Egyptian Unrest News Round-Up:
Live Reports: BBC; NYT; Reuters; CNN; Al Jazeera; Mother Jones.
What You Need To Know:
- Protests continue for fifth straight day (yesterday), with military standing down, joining in. Police seen retreating in some places; widespread reports of looting (“near-anarchy,” says WaPo), residents setting up barricades, neighborhood watches, army publishes looting hotline.
- Curfew once again ignored; Interior Ministry building stormed by protesters, police fire live rounds, 5 dead; death toll so far according to Al Jazeera: Cairo 25; Suez 38; Alexandria 36; mummies destroyed at Egyptian Museum, human chain formed to prevent further looting (photo: afp, via):
- Egypt’s intelligence chief Omar Suleiman sworn in as first Vice President since Mubarak took office. Who is he? See Also: Reuters Factbox.
- Former Air Force commander Ahmed Shafiq named new Prime Minister (factbox); US: “The Egyptian gov’t can’t reshuffle the deck and then stand pat”; ElBaradei on AJE calls on Mubarak to step down, says VP, PM appointments are “useless.”
- BBC: Mubarak’s son and his family have fled to London; other high-profile Egyptians expected to follow.
- Mobile, BlackBerry service partially restored; unconfirmed Twitter reports that Internet service is back up in some places.
Further Reading:
- Interactive Map: Locating the protests in Cairo; photos from today’s demonstrations; firsthand accounts of Egyptian life amid the turmoil.
- Paul Krugman: “I don’t know anything.” Who does? Here’s a list.
[tweet @mayousef via @andrewbaron.]
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UPDATE: CNN’s Ben Wedeman: Quietest Cairo night in five days, biggest problem now is looting; militias forming, panic spreading; report: secret police involved in looting. Buildings on fire: Ruling party HQ, Supreme Council of Journalism building, Bureau of Internal Revenue. Egyptians using dialup, fax, ham radio to skirt digital blackout; anti-government rallies reported in Jordan, Algeria, Sudan. Analysis: Foreign Policy: “Pharaoh’s End”; Egypt’s military in a quandary; Video Below: Military intervenes on behalf of protesters in confrontation with police:
(Source: thedailywhat)
