Pressure builds on the president, Hosni Mubarak, as banned Muslim
Brotherhood backs protests
Peter Beaumont and Jack Shenker in Cairo
Friday January 28 2011
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/27/egypt-protests-biggest-day-yet
Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, will face escalating challenges on
all fronts tomorrow, with Cairo expecting the biggest day yet of
street protests and Mohamed ElBaradei, one of his fiercest critics,
calling explicitly for a "new regime" on his return to Cairo.
Redoubling the sense of crisis for 82-year-old Mubarak, who has ruled
for the past three decades, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's
most potent opposition force, said it was backing the latest call for
demonstrations scheduled to follow Friday prayers.
ElBaradei, the former UN nuclear inspector who plans to join
tomorrow's marches, arrived tonight at Cairo's airport to a media
scrum and a heavy presence from the country's state security. He said
he had come because "this is a critical time in the life of Egypt and
I have come to participate with the Egyptian people".
Dozens of barriers manned by plainclothes state security officers had
been erected in the airport to stop the public from mobbing ElBaradei,
but they proved no match for the media scrum as the 68-year-old
emerged with his wife. "Will you be on the streets tomorrow?" screamed
one journalist. "Doctor ElBaradei, the people of Egypt need you
tomorrow," shouted a bystander in Arabic.
Speaking to reporters earlier as he set off from Vienna, ElBaradei
said he was seeking regime change and was ready to lead the opposition
movement.
"The regime has not been listening," he said. "If people, in
particular young people ? if they want me to lead the transition, I
will not let them down. My priority ? is to see a new regime and to
see a new Egypt through peaceful transition.
"I advise the government to listen to the people and not to use
violence. There's no going back. I hope the regime stops violence,
stops detaining people, stops torturing people. This will be
completely counterproductive."
Aside from the journalists, only a few well-wishers turned out to
greet the Nobel peace-prize winner ? a far cry from the scenes of last
February when ElBaradei was met by more than 1,000 supporters on his
triumphant return.
Ahmed el-Sherif, a 24-year-old dentist, said: "We are all Egyptians,
and it's our duty to receive ElBaradei in Egypt. We need him to lead
us in the change we want, for the regime to fall and Mubarak to leave
and for a new, free Egypt to be born."
Sherif rejected criticisms that ElBaradei had been too timid in the
runup to this week's protests. "It's not his job to be protesting on
the streets, it's our job. The people of Egypt will make the change
from below, not ElBaradei. His role is to be a leader, a figurehead
for what comes after, because that's what we're lacking at the moment.
We do our job first, then he will do his. I completely agree with what
he says about the state of our country and what we need to do to
change it, and many people my age feel the same."
ElBaradei arrived as violent protests continued in many parts of the
country, including the port of Suez, where a cloud of black smoke was
seen over the city.
In an interview with CNN before his return, ElBaradei poured scorn on
comments by the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, who had
described the Egyptian government as stable and "looking for ways to
respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people".
"I was stunned to hear secretary Clinton saying the Egyptian
government is stable. And I ask myself at what price is stability? Is
it on the basis of 29 years of martial law? Is it on the basis of 30
years of [an] ossified regime? Is it on the basis of rigged elections?
That's not stability, that's living on borrowed time," said ElBaradei.
"When you see today almost over 100,000 young people getting
desperate, going to the streets, asking for their basic freedom, I
expected to hear from secretary Clinton stuff like 'democracy, human
rights, basic freedom' ? all the stuff the US is standing for," he
said.
The Muslim Brotherhood is throwing its weight behind protests after
four days in which six have died and almost 1,000 have been rounded up
by police. Mohammed Mursi, a leader of the group, said: "We are not
pushing this movement, but we are moving with it. We don't wish to
lead it but we want to be part of it."
Organisers of tomorrow's marches ? dubbed "the Friday of anger and
freedom" ? are defying a government ban on protests issued on
Wednesday. They have been using social media to co-ordinate, and hope
to rally even more than the tens of thousands who turned out on
Tuesday in the biggest protests since 1977.
In a sign of its anxiety, the regime issued a warning to all mosques
advising against "spreading confusion or the circulation of unfounded
rumours".
In a clumsy attempt to head off the rebellion, Egypt's ruling party
said today it was "ready for a dialogue" but offered no concessions to
address demands for a solution to rampant poverty and political
change.Officials from Mubarak's National Democratic party denied
rumours that have been swirling for several days that Mubarak's son
Gamal, who some believe is being groomed to take over from his father,
had fled the country.
In a sign that the regime will be confronted by a huge turnout, the
prime minister, Ahmed Nazif, urged citizens to exercise self control.
There will also be a massive turnout by police, who have viciously
tried to stamp out the rebellion.
The growing political uncertainty saw Cairo's stock market crash by
10% today, with trading suspended for a while, following a fall of 6%
the day before.
Mubarak's position has been further undermined by the implicit
criticism by senior Arab political figures attending the Davos
Economic Forum, including his former foreign minister Amr Moussa, who
is now head of the Arab League.
Moussa told the forum yesterday that a wave of unrest across the Arab
world since the Tunisian uprising highlighted the need for democratic
reforms. "The Arab citizen is angry, is frustrated," Moussa said. "So,
the name of the game is reform."
Former Saudi Arabian intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal told
the Davos gathering the same day that "even Egyptian officials" are
now admitting that their society is in a moment of flux.
In a further indication of the seismic shocks in the region, tens of
thousands of people called for the removal of Yemen's president, Ali
Abdullah Saleh, who has been in power for 32 years, in protests across
the country.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2011
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