Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Egypt revolts update

A day of massive, unprecedented protests since 1977 to some estimates, is drawing to an end. So far, Almasry Alyoum reports one young man dead in Suez. The pigs fired tear gas in the small gulf city and Mustafa Rida Mahmoud choked to death. Right now it is 9:23 pm in Cairo. Most of the updates came via twitter, so naturally the government blocked it at around 4:45 pm. Since then I have been largely clueless, but thousands are planning to spend the night in Tahrir Square, Cairo and possibly elsewhere in Mansoura and Alexandria. I highly doubt the police will allow them.

In any case, the protests surpassed everyone's expectations, even the police were clearly shaken at the numbers and determination of the people. This is in itself a huge success. If the protests hang on, the regime is sure to fall. We're counting on how violent the police will deal with this. We'll see.

The Guardian updates: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/blog/2011/jan/25/middleeast-tunisia

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