Fontsize:
31 January 2011

Egypt: Protests enter the 7th day

by Leil Zahra *FB

A general strike and a "March of the millions" has been called by Anti-Mubarak protesters in Egypt for tomorrow, Tuesday February 1, after a weekend of extreme violence that took over 100 lives and made thousands of wounded people.

Nobel laureate and former diplomat M. El Baradei disobeyed his domicile’s arrest to address to a big mass of people in Tahrir during yesterday’s evening clamming that they“have an essential command, the removal of this regime and the start of a new phase, a new Egypt where every Egyptian will live in freedom and dignity”. The enthusiastic 10,000 protesters repeated to President Mubarak "Leave, leave, leave" and held up pictures of with his face wiped out, affirming that they will stay until the entire world hears us. Entering the seventh day of protests, more violence is expected as police has clear orders to go back onto the streets when the demonstrations start.

Meanwhile, as rallies are reaching other parts of the country as Alexandria, Mansoura, Damanhour, Suez and Sinai, tourists are trying to leave the area trough Cairo airport, which is being affected by extensive flight cancellations. Bulgaria and Greece, Azerbaijan, Canada, India, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the US have begun evacuations, with the US set to fly people to Athens, Istanbul and Nicosia.

Egypt is the Arab world's most populous nation and a key player to the Middle East's peace. Several political analysts foresee that Mubarak will eventually be obliged to leave power, and let "The winds of democracy and freedom that shook the whole world 20 years ago and were unable to break in the Arab states now seem to be blowing across the Arab world," Jordan’s Journalist F. Fanek wrote today. “It’s giving hope, it’s making people confident that change in the Arab world is possible,” assumed M. al-Qadhi, a Yemeni journalist.

In the last days, EU institutions demanded calm and restraint, while France, Germany and the UK leaders urged President Mubarak to start a way of transformation with a new government and in free and fair elections. Israel and China have decided up to now to stay side by side with President Mubarak. This last one has also blocked news and online discussion of events in North Africa. Barack Obama supported France, Germany and the UK, and the approach of a political, social, and economic reform, as it has been happening with Tunisia. The new Tunisian foreign minister, Abderraouf Ounais, is supposed to meet with the EU's Ms Ashton in Brussels tomorrow whilst the Yemeni foreign minister has his meeting scheduled for Wednesday.

More information on the last developments in Egypt trough Aljazeera live blog: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/01/30/live-blog-311-egypt-protests