Egypt in flames

[ariannawyn]

I have been watching Al-Jazeera English's live reports of the riots in Egypt over the Internet. They claim 50,000 protesters are marching in Cairo, 80,000 in a southern city (I missed the name) ([EDIT] apparently Suez, so not southern, eastern) and similar numbers in Alexandria. Mubarak's ruling party HQ is on fire and no one is trying to put it

Comments

[wldrose]

yup i think your right and the thing is unlike iran they didnt expect it to become this big

Ash

[antoniseb]

It takes a *lot* to push most Egyptians beyond the point of merely complaining about the government ... but it seemed like a good idea not to push them over the limit.

[retiredmaj]

I'm going to be the cynic, I'm afraid...given the modern history surrounding Egypt (remember, members of them military assassinated Sadat during a parade), there's an even chance the military will decide to stage a coup. They "why" would depend on how effectively they've purged the Muslim Brotherhood members from its ranks.

[dr_zrfq]

I am trying to shut off my mind's incessant attempts to play The Merry Minuet, just so I can get stuff *done*.

That said? The Mubarak government's attempts to shut down computer networking in that country may, in fact, have made the protests *bigger*, and could be the "last straw" that breaks them. The cynic in me is wondering if they'll only end up trading one dictator for another *again*. Sadat had just as much executive power as Mubarak does (though he sometimes chose not to wield it) and Nasser was as bad if not worse.

[nitesongofafish]

I too take a cautiously pessemistic view. President Mubarak is associated not just with repression, but with being a stalwart ally of the US in its past attempts to bring democracy to the MidEast through invasion. I wonder what percentage of the protesters are against Mubarak for that reason?