Politics

Today was a great turnout for the Day of Departure. Reports estimated 2 million in Cairo, 1.5 million in Alexandria, and many elsewhere.

The demonstrations were peaceful, with pro-Mubarak supporters

Some demonstrators wanted to march to the presidential palace at the end of the day, but there did not seem to be concensus on it, so it did not happen. TV reported that a week ago, there was one tank near the presidential palace, and today, there was 60 of them and barbed wire barricades.

This is a background article on the Egyptian revolution of January 25, 2011.

It was originally published on January 27,2001 on Slashdot, and needs to be expanded for details at a later point.

There is a lot of confusion on various forums, and mainstream media coverage in the USA seems not up to par. Europe's coverage is much better, and Canada somewhere in between.

The church bombing on New Year's Eve got more coverage than this history in the making period.

Today was a mixed day, with anticipation, hope and fear.

First we have Ahmed Shafik, the newly appointed prime minister, apologize for Wednesday's massacres, even though there were killings overnight, and clashes in the morning with regime thugs.

"Battle for the Future of Egypt"

The details of the massacre today in Tahrir Square have emerged and it is a harrowing day.

Just a hours after the embattled Hosny Mubarak promised he would not run in elections again, a very ugly day unfolded.

Mubarak supporters, either paid, brainwashed, or coerced have been pouring to the streets. They are a mix of government employees that were told by the bosses they have to go, some given money to do so, and the ubiquitous multi-purpose thugs.

Yesterday, genuine protesters were around 8 million across Egypt. Numbers estimate 1.5 million in Alexandria and 2 million in Cairo. They were completely peaceful, and the mood was described as "festive" and "celebratory" by many news outlets.

Then Mubarak made his second speech, which offers no concession beyond saying that he will not run for re-election. The protesters rejected this weak response.

Almost ex-President Hosny Mubarak was just on Egyptian State TV live minutes ago.

He still does not get it!

He said he gave instructions to the vice president to being a dialog with the political groups, and demanded the parliament to do such and such. Never, as usual, did he own the responsibility of any of his instructions. He always gets the praise and none of the blame for failure after failure.

He blames the protests on people with foreign agendas, said that they are manipulated by political

He said he was never a seeker after power.

Today, the "March of a Million" is ongoing in Egypt, to end the 30 year dictatorial rule of president Hosny Mubarak.

AlJazeera is estimating that the number of people in Tahrir Square in Cairo and areas around it exceed a million. Some sources estimated the crowds nationwide to be 6 million, others at 8 million.

In Alexandria, another large million march has happened as well. People filled the streets from Sidi Gaber in the east, to the train station.

In Damanhour, Mansoura, Tanta, Mahalla, Suez, Aswan and countless other cities all have large rallies.

And a gallery of pictures from the Egyptian revolution of January 2011.

Here is a video of determination, courage, perseverance.

People cleaning the streets.

People directing the traffic.

People feeding both the protesters and the army

See it all in the New spirit of National Pride.

I cried watching it.

The BBC is now using the revolution word. No other word can describe this. It is not protests or riots.

The USA is slowly changing its tone, and calling for "orderly transition". So perhaps there is pressure from them on Mubarak.

AlJazeera and Reuters are reporting that the Egyptian government will redeploy security forces country-wide starting Monday except for Tahrir Square.

I can't believe how can the government do this. The police are much hated now because of the system brutality and protecting the regime for decades, their clashes with the public from 25 to 28 January and killing many of them, and finally for abandoning the country and let it fall into chaos, or directing doing this looting.