![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/00000Egypt3-articleLarge.jpg\" "\\"00000Egypt3-articleLarge\\"")
<\/p>\nBreaking News Alert
\nThe New York Times
\nThu, February 10, 2011 — 10:57 AM ET
\n—–<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hassan al-Roweny, an Egyptian army commander, addressed protesters in Tahrir Square on Thursday<\/p>\n
Egypt’s armed forces said on Thursday that they were taking “necessary measures to protect the nation and support the legitimate demands of the people,” a signal that the military intends to take a commanding role in governing the country.<\/p>\n
There was no immediate confirmation that the army intended to replace the government named by President Hosni Mubarak, but protesters in Cairo roared approval at the news that the military was moving to supplant the government they have steadfastly opposed.<\/p>\n
Jubilant chants of “The Army and the people in one hand!”
\ncould be heard on broadcasts from Tahrir Square.<\/p>\n
There was no information about what role Mr. Mubarak or his new vice president, Omar Suleiman, would play in a military government. The announcement came on the 17th day of unrest in Egypt, bolstered by strikes and protests among professional groups in Cairo and workers across the country.<\/p>\n
==================<\/p>\n
CAIRO \u2014 Egypt\u2019s armed forces on Thursday announced that they had begun to take “necessary measures to protect the nation and support the legitimate demands of the people,\u201d a step that suggested the military intends to take a commanding role in administering the strife-torn nation.<\/p>\n
The announcement of an enhanced role for the military came as officials in President Hosni Mubarak\u2019s government suggested a momentous shift in power was underway, including a possible transfer of power from Mr. Mubarak to his Vice President Omar Suleiman.<\/p>\n
Hossan Badrawi, secretary general of the National Democratic Party (NDP), told Egyptian state news outlets and the BBC that Mr. Mubarak would “most probably” speak to the nation soon, and that he would likely step down from his post.<\/p>\n
In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, C.I.A. Director Leon E. Panetta said that there was a \u201cstrong likelihood\u201d that Mr. Mubarak would step down by the end of the day.<\/p>\n
Although the shape of a new Egyptian government remained unclear, television images on Al Jazeera showed the masses in Tahrir Square cheering the news of an impending shake-up, waving flags and chanting: “The Army and the people in one hand.”<\/p>\n
Vice President Omar Suleiman, named by Mr. Mubarak to undertake a dialogue with opposition groups, had warned Tuesday night that if the process he was supervising did not produce results, the military would step in to take administrative control in what he called a \u201ccoup.\u201d He did not say what role he would play in a military government.<\/p>\n
The announcement came as Egypt\u2019s uprising entered its 17th day on Thursday, bolstered by strikes and protests among professional groups in Cairo and workers across the country. A senior official in Mr. Mubarak\u2019s embattled government was quoted as saying the army would \u201cintervene to control the country\u201d if it continued to devolve into chaos.<\/p>\n
As tension built ahead of Friday\u2019s planned mass protests, thousands of chanting lawyers in black robes and physicians in white laboratory coats marched into Tahrir Square \u2014 the epicenter of the uprising \u2014 to join the clamor for Mr. Mubarak\u2019s ouster.<\/p>\n
Engineers and journalists also headed for the square on Thursday as the numbers there began to swell once again into the thousands, with demonstrators mingling among the tents and graffiti-sprayed army tanks that have taken on an air of semipermanence.<\/p>\n
Officials in Mr. Mubarak\u2019s government have been warning for several days that protesters faced a choice between negotiating in earnest with the government on Constitutional changes or having the military step in to guard against a descend into political chaos. Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit seemed to add a further ominous tone to those comments today, telling Al Arabiya<\/span> television,<\/p>\n \u201cIf chaos occurs, the armed forces will intervene to control the country, a step which would lead to a very dangerous situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Aboul Gheit made the comments a day after he dismissed calls by Egyptian protesters and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scrap the country\u2019s emergency laws, which allow the authorities to detain people without charge.<\/p>\n Up until now, the military has pledged not to use force against the protesters who have occupied Cairo\u2019s central Tahrir Square and whose tactics have broadened to the establishment of a fresh encampment outside the Egyptian Parliament. But a report released Thursday by Human Rights Watch cast doubt on the military\u2019s impartiality.<\/p>\n \u201cSince Jan. 31, Human Rights Watch has documented the arbitrary arrest by military police of at least 20 protesters who were leaving or heading to Tahrir Square,\u201d the group said in a statement. \u201cMost of these arrests occurred in the vicinity of the square or in other parts of Cairo from where protesters were taking supplies to the square.\u201d<\/p>\n The group said it had also documented at least five cases of the torture of detainees at the hands of the military. A spokesman for the military denied the accusations.<\/p>\n The army has also deployed tanks and reinforcements across the city, setting up a narrow access point to the square that forces would-be protesters into single file after they stand in long lines to enter.<\/p>\n The apparently hardening official line \u2014 and the stubborn resistance of the protesters \u2014 coincided with a surge of strikes and worker protests affecting post offices, textile factories and even Al Ahram, the government\u2019s flagship newspaper.<\/p>\n While the government turned up pressure on the opposition, there were continued signs of turmoil within its own ranks. State TV reported that the state prosecutor had opened a formal investigation of Ahmed Ezz, a widely hated former senior member of the ruling National Democratic Party and a confidant of the president\u2019s son Gamal Mubarak, and two other former ministers.<\/p>\n Another N.D.P. official, Mamdouh Hosny, director of the Industry and Energy Committee in Parliament, announced he was resigning from the party, the Egyptian daily, Al Masry Al Youm, reported.<\/p>\n The presence of lawyers and other professionals joining the demonstrations seemed to broaden the participation in the uprising, reflecting the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has strong support among Egyptian lawyers and other professions..<\/p>\n Some of the protesters say they have been inspired by Wael Ghonim<\/span>, a Google executive who has emerged as a prominent voice in a revolt galvanized in part by social networking sites. On Thursday, a Twitter feed in his name in English declared: \u201cI promise every Egyptian that I will go back to my normal life & not be involved in any politics once Egyptians fulfill their dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n But, in an interview on CNN, he was also quoted as saying he was \u201cready to die\u201d for the opposition\u2019s cause. \u201cAnd I\u2019m telling this to Omar Suleiman,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s going to watch this. You\u2019re not going to stop us. Kidnap me, kidnap all my colleagues. Put us in jail. Kill us. Do whatever you want to do. We are getting back our country. You guys have been ruining this country for 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n The protests at Al Ahram by freelance reporters demanding better wages and more independence from the government snarled one of the state\u2019s most powerful propaganda tools and seemed to change its tone: On Wednesday, the front page, which had sought for days to play down the protests, called recent attacks by pro-Mubarak protesters on Tahrir Square an \u201coffense to the whole nation.\u201d<\/p>\n And on Thursday, the newspaper\u2019s online edition<\/span> in English broke news of hotel closures in Sharm El-Sheikh, the heart of Egypt\u2019s Red Sea tourism industry, which was badly hit when many visitors fled the country as the uprising broke out.<\/p>\n Outside Cairo\u2019s main post office, about 100 people gathered to demand higher wages and more jobs as a series of stoppages percolated through the capital. \u201cEveryone has begun demanding their rights,\u201d said Ahmed Suleiman, 29, a part-time postal worker. \u201cAnd it\u2019s time for the government to meet them.\u201d He spoke under a banner proclaiming: \u201cEgyptian post office in solidarity with the youth of Tahrir Square.\u201d<\/p>\n As the city braced for bigger protests that organizers are trying to muster for Friday \u2014 the Muslim holy day and the beginning of the weekend \u2014 the authorities appeared to have strung more razor wire around the state radio and television building towering over the Nile. The move seemed to reflect concern that protesters may try to move to new locations, expanding their presence.<\/p>\n On the diplomatic front, Mr. Aboul Gheit\u2019s retort to Mr. Biden played into the complicated relationship between Mr. Mubarak\u2019s government and the Obama administration, which had urged swift steps toward a political transition, then endorsed Mr. Mubarak\u2019s remaining until the end of his term later this year. Since then, Mr. Biden has suggested that the United States still expects some immediate changes to be made.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, responded to the Egyptian government\u2019s claims that such changes were premature, saying, \u201cWhat you see happening on the streets of Cairo is not all that surprising when you see the lack of steps that their government has taken to meet their concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n That attempt to put some distance between the United States and Mr. Mubarak, though, was unlikely to impress the protesters, who say that the Obama administration, by continuing to back the president, also ignores their concerns.<\/p>\n By nightfall on Wednesday, more than 1,000 protesters prepared to sleep outside the Parliament building for a second night, a symbolic move that showed the opposition\u2019s growing confidence as the protesters expanded the scope of their activism beyond Tahrir Square.<\/p>\n Reports from around the country of vigorous and sometimes violent protests also suggested a movement regaining steam.<\/p>\n Security officials said that five people died and more than 100 were injured during protests on Tuesday in El Kharga, 375 miles south of Cairo. Protesters responded Wednesday by burning police stations and other government buildings. In Asyut, protesters blocked a railway line. Television images showed crowds gathering again in Alexandria, Egypt\u2019s second-largest city.<\/p>\n Even protests that were not directly against Mr. Mubarak centered on the types of government neglect that have driven the call for him to leave power.<\/p>\n Protesters in Port Said, a city of 600,000 at the mouth of the Suez Canal, set fire to a government building, saying local officials had ignored their requests for better housing. And in one of the most potentially significant labor actions, thousands of workers for the Suez Canal Authority continued a sit-in on Wednesday, though there were no immediate suggestions of disruptions of shipping in the canal, a vital international waterway.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch reported that since Jan. 28, when troops took up positions in Egyptian cities, army officers and the military police had arbitrarily detained at least 119 people. In at least five cases, the group said, detainees said they had been tortured.<\/p>\n There were signs that the police, under the jurisdiction of the hated Interior Ministry, were trying to remake their image. The authorities have announced in recent days that prosecutors are weighing charges against Habib el-Adly, recently removed as interior minister. The charges, including murder, are related to the killing of protesters by security officers during the unrest.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, some cellphone customers in Egypt received the equivalent of marketing messages from the new minister, Mahmoud Wagdy. One read, \u201cFrom the Ministry of Interior: The police will do nothing but serve and protect the people.\u201d Another said, \u201cStarting today, we will only deal through truthfulness, honesty and rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n As Mr. Mubarak held on to power, influential groups and people seemed determined to distance themselves from his government\u2019s legacy. Members of a prominent journalists\u2019 association moved toward a no-confidence vote against their leader, Makram Mohamed Ahmed, a former Mubarak speechwriter, the daily Al Masry Al Youm reported on its English-language Web site.<\/p>\n And the recently appointed culture minister, Gaber Asfour, a literary critic, resigned Wednesday after pressure from his colleagues, according to Al Ahram.<\/p>\n Outside groups, meanwhile, continued to try to take advantage of the Egyptian uprising. In an online forum, a group in Iraq affiliated with Al Qaeda called on Egyptians to \u201cwage violent jihad to topple the regime in Egypt,\u201d according to Khaled Hamza, the editor of the Web site of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt\u2019s largest opposition movement.<\/p>\n He bristled at the comments, saying the revolt in Egypt was nonviolent and included \u201call sects, trends and religions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEgyptians are capable of solving their problem without intrusion, meddling and prying from foreign groups such as Al Qaeda and similar groups advocating the use of violence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Increasingly, the political clamor for Mr. Mubarak\u2019s ouster seemed to be complemented by strikes nationwide. While many strikes seemed to focus on specific grievances related to working conditions, labor leaders suggested they were energized by protests against Mr. Mubarak.<\/p>\n The protest against the Suez Canal Authority began Tuesday night and was staged by about 6,000 workers. In Helwan, 6,000 workers at the Misr Helwan Spinning and Weaving Company went on strike, Ms. Refaat said.<\/p>\n More than 2,000 workers from the Sigma pharmaceutical company in Quesna began a strike while about 5,000 unemployed youths stormed a government building in Aswan, demanding the dismissal of the governor.<\/p>\n In Cairo, sanitation workers demonstrated outside their headquarters.<\/p>\n David D. Kirkpatrick and Anthony Shadid reported from Cairo, and Alan Cowell from Paris. Kareem Fahim, Liam Stack, Mona El-Naggar and Thanassis Cambanis contributed reporting from Cairo, and Helene Cooper from Washington.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Breaking News Alert The New York Times Thu, February 10, 2011 — 10:57 AM ET —– Hassan al-Roweny, an Egyptian army commander, addressed protesters in Tahrir Square on Thursday By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, ANTHONY SHADID AND ALAN COWELL Published: February 10, 2011 Egypt’s armed forces said on Thursday that they were taking “necessary measures to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":30440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n<\/div>\n