghana and to match substance with style. So far, she has directed five features. “When I decided to do movies, I consciously decided to do something more modern, more light. Movies go all over the world and they say a lot about who we are and what our beliefs are,” she explains.   Her biggest problem is funding, as the lack of money limits her creativity. She wants to make films about Ghana’s fight for independence, but the money is not there. One issue for every African director is money. “Funding is a huge problem, and because of that you have to think about the script and the story you are writing and that limits your creativity,” says Ghanaian director Shirley Frimpong-Manso. “We want to go back into our history books and tell stories of our independence, but we can’t do that because we don’t have the funding.”   The Ghanaian government and other stakeholders need to do more, says Frimpong-Manso. In Kenya, where the film industry is worth more than KSh3bn ($38m), the government and filmmakers are beginning to talk about tax regimes and incentives. The Kenya Film Commission says the industry could grow to Ksh40bn a year and create 250,000 jobs if it is properly exploited.   Dynamic producers who know the market and can collaborate with their peers will come out on top. African filmmakers need to become more innovative about distribution, making better use of online facilities to engage with those who sell pirated copies.   Amidst this, Amari dislikes what she sees as the paternalism meted out to African filmmakers: “I don’t think there should be any special treatment for African film. It should be competitive, they should be able to prove themselves.” More character-based films could help win global distribution rights for African film, she says.   Modern Africa   RAJA AMARI If Arabic cinema has often presented women as the victims of a cruel society, Tunisian director Raja Amari is determined to break what she calls this “reductive” tradition. In her latest film Buried Secrets, Amari’s female lead is both victim and executioner. “I’m interested in the female universe. I think female characters live through more conflict and tension in Arab and African society,” she says. Her aim is to show the diversity of women’s lives. “I present things in a less allegorical way. My films are about desire, about the body.”She is not afraid of breaking taboos nor conservative rejection of her style.   Born in 1971, Amari studied literature in Tunisia before moving to Paris in 1995 to study at La Fémis film school. After her first feature, Satin Rouge, won best African film award at the 2002 Montreal Film Festival, Amari has become a respected member of the international film community. She is in the midst of writing the screenplay for her third feature film, which will be set in Tunisia and France. Despite the obstacles, filmmakers like Kahiu, Amari and Frimpong-Manso are determined to keep pushing boundaries, and they do not think their work needs to have a particular message just because they are women or African. “[African filmmakers] are making films that are exciting, that are challenging, that are cosmopolitan and that resonate with other people who have a similar experience – people who are internet-savvy, who live in cities. Africa is not only about the huts and women carrying water on their heads,” says Kahiu.   This article was first published in the October-November 2010 edition of The Africa Report.

Last Updated on Monday, 10 January 2011 16:53

__________________________

19. Protesters shout slogans during demonstrations in Cairo January 29, 2011. Thousands of angry Egyptians rallied in central Cairo on Saturday to demand that President Hosni Mubarak resign, dismissing his offer of dialogue and calling on troops to come over to their side. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

14. A veiled protester holds a photo of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak marked with an X, during a demonstration at Tahrir square in Cairo January 29, 2011. Egypt's president gave the first indication on Saturday he was preparing an eventual handover of power by naming a vice-president for the first time in 30 years after protests that have rocked the foundations of the state. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

33. People protest at a rally against Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak outside the United Nations building in New York January 29, 2011. The United States told Mubarak on Saturday it was not enough to simply reshuffle the deck with a shake-up of his government and pressed him to make good on his promise of genuine reform. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi

84. A protester walks past an Egyptian soldier during an anti-Mubarak protest in Cairo February 1, 2011. Mubarak's grip on Egypt looked increasingly tenuous on Tuesday after the army pledged not to confront protesters who converged in Cairo in their tens of thousands to demand an end to his 30-year rule. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

 

105. Protestors chant anti-government slogans during a demonstration at Tahrir Square in Cairo February 1, 2011. At least one million people rallied across Egypt on Tuesday clamouring for President Hosni Mubarak to give up power, piling pressure on a leader who has towered over Middle East politics for 30 years to make way for a new era of democracy in the Arab nation. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

 

109. Protesters chant anti-government slogans as they demonstrate in Tahrir Square in Cairo February 1, 2011. At least one million people rallied across Egypt on Tuesday clamouring for President Hosni Mubarak to give up power, piling pressure on a leader who has towered over Middle East politics for 30 years to make way for a new era of democracy in the Arab nation. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

ABOVE PHOTOS FROM TOTALLYCOOLPIX.COM

>via: http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/01/the-egypt-protests-part-2/

__________________________

 

Thousands of Men and No Groping!

Egypt's protests were a safe space for women. Until things turned violent.

By Sarah A. TopolPosted Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011, at 3:06 PM ET

 

Read more of Slate's coverage of the Egyptian protests.

A Mubarak supporter shouts slogans during a demonstration in Cairo's Muhandisin district

 

 

This morning, the woman checking bags and body-searching demonstrators entering Cairo's central square had quite a job on her hands. As demonstrations in Egypt's capital entered their second week, she had volunteered to keep the rallying point safe. I'd encountered her at the same place yesterday, but today's search was a lot more thorough.

"We heard people would be bringing knives and weapons to the square today. Bad people would try to stop us," she explained, as she frisked women in front of a metal barricade. "They asked us to come. All of us are volunteers," she said, though she declined to tell me her name.

One woman waiting to enter puts up a fight, and the brisk, stout woman, who is a headmistress by profession, lays down the law: "I am here to protect you. The military wants us to protect you—they don't have women, so we are here for you."

Unfortunately, at the end of a long day in Cairo, the headmistress's body-search seems to have been for naught. The place where she stood a few hours earlier is in flames as I type this. Last night, President Hosni Mubarak spoke to the nation and said he would finish out his term but would not run in presidential elections scheduled for September. Protesters had been demanding his immediate resignation.

Today, pro-Mubarak rallies filled the city. And the conflict that followed marked a sharp departure from the peaceful protests of the days before. As I write, Mubarak supporters and anti-regime demonstrators are clashing in the streets below—throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks.

But whichever camp they find themselves in, this unprecedented moment in Egypt's history has also been a momentous time for Egyptian women, who I saw in droves at both the anti- and pro-Mubarak protests.

Over the last week, women joined men in the square and on the streets, calling for an end to the Mubarak regime. They brought their children—including young girls. Some even camped out in the cold.

Soheir Sadi was one of them. This morning, she sat in the square with her 14-year-old daughter. They had come every day since the protests started on Jan. 25. "I came seeking my rights, like any Egyptian. I rent my apartment, I don't own it, and I can't afford food. What kind of life is that? And for my children?" she asks. "I wasn't afraid for my daughter, because everyone is family in the square. We are all real men standing up for ourselves, even the girls. And now they have learned that they can protect themselves like men."

Egypt has a sexual harassment problem. In a 2008 study, 86 percent of women said they had been harassed on Egypt's streets—any woman walking through a crowd of men in Egypt braces to get groped. But in the square, crammed in shoulder-to-shoulder, men apologized if they so much as bumped into you. After wandering around the protests for days, it suddenly dawned on me that I hadn't been groped, a constant annoyance when I'm faced with large crowds in Cairo. When I pointed this out to other women in the square, we all took a moment to reflect. "I hadn't even thought of that," one woman in Tahrir told me. "But it's because we're all so focused on one goal, we're a family here."

Today's pro-Mubarak rallies were also attended by women, who screamed slogans like, "Don't leave, Mubarak." Many came from the poorer neighborhoods, prompting my taxi driver to suggest that many of them had been paid to join the crowd. But affluent women attended, as well. One of whom told me, "This isn't yes to Mubarak; it's yes to stability and no to the Muslim Brotherhood." Many secular liberal elites in Egypt worry that the Brotherhood, officially banned but still the strongest organized opposition to Mubarak, will come to power if he leaves.

Then there were the women who switched sides. Farah Mohammed had been in Tahrir Square for the last few days, demanding that Mubarak resign. Today, she came instead to show her support for the only president she has ever known. "We want to give him a chance," the 20-year-old with neon pink nails told me. "If he left now, there would be a gap. The economy would fail. We want to work, to go out, and to live like we used to." Many Egyptians have expressed concern about the economic woes that have come to the fore as the city gradually closed down over the last week as protests raged. Many activists worried that Mubarak's Tuesday night address had sinister connotations, signaling an attempt to pit citizens against one another.

But women like Farah stayed on the streets this afternoon as two rallies clashed on the entry channels into Tahrir Square. Many people inside Tahrir were wounded and were taken to a nearby mosque-turned-makeshift-hospital for treatment—where women also took up positions.

The scene was frantic, as bleeding men were dragged through the streets for treatment. "We've seen cuts, wood splinters from sticks, bleeding, very much bleeding from the head," one woman doctor called to me over the din. "I treated one woman," she says, "a brick hit her on the head." She was about to say more, but someone brought in a man with blood streaming down his face.

Back in the square, as we hear shouted reports that pro-Mubarak protesters armed with sticks are approaching, Samia, a young woman no older than 20, calmly smokes a cigarette. We can't see the clashes from where we are sitting. The last I checked, they were concentrated in one part of the square, but rumor has it they're heading our way. Samia has spent four nights sleeping in the square, and though she seems alert, she doesn't appear visibly shaken.

"I'm not leaving," Samia tells me. "I'd leave if I thought this was what the people really wanted. But they don't represent Egyptians. These are paid people—thugs. We are the majority."

As I try to find an exit point from the square, as the shouts of pro-Mubarak mobs continue to sound, Samia takes my arm and leads me to the nearest back alley. Then, she squeezes my arm, tells me to be safe, and returns to the center of the square.

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Bullets, Firebombs and Rocks: The Violent Struggle for Cairo's Tahrir Square

By Vivienne Walt / Cairo Wednesday, Feb. 02, 2011

Pro-government protesters, left, clash with anti-government protesters outside the National Museum near Tahrir square in Cairo early February 3, 2011.

Yannis Behrakis / Reuters

Updated: Feb. 2, 2011, 11:30 p.m. local time

One thing was clear from the moment I stepped out of my hotel into Tahrir Square on Wednesday morning: Egypt's extraordinary 10-day uprising was about to turn ugly.

I saw thousands of people moving through the downtown streets to join up with a crowd of Mubarak loyalists who had been gathering on the Corniche, the boulevard adjacent to the Nile River in Cairo. A panicked Egyptian newspaper reporter called me to say he had fled the center of the square in terror and that violent clashes were imminent. "Please, don't go outside, it is not safe for Westerners," he said.

At the two choke points entering the square — the heart of the uprising — hundreds of pro-Mubarak supporters pushed forward against the makeshift metal cordons that had been thrown up by protesters and soldiers in recent days. Comprised of enraged loyalists of President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP), whose headquarters, which overlook the square, were torched on Jan. 28, the group chanted, "Mubarak must stay!"(See TIME's exclusive pictures of the turmoil in Egypt.)

After returning to my hotel, I stepped onto a balcony overlooking both the Corniche and the entry to Tahrir Square. I had a clear view of the battle's start. Pro- and anti-government protesters faced off across a vacant space about 50 ft. (15 m) wide next to the Egyptian Museum, home to some of the world's most precious antiquities. Shortly before 4 p.m., the pro-Mubarak crowd of a few hundred people surged forward, closing the space. Both sides then ripped up the pavement, grabbing chunks of concrete to hurl at each other, while others ripped pieces of metal off a construction site to use as weapons. Moments later, gunfire exploded near the museum, then quickly subsided. About 50 men on horseback crashed through the remaining cordons, followed by trucks that were driven into the center of the square as a way of breaking up the human barriers formed by the protesters.

As dusk fell, Molotov cocktails were thrown across the square, sparking fires in several places as street battles raged. A military helicopter circled overhead, while men below faced off with knives, bricks, pieces of metal and any other weapons they could find.

Long after dark, the uproar on the streets outside my hotel continued, punctuated by regular gunshots. There would be sporadic gunfire, sometimes heavy, for about two more hours. Flares shot into the dark sky around 7:30 p.m., and fires burned around the square, the result of Molotov cocktails. At one point, plainclothes police officers burst into my room, demanding to know whether I was photographing the mayhem from the balcony. And for the first time since I started covering the protests, I saw emergency vehicles — 10 ambulances — wailing through the streets, carrying the injured away.

Around 8 p.m., about five hours after the fighting began, Abubakr Makhlouf, 33, a high-tech businessman I had met in the square, told me by phone that he and others in the square had discovered a police identification card on one of the pro-Mubarak demonstrators. He said it confirmed their suspicious that the crowd had been sent by the government to provoke violence. Said Makhlouf: "We dragged him out over to the military, who took him out of the square."

Makhlouf also said he was pelted with pieces of concrete while standing "on the front line" but escaped further harm by sneaking around the back until he reached a makeshift doctors' station that was set up on a side street. He said he bled profusely from his head and received three stitches on an eyebrow. But he feared that there might be far worse violence overnight. "There are thousands, thousands, thousands of people inside the square," he said.

Later during the night, Mustafa Yusry, an assistant university professor, called me from the center of Tahrir Square, where he had been protesting all day. He said the fighting was concentrated around the Egyptian Museum on the northern end of the space. "Stones are being thrown, and guys from outside are trying to enter the square," he said. "They have been throwing petrol bombs on our people, and the military is not intervening." He said protesters were running from one entrance to the other to keep the pro-Mubarak crowds from getting in. "There are a lot of injuries," he said.

Shortly after 10 p.m., the military appeared to begin an assault on the area around the Egyptian Museum. I heard heavy rounds of automatic gunfire. Hundreds of pro-Mubarak supporters seemed to be fleeing the square in terror, running through the streets and over the 6 October Bridge, trying to escape the scene. Tracer fire could be seen shooting up into the night sky. Around 11:15 p.m., I saw a barricade of metal siding erected around the site of where the battle had begun in the afternoon; anti- and pro-Mubarak forces were tossing Molotov cocktails back and forth at each other.

All along, the military had been at the square. Indeed, since Jan. 28, about 20 military tanks had cordoned off the area, keeping the peace after the regime's brutal police force was withdrawn from the streets. Just moments before the street battles began on Wednesday, I saw Egyptians with their children clambering atop the tanks to have their picture taken with smiling soldiers. Earlier, demonstrators had stuck lilies and roses in gun barrels, in a sign of how peaceful the protests were.(See TIME's special report "The Middle East in Revolt.")

By Wednesday, the flowers were gone. As the Mubarak loyalists threatened to break into the square, the anti-government demonstrators began to argue among themselves about how to stop the President's supporters from joining the protests and even whether it was wise to do so, given that one of their key demands is for freedom of expression. At one point, while I was still in the square, a demonstrator carrying a small backpack that had been abandoned ran by in panic, fearing it was booby-trapped. A soldier checked it and declared it harmless. As a group of anti-government demonstrators screamed, "Go home! Go home!," to the pro-Mubarak crowds at the square's entry points, a woman shouted to me, "It was Mubarak's aim to divide people."

The President's concession that he would not run for a new term in September may have sapped some of the resolve of the opposition. "With Mubarak's speech on Tuesday night, he addressed the people's needs," said Mohamed Labib, 29, an advertising account manager who had come with his friends to join the protests. "It's a good time for us to change Presidents, but we need some time. He cannot leave immediately." That kind of talk, however, has only fueled anger among other protesters. "He needs to leave now. Or yesterday," said Mohamed Sheaila, 28. "We want no more of him."

At one point, hundreds of protesters formed a human chain around the square, attempting to keep their foes away. "Mubarak is a dictator," Abdel Salaam Hagag, a 31-year-old protester in the cordon, told me. "We won't leave this square until Mubarak has gone. He has sent these people to fight us. He gave them money and drugs." In fact, it was not clear how Wednesday's pro-Mubarak crowds were organized, though it was likely facilitated by the NDP, whose organization extends deep into Egyptian society. (Comment on this story.)

In a phone interview with TIME's Aryn Baker, Mostafa Higazy, an engineering professor at Ain Shams University in Cairo, said Wednesday's appearance of a pro-Mubarak crowd had nothing to do with popular support and everything to do with the Egyptian regime's calling in its thugs. The regime has long relied on baltagy, thugs for hire, to do its bidding, from quashing overly rambunctious election rallies to breaking up peaceful protests that are regularly seen around various government ministries. Egyptians say that in many cases, the baltagy are petty criminals who were released from jail on the condition that they work for the government when needed. Said Higazy, who added that he is not a member of any party: "These men are not supporting Mubarak. They are thugs paid to go and injure and kill people [who are] peacefully practicing their freedom of speech."

Higazy said the Tahrir Square movement would not be deterred: "We will stay until Mubarak goes. He cannot kill 80 million Egyptians. He can hire thugs and brainwash them with money, but he can't kill us all. This is an uprising for the freedom and dignity and justice that he took away from us."

— With reporting by Aryn Baker / Beirut

 

 

See pictures of the clashes on the streets of Cairo.

See how President Obama is approaching the Egyptian crisis.

Egypt crisis: Gunfire heard in central Cairo early Thursday

Vehicles burn in front of Cairo's Egyptian Museum early Thursday as people protesting against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak face off against pro-Mubarak crowds.

 

February 2nd, 2011

09:51 PM ET

Read full coverage of the unrest in Egypt updated continually by CNN reporters worldwide. Send your photos and video to iReport and see CNN in Arabic here. See also this strong roundup of timely, insightful views on the wave of upheaval in the Arab world.

[Update 4:51 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 9:51 p.m. ET Wednesday] CNN's Ivan Watson, reporting on the gunfire that was heard in central Cairo minutes ago, said it took place along the barricaded edges of Tahrir Square, where anti-government protesters stayed through the night, facing off with pro-government people.

CNN personnel are seeing wounded being carried into Tahrir Square from the Egyptian Museum entrance to the square. Ambulances also are coming into the square.

Watson reported that he could hear both automatic gunfire and single shots, and that perhaps six young men - possibly wounded - were carried away. One appeared to have been shot in the abdomen, Watson reported.

[Update 4:33 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 9:33 p.m. ET Wednesday] Heavy gunfire reverberated in central Cairo early Thursday as anti- and pro-government protesters continued to face off at Tahrir Square.

[Update 3:43 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 8:43 p.m. ET Wednesday] Chartered flights evacuating U.S. citizens from Cairo will run again on Thursday, but after that, U.S. officials will assess whether the operation should be continued, the U.S. State Department said.

More than 1,900 U.S. citizens and their family members have left Egypt since an evacuation operation began Monday, according to State Department statement. The State Department has been providing passage for any U.S. citizen wishing to leave Egypt.

[Update 3:28 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 8:28 p.m. ET Wednesday] In the video below, CNN's Ivan Watson reports on the Molotov cocktails that have been thrown Wednesday night and Thursday morning between supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and anti-Mubarak protesters outside Cairo's Egyptian Museum.

Watson reports of a "constant stream of wounded people being brought from these front lines between these two warring camps," and "people being treated along the sidewalks, underneath the street lamps ... by medics in lab coats."

"We've seen teams of opposition protesters who've been hard at work digging up the asphalt here in Tahrir Square to pull out stones to use as ammunition in the ongoing battles that have gone thoughout the day," Watson said early Thursday.

[Update 3:15 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 8:15 p.m. ET Wednesday] Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman has reiterated the government stance that the people have been heard, that they should go home and that they should stop demonstrating.

Protesters should respect the curfew and "enable people to return to their jobs and their daily lives, and to allow schools and universities to reopen," he said in a statement.

People protesting against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak still are in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Some of them have set up sheet-metal barricades outside the Egyptian Museum to hold off some pro-Mubarak crowds, who on Wednesday engaged in bloody clashes with the protesters. The pro-Mubarak people, who dwindled in number Wednesday night into early Thursday morning, still are lobbing Molotov cocktails at the protesters.

The Health Ministry has said three people died and 639 were injured in Wednesday's clashes in Cairo. CNN reporters at the square early Thursday morning say medics have been tending to the wounded in makeshift triage areas, and ambulances were arriving every few minutes. The Egyptian military is at the square and the museum but generally have stood by during the clashes, CNN reporters have said.

[Update 2:54 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 7:54 p.m. ET Wednesday] The video below is a roundup, from CNN's correspondents in Cairo, of what happened during Wednesday's demonstrations and clashes between anti-Mubarak protesters and people supporting the president.

[Update 2:21 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 7:21 p.m. ET Wednesday] At least three fires are burning outside Cairo's Egyptian Museum as people supporting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak throw Molotov cocktails toward anti-Mubarak protesters, CNN's Anderson Cooper reports.

The number in the pro-Mubarak crowd has dwindled, and anti-Mubarak protesters - having slowly advanced behind tall sheets of metal - have controlled the area in front of the museum near Tahrir Square for the past few hours. Anti-Mubarak protesters have been banging on the metal into the night. Some of them are having to dodge Molotov cocktails thrown by the other side, Cooper said.

"Every time one of the Molotov cocktails thrown by the pro-Mubarak forces hits inside a crowd of people in the anti-Mubarak group, you can hear a cheer going up from the pro-Mubarak side," Cooper said.

Sustained automatic weapons fire also could be heard early Thursday around Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of nine days of protests calling for Mubarak's ouster.

[Update 2:15 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 7:15 p.m. ET Wednesday] Ambulances were arriving every few minutes early Thursday at a hospital about a 10-minute drive from Tahrir Square, scene of bloody mayhem in Cairo. Many of the wounded have injuries to the head. Others have stab wounds or were burned by Molotov cocktails.

[Update 1:15 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 6:15 p.m. ET Wednesday] A tree outside Cairo's Egyptian Museum appears to be on fire, and Molotov cocktails still ocassionally are being thrown between groups of protesters, CNN's Hala Gorani reports.

People protesting against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak earlier pushed back pro-Mubarak crowds from the street in front of the museum, near Tahrir Square. Though Molotov cocktails still are being thrown, the two sides don't appear to be in physical contact.

[Update 12:40 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 5:40 p.m. ET Wednesday] In the following video, CNN's Anderson Cooper reports on being attacked as he and colleagues tried to approach supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Wednesday.

[Update 12:16 a.m. Thursday in Cairo, 5:16 p.m. ET Wednesday] People protesting against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak appear to have pushed pro-Mubarak crowds away from Cairo's Egyptian Museum, though the two sides still are clashing, with Molotov cocktails being thrown, CNN's Anderson Cooper and Ivan Watson report. Molotov cocktails have been thrown for hours.

A few vehicles have been set on fire in front of the museum. The military is there, but is not doing much other than putting out fires in front of the museum, Watson said.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of people are still in and around Tahrir Square, Watson reported. Medics are tending to some wounded people, and many protesters are wearing slings or bandages, Watson said.

 [Update 11:58 p.m. Cairo, 4:58 p.m. ET] Three people died and 639 were injured in clashes Wednesday in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the Egyptian health minister told state-run Nile TV.

[Update 11:50 p.m. Cairo, 4:50 p.m. ET] The Cairo bureau chief for Al-Arabiya tells CNN that protesters beat two Al-Arabiya reporters and harassed a third in separate incidents Wednesday. In one incident in Giza, people stole an Al-Arabiya reporter's watch and beat him - he eventually was rescued and taken to a hospital, where he was in an intensive care unit, the bureau chief said. In a second incident, in Cairo's Tahrir Square, a reporter was "beaten like hell" after he identified himself as working for Al-Arabiya, the bureau chief said.

[Update 11:35 p.m. Cairo, 4:35 p.m. ET] Late Wednesday, anti-Mubarak protesters near the Egyptian Museum were appearing to be gaining more ground in their clashes with the president's supporters, CNN's Anderson Cooper reported. It remained unclear whether such confrontations were being repeated elsewhere.

A state-run Nile TV flashed a warning ordering people to adhere to a government-imposed curfew and clear out of Tahrir Square, but a crowd - though a less intense one - remained in the downtown plaza into the night.

In the following video, CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports that although the number of protesters outside Cairo's Egyptian Museum and Tahrir Square was decreasing late Wednesday, people still were tossing petrol bombs.

[Update 11:19 p.m. Cairo, 4:19 p.m. ET] Via Twitter, CNN's Nic Robertson reported: "Alexandria protesters say they plan big event on Friday, describe as the 'day of farewell to #Mubarak #egypt #jan25"

Robertson also tweeted that an Alexandria protest organizer said: "'This is the day that we hope Egypt can be finally free of #Mubarak, his dynasty & his thugs."

[Update 11:10 p.m. Cairo, 4:10 p.m. ET] The United States doesn't know the identity of "thugs" who attacked anti-government protesters Wednesday in Egypt, but others have identified them as "supporters of the government," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters.

"This was clearly an attempt at intimidating the protesters," Crowley said.

[Update 10:55 p.m. Cairo, 3:55 p.m. ET] Leaders from the United Nations, the United Kingdom and Germany have joined a chorus of condemnation of Wednesday's eruption of violence in Cairo.

[Update 10:27 p.m. Cairo, 3:27 p.m. ET] A journalist captured these images of people throwing rocks, brandishing knives and tending to injured people during protests in central Cairo, near Tahrir Square, on Wednesday:

[Update 10:07 p.m. Cairo, 3:06 p.m. ET] Some of the protesters on the streets of Cairo are now targeting journalists. A Belgian reporter on Wednesday was arrested, beaten and accused of being a spy by men in plain clothes in the central Cairo neighborhood of Choubra, and in Tahrir Square, journalists from the BBC, Al-Arabiya, ABC News and CNN - including CNN's Anderson Cooper and Hala Gorani - also were attacked.

Cooper said he was hit on the head by a protester. Gorani said she slammed against some gates and threatened after getting caught in a stampede of protesters and counter-protesters riding on camels and horses Wednesday morning.

[Update 9:45 p.m. Cairo, 2:45 p.m. ET] Egypt's health minister said 611 people were injured in clashes in Cairo's Tahrir square Wednesday, state-run television reported.

Earlier today, Ministry of Health officials told state TV that at least one member of the Egyptian security forces was and more than 400 people were wounded in clashes between pro- and anti-government demonstrators in Cairo. Most injuries were head wounds from thrown rocks, Egyptian Health Minister Ahmed Sameh Fareed said.

[Update 9:30 p.m. Cairo, 2:30 p.m. ET] A spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry says demonstrations by supporters of the Mubarak government are spontaneous and not orchestrated by the government. He also said the men on horseback and camels who rode into Tahrir Square earlier Wednesday were workers from the Pyramids whose business has been hurt by the unrest.

[Update 9:24 p.m. Cairo, 2:24 p.m. ET] CORRECTION:The blog entry below posted at 9:24 p.m. Cairo time incorrectly quoted a comment made by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs Wednesday regarding violence between anti-government protesters and government supporters in Egypt. Gibbs said, "And it is - it is our hope that what we saw today we won't see tomorrow or Friday or into the weekend. Obviously, this is - this is going to take - this is not all going to be wrapped up in a matter of hours. It's going to take some time."

The violence witnessed Wednesday between anti-government protesters and government supporters in Egypt "won't end tomorrow, or Friday, or by the weekend," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, adding: "This is not all going to be wrapped up in a matter of hours. It's going to take some time."

[Update 9:18 p.m. Cairo, 2:18 p.m. ET] CNN's Anderson Cooper describes how demonstrators are arming themselves as he watches gasoline bombs being lobbed from a rooftop.

[Update 9:05 p.m. Cairo, 2:05 p.m. ET] The State Department reported Wednesday that one flight for U.S. citizens was confirmed to have left Egypt. The department advises citizens who are having difficulty reaching the airport to stay indoors until demonstrations subside and make their way to the airport Thursday after curfew ends.

[Update 8:54 p.m. Cairo, 1:54 p.m. ET] Via Twitter, CNN's Nic Robertson reported: "This morning, Alexandria seemed on verge of going back to normal but early calm evaporated when aggressive pro-Mubarak groups showed up. ... Seeing more vigilante checkpoints around Alexandria. Protesters keen to avoid confrontation with pro-Mubarak groups."

[Update 8:31 p.m. Cairo, 1:31 p.m. ET] The time for a political transition in Egypt "is now" because the Egyptian people "need to see change," and a "meaningful transition must include opposition voices and parties being involved in this process as we move toward free and fair elections," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday.

If the Egyptian government is instigating any of the violence occurring on the streets of Cairo, "it should stop immediately," Gibbs said.

A spokesman for Egypt's Foreign Ministry called on international leaders to butt out of the country's internal strife, telling CNN, "We know what is in the best interest of our society." Hossam Zaki said the clashes between pro- and anti-government demonstrators in Cairo reflect "the very raw and high emotions" of the Egyptian people, and "what is required now is for people to calm down."

[Update 8:17 p.m. Cairo, 1:17 p.m. ET] Peaceful protests have been taking place Wednesday in other neighborhoods of Cairo - Mohandessin, Heliopolis and Corniche - and the rural cities of El-Minya and El-Mahalla, CNN's Ben Wedeman reported. Most of the demonstrators in those places appear to be women, children, scholars and Coptic priests, he reported.

[Update 8:01 p.m. Cairo, 1:01 p.m. ET] More than 400 people have been wounded in clashes between pro- and anti-government demonstrators in Cairo, Egyptian Health Minister Ahmed Sameh Fareed told state television Wednesday. Most injuries were head wounds from thrown rocks, he said.

[Update 7:47 p.m. Cairo, 12:47 p.m. ET] At least one member of the Egyptian security forces was killed Wednesday in clashes in and around Cairo's Tahrir Square, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Abdel Rahman Shaheen, said on state television.

[Update 7:31 p.m. Cairo, 12:31 p.m. ET] CNN iReporter Hunter Moore, 26, is an American teacher in Cairo who is certified in CPR and first aid, and has been working with doctors and other volunteers to provide medical aid to injured protesters outside Tahrir Square. He says they are only treating the anti-government protesters; the pro-Mubarak protesters are getting so badly injured that they're being sent directly to the army for treatment. "All the medics and the doctors, they just don't want to see people killing one another," he said. He shot these photos Friday and earlier this week.

[Update 7 p.m. Cairo, noon ET] The army is not deliberately allowing the violence to continue, Egypt's finance minister says, it's been ordered not to hurt anyone.

[Update 6:55 p.m. Cairo, 11:55 a.m. ET] Numerous gasoline bombs were hurled on a street alongside Tahrir Square, starting small fires that were put out by military water cannon:

 

[Update 6:15 p.m. Cairo, 11:15 a.m. ET] A CNN journalist in Alexandria said pro-Mubarak demonstrators in Sidi Jaber Square left after a rally near the railway station, leaving only anti-Mubarak demonstrators still camping there. Journalists saw a small pro-Mubarak crowd demonstrating near Saad Zaghloul plaza with banners that said, "Yes, yes Mubarak" and "Where is the media to hear our voice?"

[Update 6:03 p.m. Cairo, 11:03 a.m. ET] CNN iReporter farahk8 sent in photos from among the Tahrir Square crowd during Tuesday's demonstrations. See them here.

[Update 5:56 p.m. Cairo, 10:56 a.m. ET] Video of the chaos in Tahrir Square from street level: 

 

[Update 5:50 p.m. Cairo, 10:50 p.m. ET] CNN's Ivan Watson says opposition demonstrators inside Tahrir Square are surrounded by pro-Mubarak groups and fear a bloodbath after nightfall.

 CNN's Ben Wedeman tweeted: "The only way out of Tahrir is thru army lines to the right of the mosque next to the Mogamaa." (The Mogamaa is a building that houses the Interior Ministry.) "People in Tahrir square begging Obama to intervene. They are terrified a bloodbath is about to occur."

[Update 5:35 p.m. Cairo, 10:35 a.m. ET] As darkness falls on Cairo, some faithful Muslims fall to their knees for evening prayers. Small fires from gasoline bombs, also known as Molotov cocktails, are quickly extinguished near the Egyptian Museum.

[Update 5:32 p.m. Cairo, 10:32 a.m. ET] CNN's Ben Wedeman, who was roughed up near Tahrir Square, tweeted: "I was not injured. Harassed? Yes. Appears the pro-government "demonstrators" have been given instructions to target press." 

[Update 5:25 p.m. Cairo, 10:25 a.m. ET] CNN's Ivan Watson describes clashes taking place in front of the Egyptian Museum, home of Egypt's most precious antiquities, and how the military has been staying on the sidelines. Meanwhile, demonstrators dig up bricks from a construction site to use as weapons.

[Update 5:16 p.m. Cairo, 10:16 a.m. ET] White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told CNN, "We continue to watch the events very closely, and it underscores that the transition needs to begin now." Pressed on whether the administration is pulling further away from President Hosni Mubarak, Gibbs would only say that President Obama and other officials have made clear in recent days there needs to be "real change" in Egypt.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley tweeted: "We are concerned about detentions and attacks on news media in #Egypt. The civil society that Egypt wants to build includes a free press." 

[Update 5:05 p.m. Cairo, 10:05 a.m. ET] Here is a video summary of the day's events in Egypt so far.

[Update 4:59 p.m. Cairo, 9:59 a.m. ET] CNN iReporter Marianamin is an American living in a suburb an hour north of Cairo. She says her friends and neighbors "don't know who they want in, but they just know they want Mubarak out. ... Their thinking is he had 30 years to make changes. Even though he's done a lot of good for business ... for a lot of average Egyptians, he's just let them down." See marianamin's photo and description of her experience.

[Update 4:50 p.m. Cairo, 9:50 p.m.] Anderson Cooper witnessed a huge crowd of Mubarak supporters surge across a no-man's land dividing them from the anti-Mubarak crowd and overturn a military vehicle on the street as a huge roar went up. A large cloud of smoke arose at the east entrance to Tahrir Square, Anderson said.

[Update 4:38 p.m. Cairo, 9:38 a.m. ET] Tear gas was fired near the entrance to Cairo's Tahrir Square on Wednesday, according to CNN journalists who are there.

According to the latest information obtained by the United States, the Egyptian government wants to use police to quell the demonstrations in the capital, a senior U.S. official said. "That may be why you do not see the Army reacting," the official said.

The source also said that, at this point, the violence is largely limited to central Cairo and has not spread to other parts of the country. The official said the major issue for the United States is to try to achieve some measure of stability in Egypt. 

[Update 4:30 p.m. Cairo, 9:30 a.m. ET] Here is some of the top video from the past hour in Egypt. Check back each hour for the latest video.

CNN's Ivan Watson describes the rapidly changing scene:

Men on horseback charge into Tahrir Square:

Protesters bloodied in clashes:

Crowd turns violent

CNN's Ben Wedeman sees "utter chaos":

[Update 4:23 p.m. Cairo, 9:23 a.m. ET] Some members of the Egyptian Army were believed to be entering Tahrir Square. Military vehicles were separating pro- and anti-Mubarak demonstrators, and several gasoline bombs had been tossed, CNN's Anderson Cooper said.

 The sound of gunfire was heard in Tahrir Square, CNN's Fred Pleitgen said on Twitter. The square has been surrounded by pro-Mubarak demonstrators who have blocked in anti-government demonstrators and others at the site, CNN's Ben Wedeman said.

[Update 3:58 p.m. Cairo, 8:58 a.m. ET] The United States believes that the Egyptian police are returning to the streets in Cairo and will be the first responders to the violence that has erupted, rather than the Egyptian army, a senior U.S. official with direct knowledge of the unfolding situation in Egypt told CNN Wednesday. "We are seeing preliminary indications the police are coming back in," the official said, stressing that the situation remains highly volatile and uncertain.

[Update 3:51 p.m. Cairo, 8:51 a.m. ET] Men with rocks in their hands lined a metal wall and pounded out a rhythm. CNN's Ivan Watson said this appeared to be a show of support for rock-throwers on the front lines as pro- and anti-Mubarak sides faced off. Injured men were carried to a makeshift clinic on Tahrir Square.

CNN's Ben Wedeman said he overheard a panicked army officer say the situation was out of control and there was nothing the army could do to restore order.

[Update 3:42 p.m. Cairo, 8:42 a.m. ET] CNN's Anderson Cooper said he and his production crew were attacked by pro-Mubarak demonstrators earlier Wednesday. The attackers pushed and shoved the CNN crew and punched them in the head, he said, but no one was seriously hurt. 

 

 

[Update 3:36 p.m. Cairo, 8:36 a.m. ET] A crew of men were seen on video using tools to break up pavement near Tahrir Square, while others carried loads of rocks, presumably to be thrown at the opposing demonstrators. It wasn't known which side they supported.

[Update 3:17 p.m. Cairo, 8:17 a.m. ET] As hundreds of men lined up to kneel and pray in the street, a crowd less than 100 feet away could be seen surrounding and beating a man.

[Update 2:58 p.m. Cairo, 7:58 a.m. ET] Men on horseback and camels charged into the crowd at Cairo's Tahrir Square, some of them lashing people on the ground with whips. Several were pulled off their animals and beaten, and the others retreated. CNN's Ivan Watson said the horseback riders came from the pro-Mubarak side of the demonstration.

[Update 2:49 p.m. Cairo, 7:49 a.m. ET] The stone-throwing and fighting at Tahrir Square have suddenly stopped and people are hugging and chanting "We are one," CNN's Ivan Watson reports from his vantage point.

[Update 2:46 p.m. Cairo, 7:46 a.m. ET] CNN's Amir Ahmed said he has seen people with blood flowing from their heads after being injured by rocks. The clashes appear to be spreading to streets near the square, he said.

[Update 2:32 p.m. Cairo, 7:32 ET] Demonstrators for and against President Hosni Mubarak are throwing rocks at each other on Tahrir Square, CNN's Ben Wedeman reports. Police are absent from the square and military personnel are hanging back, he says.

[Update 2:19 p.m. Cairo, 7:19 a.m. ET] Competing rallies were being held Wednesday in Alexandria, Egypt, with several thousand people protesting against President Hosni Mubarak and a few hundred others supporting him, CNN Correspondent Nic Robertson reported.

In Cairo, Mubarak supporters broke through a barricade that had separated them from anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square. The military surrounded the square but there was nothing between the two sides to keep them apart.

[Update 12:37 p.m. Wednesday in Cairo, 5:37 a.m. ET Wednesday]The U.S. State Department "ordered departure" evacuation starts Wednesday with chartered planes planned to start flying out nonemergency personnel, their relatives and any American citizens who wish to evacuate.

Internet access is back in at least parts of Egypt, CNN has confirmed

[Update 11:51 a.m. Wednesday in Cairo, 4:51 a.m. ET Wednesday] The Egyptian defense ministry on Wednesday urged the youth to go back home, saying "your message is received ... your demands became known."

"And we are here and awake to protect the country for you," a spokesman for the ministry said in a television broadcast. "Not by power but by the love to Egypt ... it is time to go back to normal life."

[Update 11:28 a.m. Wednesday in Cairo, 4:28 a.m. ET Wednesday] Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said Wednesday he will not run for president nor hand over power to his son once his term ends in 2013. "No extension, no inheritance," he told parliament.

In recent weeks, thousands have taken to the streets in Yemen demanding the the kind of change that Egypt wants. Saleh has been in office for 32 years.  

[Update 9:19 a.m. Wednesday in Cairo, 2:19 a.m. ET Wednesday] Shortly after sunrise Wednesday, Cairo's Tahrir Square was already packed with demonstrators - including families staying in tents with children.

Some demonstrators chanted in favor of Mubarak early Wednesday, calling the press "traitors" and "agents."

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the government would provide an emergency flight  for Australians affected by the unrest in Egypt. The flight will depart Cairo on Wednesday, according to a statement from her
office.

British carrier BMI says it has organized an extra flight to help British nationals get back to the United Kingdom from Egypt.

The  British Foreign Office is sending a charter flight to Cairo on Wednesday to fly back British citizens with no other way to get  home, the office said.

Egypt's national airline, EgyptAir, canceled flights until 10 a.m. Wednesday (3 a.m. ET), according to state television.

Greece has sent  military aircraft to evacuate 215 Greeks from Egypt,  the official Athens News Agency said.

‘Against the Government’

Egyptian rapper Ramy Donjewan’s song “Against the Government” is an appropriate music break today as Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, his allies in the West, and Egyptian state TV–in the face of mass protest–still pretend Egypt is a stable country.

 Here’s the lyrics, graciously translated by Sophie Azeb:

Against the government, against the thugs and injustice

Against the government, against the government’s rule

Against the government and the long rope of injustice

Against the government, and I have a thousand guides…

Your blood is being spilled

Killing you is encouraged

Your home is a mess

Your religion is targeted

Your voice they render silent

And your property is consumed

They just killed your brother

And the rest of the people are tortured

If I live I will be insignificant

Were we to die, we are worthless

When you speak you become a victim

You are dealt with brutally

By policy thugs

Little thugs

A hostile government

Wants to ravage you and me

The oppressor and the oppressed

The ruled and the sentenced

For whom? I will complain but who will I blame?

I will blame the people who are beaten with the dirtiest boots and remain silent

Otherwise, a government whose hearts have died…

Down down with the government and the system

Down down with the ruler’s law

Down down with the cowards and the cheaters

Down with the “good” (?governance?)

Against the government, against the thugs and injustice

Against the government, against the government’s rule

Against the government and the cheaters and cowards

Against the government and against accepting insults

(?All moments you are workers who are humiliated?)

You have no value, no price, your leaders already sold you

They make you a fool, and take you from the back … (??)

In the embrace of enemies they simply throw you

They are catching you with the hands that hurt you

Around you there are 1000 snakes that keep biting you

No matter if you feel the pain there is no one who intends on hearing you

So help yourself out and tell me, what stops you?

He tells you if someone pushed you, keep waiting

He catches you and hits you and it’s been 30 years of hitting

He keeps cleaning his teeth and you’re silent, your mouth is sewn shut

And with his sword he splits you, you’re not dead, but your mind is

Enough sleeping and dying and silence

If you have blood plumping, cheer hard and loud

I am against the government because I have these values

Against the government: I will not accept being defeated.