Turmoil in the Middle East
GO HERE TO VIEW VIDEO REPORT
The Op-Ed columnists Nicholas D. Kristof, in Cairo, and Thomas L. Friedman, in Amman, on the growing unrest across the Middle East.
>via: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/02/04/opinion/1248069613437/turmoil-in-th...
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Egypt: Shooting the messenger
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By Jane Dutton in on February 5th, 2011.
Evacuated from central Cairo by the military, and driven to a 5-star hotel with my bags on top of an army tank, was the climax to an extraordinary and surreal fortnight.
It started back in Doha when I was stopped from getting onto two planes: visa issues that played out all the way to the immigration office in Egypt.
I was eventually given an entry stamp with a warning not to turn up again with a blank page in my passport.
I’m glad I made it. I was witness to a week that will change Egypt forever.
Friday’s Day of Rage erupts right outside Al Jazeera’s office window. From peace to mayhem in minutes.
The sky is white with tear gas as riot police fire metal canisters - supplied and made by the US - indiscriminately into the anti-government demonstration.
The air so pungent our eyes water in the office some six floors up, and we cough through the lives. I watch plain-clothes policemen on their mopeds driving into the crowds, lashing at people with their clubs.
We go out to film a piece to camera ... down into the throbbing, unpredictable crowd.
It resembles a scene from Vietnam: a helicopter hovers above, my feet crunch over debris and broken glass strewn across the streets, bloodied protestors stagger around in a daze, there are random outbursts of gunfire.
I’m shown bullets - I am told they are live rounds.
Everyone wants to tell their story and spread their message. "Mubarak must go! We hate Mubarak!".
I can't sleep and neither does Egypt.
But by Saturday morning, an eerie calm on the streets, and shock as people digest what has happened.
The ruling party headquarters is still burning after being torched overnight. Something unimaginable a week ago. This has been a police state, run under emergency law for 30 years.
We report seeing more than 100 corpses in morgues across three cities. And witness a body being carried past our office window.
Then something strange happens. The police vanish from the streets. And there is anarchy.
Armed gangs go from house to house, looting and vigilante attacks spread.
Police stations are set on fire and then … pictures emerge of a raid on the antiquities museum – ancient artifacts, hundreds of years old, destroyed.
A wealthy middle-aged woman tells me she is on nightly duty with her neighbours, armed with anything from their kitchens that resembles a weapon, to protect their properties.
Everyone believes the police and government thugs are behind the widespread looting.
The army replace the police - tanks and roadblocks all over downtown Cairo.
But despite this show of force, the relationship with the people remains a friendly one, the soldiers maintaining a respectful distance.
On Wednesday, pro-Mubarak supporters finally emerge.
They tell us many of them have been paid up to $80 to turn up. And suddenly I’m watching an ancient style battle unfold.
Men on camels and horseback charge into the crowd made up of young and old, women and children, beating them with whips. Egyptian turns on Egyptian.
The anti-government demonstrators grab whatever they can to protect themselves from the Molotov cocktails and rocks thrown at them.
I commented on the situation non-stop for 10 hours. I was riveted.
Dawn breaks and the battle is still under way with the anti-government camp reclaiming their positions.
They’ve sealed off Tahrir Square by putting metal sheeting around the area. And handed over pro-government supporters to the army - many of them carrying police IDs.
Everyday we play cat and mouse with the government: Al Jazeera Arabic is closed down, our offices raided and then trashed, six journalists arrested (24 in total), security warn us we'd be shot if we carried on filming from the hotel and finally our equipment taken.
We don’t name our correspondents and never stop reporting from the heart of the action.
Most of my broadcasts are from the square or our hotel balcony. Made even more challenging with no internet after the government pulled the plug.
As I write this, I hear that a journalist has been shot dead by sniper fire while reporting from his office window. I only left 12 hours ago.
Journalists are now clearly being targeted - two of ours are taken out of their taxi and beaten by pro-government thugs.
We had to evacuate our correspondent in Alexandria, while gangs were looking for her threatening to kill her.
People walk past our hotel holding 'Kill Al Jazeera' banners. And then word that our hotel is surrounded.
A rock thrown at one of the windows all but empties the Hilton.
Eventually we get a call that the military will be evacuating about 20 of us. We pile into two tanks and are driven to a hotel out of the battle zone.
The fighting is still going on, the president seemingly oblivious to the message to leave now.
But whatever the outcome of this rage, Egypt will never be the same.
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Protester Shot And Killed In Alexandria, Egypt (GRAPHIC VIDEO)
First Posted: 02/ 5/11 05:47 PM Updated: 02/ 5/11 06:10 PM
Graphic footage has surfaced of what appears to be a protester shot in the streets of Alexandria, Egypt by secret police. The birds-eye view video shows seemingly peaceful activity until about 1:30, when what looks to be a tire on fire falls to the ground. A few moments later, an individual approaches what looks to be police forces and opens his jacket, facing them. The forces then shoot the protester, who collapses instantly. An English-language description of the video on YouTube says, "Most likely killed on Friday the 28th of January in the Manshya District in Alexandria. Video by Moustafa Mahmoud."
WATCH (Warning: Explicit Content):
Clashes in Cairo
``You Will Be Lynched,''
Egyptian Policeman Tells Reporters: First Person
Reporter Maram Mazen. Source: Bloomberg
Having a policeman say he wanted to kill me wasn’t my most frightening moment yesterday in Cairo. That came when police and civilians smashed our car windows -- with the five of us inside it -- jumped up and down on the roof, spat on us, pulled my hair, beat my friends and dragged us into a police van.
The five of us were lucky: We emerged from our confrontation with President Hosni Mubarak’s police and operatives alive and relatively healthy. Violence over the past 11 days, much of it in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, has killed as many as 300 people in Egypt, according to the United Nations.
But it was a day I never dreamed could occur in my native city. It happened not because I was a reporter, a Sudan-based contract journalist for Bloomberg News returning to Cairo for vacation. The friends giving me a ride downtown were just trying to take food and first-aid supplies to those injured the previous night in clashes with pro-Mubarak protesters.
We got out of the car when we arrived at about 11:30 a.m. in Talaat Harb square near Tahrir, our planned transfer point for the medical supplies. We felt somewhat safe, as one of the demonstrators had told us it was a secure entrance. When I left the night before, it was controlled by anti-Mubarak protesters.
In less than a minute, a mob of about 40 civilian men surrounded our car, banging on the vehicle and grabbing our bags. They looted 1500 Egyptian pounds ($256) worth of medical supplies and 800 pounds worth of food and drinks, uninterested in our explanation of whom it was for.
Smashed Window
I held onto my backpack, with my Egyptian ID card, as a group of 20 men tried to tear it from me. We managed to get back into the car and sped toward downtown. As we were driving away, one of the mob smashed a side window with a metal rod.
Then we saw an army tank. It was the army that permitted the massive march on Feb. 1 by promising not to fire on demonstrators. And it was the army that told people to return home the next day.
We pleaded with the soldiers on the tank to protect us: One plainclothes man had followed us in a car from Talaat Harb square, accompanied by others on foot. The soldiers did nothing and we drove quickly on.
Our next potential saviors appeared: a group of uniformed policemen, dressed in winter black pullovers. We approached them in the car, asking for protection. Then the man who followed us from Talaat Harb arrived and accused our driver, my friend Mahmoud, of running over seven people as we left the square. It wasn’t true.
Traitor Accusations
A policeman took away the car key, and about 50 men in plainclothes and five policemen started pounding on our car. They asked our nationality -- we were all Egyptians -- and accused us of being Palestinians, Americans and Iranians. And, they said, traitors to Egypt.
For about 30 minutes, though it seemed more like an hour, the crowd grew, reaching between 100 and 200. They smashed the back windshield, shattering glass all over the car and in our clothing. Men got onto the roof of the car, jumping and yelling. We tried to hold it up with our hands so it wouldn’t fall on us.
Then uniformed policemen took our ID cards and searched the car, our bags and our pockets. They took both my mobile phones and Mahmoud’s Blackberry, promising to give them back.
Finger Across Neck
A policeman looked me in the eye and said: “You will be lynched today,” running his finger across his neck. Others spat on us. They hit the two men in our group in the face through the broken windows, scratching Mahmoud and punching my other male friend. Someone pulled my hair from the back.
An army officer was standing right next to the car as well. Several of us screamed during the hail of blows and grabbed his hand, asking for protection. He just looked at us and told us not to be afraid.
Two soldiers were also present, one of them standing on the trunk of our car. He fired two gunshots in the air in what seemed to be an attempt to disperse the crowd. When it proved futile, he did nothing.
The attack appeared to be orchestrated between the plainclothes men and the uniformed police. At times the police forces would yell “Cordon,” and the mob would hold hands and form a circle around the car. When they were told to sit on the ground, they again obeyed.
Then a police van arrived and the officers told us to get out of our car and enter the van one by one. At the same time, though, the non-uniformed men were crying, “If you leave your car, we will kill you.” We screamed and asked the army soldiers to open a safe passage; a soldier said he would protect us.
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Bloomberg's Mazen Recalls Attack by Police in Cairo
Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg News reporter Maram Mazen talks about her ordeal yesterday in Cairo when she and four of her friends were confronted by Egyptian police and civilians as they tried to deliver food and medical supplies to those injured in clashes with pro-Mubarak protesters. Mazen talks with Mark Crumpton on Bloomberg Television's "Bottom Line." (Source: Bloomberg)
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Dragged Into Van
The van pulled up right next to the car. A policeman opened our car door and dragged us one by one into the van as people watched down from their apartment windows, in shock.
Inside the van, three policemen armed with rifles were sitting at the back. The policeman who appeared to be the leader sat by us. “Look down, look down,” he yelled. “We haven’t slept since Friday because of you.”
They searched our bags again and claimed in phone conversations with their superiors that we were carrying “leaflets,” a very dangerous accusation in Egypt. They later acknowledged they had found nothing.
As we drove, I saw about 20 foreigners sitting on the pavement next to one of the roadblocks, surrounded by policemen and army tanks. It wasn’t clear whether they were journalists. Inside, I could see the marks of the attack: Mahmoud’s face was scratched and my other friend’s two teeth appeared to be broken.
Cairo Vacation
The van stopped at the Abdeen police station downtown. A plainclothes policeman sitting in front asked us each our names, jobs, age and addresses. When I said I was a journalist, I was asked only whom I worked for. I told him, adding that I had come to Cairo for a holiday.
Then the police offered us water and tea, in the van. One asked why we were in Tahrir Square. We explained, and he said good citizens like us should stay at home and be safe, away from the troubles.
“You have no idea,” he said. “We arrested Israelis, Americans, Palestinians, Iranians and even Pakistanis in Tahrir. What were they doing in Tahrir? They want to destroy Egypt.”
“We were told you were a group of Palestinians. We were told we would arrive at the car to probably find you dead,” he said, according to my memory of his comments.
Not All Policemen
We asked who the people who attacked us were and he said they were just Egyptians fed up with the demonstrations. “We don’t want you to think that all policemen are bad,” he said. “They were banging on the car just to pretend they are also angry with you, or else these people would have killed the policemen themselves.”
“Now you should go home,” he continued. “Go on Facebook and tell your friends the streets are not safe, and that they shouldn’t come to Tahrir. You were lucky to get out of there alive.”
They returned our bags, empty for the most part. They advised us to get new ID cards and to forget about our phones. And they said Mahmoud’s car, a 2010 Champagne Kia Cerato that cost 120,000 pounds ($20,488), was completely destroyed after we left -- even though as we drove away policemen still surrounded the car.
After a long chat, the police escorted us to the edge of downtown, where a friend’s relative met us with a car and took us back to our homes. It was 4:30 p.m. Our ordeal had lasted five hours.
To contact the reporter on this story: Maram Mazen in Cairo at mmazen@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Riad Hamade in Dubai atrhamade@bloomberg.net
>via: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-04/-you-will-be-lynched-egyptian-police...
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At 1:15 am Cairo time on Saturday morning I spoke to my friend Ghassen. His friend was killed at Tahrir Square during the 24 hours of horrific violence we all saw on Feb 1st and 2nd. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time someone has been able to put a name and back-story to a person killed by the regime during this unfolding revolution. English is not Ghassen’s first language so I have taken the liberty of creating complete sentences from our fragmented conversation, partially in Arabic, to enable easy reading. I have no way to confirm the details of this death, but I know Ghassen revealed his friend’s name after some hesitation. (With confirmed reports I have from friends now that the regime is “trolling” the internet, I am also changing his name. Ghassen is not his real name)
Me: How are you feeling?
G: I am OK but my country NOT OK, Parvez…I hope people are getting this message about Mubarak Dictator. Mubarak is corrupt and his people are corrupt. I am sad.
Me: Did you go to Tahrir today as well like other days?
G: Yes I did. Of course yaani. Today started after salat elgom3a [Friday prayers]. It was very powerful. Even the sheikh was crying when he were praying. I prayed too. But I am Muslim, but my Islam are free. Many of my friends are Coptic. They not pray but they protect us.
Me: Every time the praying times end, people seem to feel new energy and start chanting again, right?
G: Yes. Parvez, 2 million people say this word in Arabic. ارحـــــــل
Me: Erhal, Leave?
G: Yes. I felt so strong when I pray there today. But also very sad because I remember how friends I lost through this revolution.
Me: Wait! One of your friends died?
G: Yes one of my friends-he is doctor. He was in Tahrir. He was treated patients. His name Mahmoud. People from Mubarak system going to our place, where we standing with horses and gamal [camels]..holding weapons…they hit him on his head many times. He died. But we are peaceful revolution. We did not have any weapons. And through that night also they came from Mubarak system…they want to put us out of Square Tahrir…The fuckin bad system. We lost this night I think 10 people and there were 1000 patients, who hurt. It was night of February 2nd. Night was Magzara. It was massacre night. I donn know if u understand me or not maybe have bad english
Me: I understand. Tell me more about Mahmoud please. It is also important to know his full name because he is already gone, what can they do to him anymore. No one has been able to name people who died you know. Did you go to his funeral? I know this is difficult to talk about. Please forgive me. But it is important.
Me: Are you there? Silence…Can you please tell me his full name…this is important Habibi…
G: His name Mahmoud Maher. I was not there at the moment he killed. I was on my way home. My friends called me to tell. Yes I went to his funeral. It is at Masjed Rabba. It was Mubarak people of course that kill him. They are paid a lot of money to kill us that day.
Me: How are you feeling about all this.
G: I am shock Parvez. I just wake up and go Tahrir and I am shock.
Me: You still live near Heliopolis? Near Mubarak palace?
G: Yes I live in Nozha. You know Masr el Gadida. Near Hosni Mubarak home.Masr el gadida. Why you asking this question?
Me: Because cameras have been so focused on Tahrir. We have seen no images from that area really. That is all, trust me…
G: OK..yes it is calm place. People have good life so you can see nice car. Calm place, not crowded. No police but you know Mubarak live there so they must save by a lot of Egyptian armys.
Me: Its far from Tahrir. How do you get to downtown everyday?
G: I take taxi. There are taxi when no curfew is happening. I think Parvez we doing the right thing. The Mubarak system are loses. Mubarak should leave now and then in six months we move our system to another in calm way.
Me: Do u think people will give up fighting? Feel exhausted? Tired?
G: Nooooo! There is a lack of confidence in the system lost its legitimacy and Hosni…we have to save our requests, if Mubrak will do that or not we dont know yet
Me: How does your heart feel my friend?
G: I feel Square Tahrer is here, if he lie or something happen wrong we will going there again …but for now feel we have to start work
Me: Wait so you are saying you want to go back to work and not protest?
G: No .... Mubarak know our requests ....and he get the lesson…if he lie or bad thing happen we will back again to square…dont know yet really am so confused…mubarak he lost his legitimacy from 25-1…why he donn leave egypt
why he still…no one support him…no one like him…no one want him…
people talk here he want to save his money till going out …but I do want to go to work…I go to work and then I join people in Tahrir…tomorrow…
Me: I know. My other friends say they also want to go back to work but also don’t know if they should leave Tahrir to go back to work. Listen how did Tahrir feel like today?
G: Tahrir? Heart of Egypt. Really, Heart of Egypt.
Me: That is true. You said it in three words my friend ;-)
G: No, it true…Lawyers of Egypt and Dr. workers, professors, judges, Muslims and Christians adults and children…Imagine 2 million people say leave Mubarak at one voice…2 million voice Parvez …I have lived one year in one week…No…I feel I am born again…I donn know why media from all the world donn send our voice
Me: No they are. They are sending everyone’s voice. You have no idea how much they are sending the voice.
G: Anyhow it is late. I am so tired. I will go to work and will back after work to square…My work in Zamalk near Tahrer square…and Parvez so much happening in rest of country too—even women were raped in villages on that night…and from Alex there is 2 million going out too…in Aswan there's like 200000
Me: Go to sleep now…Yalla…shukran Habibi…stay safe ;-))
G: Yes. I go now. Please send me interview when they publish on my email. I want to see and show my friends.
Me: Promise.