Revoltă pe durata mai multor zile Autorităţile trec la măsuri dure, făcând uz de armamentul de foc Populaţia este şi mai mult întărâtată de numărul victimelor Preşedintele Zine El Abidine Ben Ali a fugit din ţară cu avionul (nu cu elicopterul).
Bilanţul violenţelor din Tunisia a ajuns la 150 de morţi, la care se adaugă şi 40 de decese care au avut loc într-o închisoare unde a izbucnit o revoltă (Pe 22 decembrie 89, la ora când fugea dictatorul român, erau 126 morţi şi 1107 răniţi).
Preşedintele tunisian Zine El Abidine Ben Ali a fost alungat din ţară, după 23 de ani la putere, de protestele alimentate de situaţia economică dificilă, de lipsa drepturilor civile, sărăcie. Soţia lui Ben Ali este acuzată în special de corupţie. ambasadorul american vorbea despre profiturile uriaşe obţinute de Prima Doamnă din deschiderea unei şcoli private pentru elita tunisiană sau din alte afaceri facilitate de guvern.
Guvernul tunisian a încercat să blocheze accesul cetăţenilor la informaţii. Cu un succes parţial însă. Informaţiile au continuat să circule, în special cu ajutorul reţelelor virtuale de socializare, şi au contribuit la inflamarea spiritelor.
Evident că nimeni nu trebuia să le spună tunisienilor ce se întâmplă în ţara lor. Detaliile oferite de telegrame – precum afacerile Primei Doamne – au alimentat însă revolta.
În urma revoltelor, preşedintele Abidine Ben Ali a părăsit ţara şi a fugit în Arabia Saudită. Preşedintele Parlamentului a fost numit şef de stat în locul său. Premierul a acceptat o propunere a opoziţiei de a forma un guvern de uniune naţională.
Familia dictatorului Ben Ali a fugit din Tunisia cu 1,5 tone de aur, care valorează zeci de milioane de euro. Leila Trabelsi, nevasta fostului lider tunisian, a retras lingourile de aur de la Banca Centrală (BCT) vineri. Informaţia a fost lansată de serviciile secrete franceze, citate de cotidianul „Le Monde". Se pare că, iniţial, guvernatorul băncii ar fi refuzat să retragă cele 1,5 tone de aur. El a cedat însă presiunilor lui Ben Ali. Potrivit „Le Monde", lingourile de aur ar fi fost transportate în Dubai. În acest timp, Ben Ali şi soţia s-ar fi refugiat în oraşul saudit Jeddah, situat la malul Mării Roşii. Vestea golirii vistieriei statului a înfuriat oamenii, care au vandalizat reşedinţele luxoase ale familiei dictatorului. Tunisienii au luat tot ce se putea din imobilele de lux, inclusiv geamurile şi plantele ornamentale din grădină. Un văr al Leilei Trabelsi a fost înjunghiat pe stradă de necunoscuţi.
12 suedezi veniţi la vânătoare de mistreţi în Tunisia au fost bătuţi crunt de mulţimea furioasă care, descoperind că au arme la ei, i-a acuzat că sunt „terorişti străini". „Ne-au scos din maşini şi ne-au bătut cu picioarele", a povestit una dintre victime.
Faceti stocuri de benzina ieftina la 6 lei.Garantat sa aduca mari profituri.Marele dans sta sa inceapa.Heil Huntington ,chiar acolo in mormantul lui. LINK
Arab Leaders Keep a Wary Eye on Tunisia By MONA EL-NAGGAR and MICHAEL SLACKMAN Published: January 18, 2011
CAIRO — From the crowded, run-down streets of Cairo to the oil-financed halls of power in Kuwait, Arab leaders appear increasingly rattled by the unfolding events in Tunisia and elsewhere in the Arab world, where men continued to set themselves on fire — two more in Egypt on Tuesday, and a third who was stopped. hough the streets of Cairo, Algiers and other Arab cities around the region were calm, the acts of self-immolation served as a reminder that the core complaints of economic hardship and political repression that led to the Tunisian uprising resonated strongly across the Middle East.
“You have leaders who have been in power for a very long time, one party controlling everything, marginalization of the opposition, no transfer of power, plans for succession, small groups running the business, vast corruption,” said Emad Gad, a political scientist at the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. “All of this makes the overall environment ripe for an explosion at any second.”
But while there is widespread anticipation about a revolutionary contagion, particularly in Egypt and Algeria, where there have been angry and violent protests, political analysts said that each country is different, making such conclusions premature. Egypt lacks the broad and educated middle class of Tunisia, while in Algeria the middle class failed to join the angry young men in rioting, regional experts said.
In Jordan, an Islamist opposition party, the Islamic Action Front, issued a demand that the offices of prime minister and other high officials be made elective instead of appointive, as they are now. But like the other outbursts, it quickly died away.
“For all the sound and fury, it doesn’t look like much political dividend will come out of what happened in Algeria, in the short term,” said Hugh Roberts, an independent scholar and a specialist on North Africa based here. “It looks like it has gone quiet. It was a big blast of angry, hot air, but in an unfocused way, which leaves most things the same.”
So for now, the most pronounced impact from the unexpected Tunisian uprising is a lingering sense of uncertainty. That is itself either unnerving or exhilarating, depending on one’s perspective, in a region sitting on the fault lines of religious strife, political repression and economic uncertainty, experts said.
“We did not expect Tunisia to go the direction it has. Who had Tunisia on the mind a few weeks ago?” said Amr Hamzawy, research director with the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. “The ingredients are partially there for it to happen again, but we just do not know.”
Some Arab leaders have ordered security crackdowns to keep calm in the streets, and offered some symbolic gestures. In Syria, President Bashar al-Assad backed off the imposition of austerity measures. In Kuwait, the emir doled out money.
In Egypt, where organizers are calling for a nationwide protest on Jan. 25, officials struggled to project a sense of calm and normalcy, while stepping up talk of economic reform and government accountability. Arab leaders have also said they will focus on combating unemployment when they meet later this week at an economic summit meeting in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheik.
Fahmy Howeidy, an Egyptian political expert and newspaper columnist, said that while he did not believe conditions were ripe for a similar uprising in Egypt, the government was keenly aware that “what happened in Tunisia has definitely created a different atmosphere. It convinced people that they can revolt in the streets, and that these regimes are not as strong or as mighty as they appear.”
Before the riots in Tunisia turned into a mass uprising against the rule of the longtime autocratic president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, it appeared that either Egypt or Algeria stood a greater chance of some kind of mass public revolt. For years, both have suffered from sclerotic political systems led by aging presidents, with support from the military. For years, both have confronted protests over difficult economic conditions and widespread youth unemployment.
But Mr. Hamzawy noted that in Tunisia the middle class and the trade unions joined protests that initially broke out over economic complaints, and helped transform the discontent into calls for political change. In Egypt, where the leadership continues to rely on a decades-old emergency law that allows arrest without charge, there is a lot of room for free and critical speech, offering a safety valve for expression that did not exist in Tunisia, he said.
In Egypt, he said, the array of interests that benefit from corruption is much wider than in Tunisia, where it was restricted to a small circle around the president. That, he said, means there are more people with an interest in preserving the system. And finally, he said, the military in Tunisia was not politicized and did not have any experience in securing city streets, unlike in Egypt, where the military has risen to the government’s defense before, and most likely would again. In addition, Mr. Hamzawy said that the protests that have racked Egypt recently have mostly been by workers for economic reasons, and that the government effectively bought them off with concessions before they began making political demands.
In Algeria, Mr. Roberts said, there are two primary differences with Tunisia that make comparisons imperfect. The first, he said, was that in Tunisia the riots spread all over the country and eventually involved different elements of society all on the same side. “That gave the movement its moral power,” he said.
By comparison, he said, “In Algeria, that never happened. There was no real support from trade unions, in fact none at all as far as one can see, and there was a good deal of middle class hostility to them because of the destruction. The guys rioting were desperate, angry young men with no political perspective at all.”
But more fundamentally, he said, Algeria is not as repressive as Tunisia was. “It is not an autocracy, it is an oligarchy,” he said, explaining that in addition to the president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, there are multiple power centers, like the military, the intelligence services and the elite bureaucrats. That, he said, meant that unlike in Tunisia there is no one target of public ire, and no public sense that protests would help to dislodge those at fault.
“Even though Bouteflika is unpopular, people know their problems do not simply come down to him,” he said. “You have a situation where there is a great deal of discontent, including in the middle class, but no one has any prescription for how to deal with it.”
Mona El-Naggar reported from Cairo, and Michael Slackman from Berlin.
onventional wisdom has it that 'terror' in the Arab world is monopolised by al-Qaeda in its various incarnations. There may be some truth in this.
However, this is a limited viewpoint. Regimes in countries like Tunisia and Algeria have been arming and training security apparatuses to fight Osama bin Laden. But they were caught unawares by the 'bin Laden within': the terror of marginalisation for the millions of educated youth who make up a large portion of the region's population.
The winds of uncertainty blowing in the Arab west - the Maghreb - threaten to blow eastwards towards the Levant as the marginalised issue the fatalistic scream of despair to be given freedom and bread or death.
Whose terror?
The gurus of so-called 'radicalisation' who have turned Islam into a security issue have fixed the debate, making bin Laden a timeless, single and permanent pathology of all things Muslim.
It is no exaggeration to claim that since 9/11 so-called radicalisation has replaced new Orientalism as the prism through which Western security apparatuses view Middle Eastern youth and societies. Guantanamo Bay, profiling, extraordinary renditions, among others, are only the tip of the iceberg.
The policing, equipment, funding, expertise and anti-terror philosophy being fed to the likes of Algeria, Libya and Morocco are geared towards fighting the 'bearded, radical salafis' whose prophet is Osama bin Laden. But, the tangible bin Ladens bracing suicide in its entirety have emerged from the ranks of the educated middle classes whose prophet is Adam Smith.
Al-Qaeda, literally "the base", may today be the swelling armies of marginals in the Middle East, not the 'salafis'.
It is not the Quran or Sayyid Qutb - who is in absentia charged with perpetrating 9/11 despite being dead since 1966 - Western security experts should worry about. They should perhaps purchase Das Kapital and bond with Karl Marx to get a reality check, a rethink, a dose of sobriety in a post-9/11 world afflicted by over-securitisation.
From Tunisia and Algeria in the Maghreb to Jordan and Egypt in the Arab east, the real terror that eats at self-worth, sabotages community and communal rites of passage, including marriage, is the terror of socio-economic marginalisation.
The armies of 'khobzistes' (the unemployed of the Maghreb) - now marching for bread in the streets and slums of Algiers and Kasserine and who tomorrow may be in Amman, Rabat, San'aa, Ramallah, Cairo and southern Beirut - are not fighting the terror of unemployment with ideology. They do not need one. Unemployment is their ideology. The periphery is their geography. And for now, spontaneous peaceful protest and self-harm is their weaponry. They are 'les misérables' of the modern world.
The 'bread compact'
The bread compacts which framed the political order in much of the Arab world came unstuck in the mid- to late-1980s.
In the 1960s, regimes committed to the distribution of bread (subsidised goods) in return for political passivity. In the 1980s, the new political fix shifted to giving the vote instead of bread.
Who can forget the 1988 bread riots that eventually brought the Islamists to the verge of parliamentary control of Algeria in 1991? The riots in Jordan at around the same time inspired state-led political liberalisation in 1989.
For Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan and Egypt, the impoverished Arab states, in need of the liquidity of Euro-American and International Misery Fund aid, infitah (open-door policy) was the only blueprint of forward economic management. Within its bosom are bred greed, land grab, corruption, monopoly and the new entrepreneurial classes who exchange loyalty and patronage with the political masters as well as the banknotes and concessions with which both fund flash lifestyles.
Thus the map of distribution was gerrymandered at the expense of the have-nots who are placated with insufficient micro credits or ill-managed national development funds. The crumbs - whatever subsidies are allowed by the new economic order built on the pillars of privatisation, the absence of social safety nets and economic protectionism - delay disaffection but never eliminate it.
Below the surface the pent-up anger of the marginals simmers.
'Tis the season of 'bread intifadas'
The 'khobzistes' have returned. At home they are marginals; abroad, they are largely persona non grata for being born in the wrong geography, inheriting the perfect genes for 'profiling' and being too culturally challenged for some European assimilationists. Their only added value is as objects of social dumping in capitalism's sweat shops.
Potentially, they are the fodder of chaos in the absence of social justice, culturally sensitive sustainable development and democratic mediating networks and civic channels of socio-political bargaining and inclusion.
Bread uprisings have a plus and a minus. On the positive side, they act as elections, as plebiscites on performance, as an airing of public anger, they issue verdicts on failed policies and send stress messages to rulers.
The response comes swiftly: when initial oppression becomes too heavy and politically costly, bargains begin. They include promises of jobs and policy, reversals of hikes in food prices and even scapegoats in the form of ministerial dismissals.
This is where Algeria and Tunisia are today.
In Tunisia, in particular, the government has been clumsy, nervous and completely out of line for threatening the use of force and then employing it. Fatalities have been on the rise. The death toll is heavy and may already have produced irreversible tipping-point logic.
Bargains, but no democracy
On the negative side, there is no 'democratic spring' in Algeria. Bread riots come and go. But regimes stay on.
The absence of a critical mass that produces a tipping-point dynamic means that regimes know how to buy time, co-opt and fund themselves out of trouble when pushed. Genuine democratic bargains do not ensue. The states have not invested in social and political capital.
Oppositions and dissidents have not yet learned how to infiltrate governments and build strong political identities and power bases. This is one reason why the protests that produced 'Velvet revolutions' elsewhere seem to be absent in the Arab world.
The momentum created by the bread rioters is never translated into self-sustaining critical mass by opposition forces. Regimes wait until the last minute after use of force fails to kill off the momentum through the offer of concessionary and momentary welfare.
Tunisia will be the first Arab exception to this: Ben Ali is in no position to act Machiavellian and intransigent. He is weak, and the party following and army that has protected him for 24 years may be withdrawing loyalty as the crisis deepens.
The 'fishers of men'
The misery belts tightening around the pockets of affluence and opportunity from Algiers to Amman hint at the microcosm of the unevenness of global distribution.
Just as Sidi Bouzid, El-Kobba, Ma'an or Imbaba function internally in that belt of misery, so do the cities of Arab states globally. They are the periphery, literally the misery belts tightening around rich 'fortress Europe' - a Europe that is increasingly more interested in the technology of security, surveillance systems, 'radicalisation' theories, policing and the mental nets functioning as 'fishers of men' according to one study. Today the ClubMed geography is in rebellion mode.
Frontex is the EU agency that spearheads the task of constructing fortress Europe. It is at the front, fighting against the boat people that threaten the lifestyles and comfort of the EU. Its planes, frigates and patrols literally fish men from the tiny boats laden with Arab and African human cargo destined for EU shores.
These desperados weather the high seas knowing that their chance of survival is not more than 10 per cent. Many drown. Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi's act of insanity was not the only suicide. The 'harraqa', as North African boat people are called, seek exodus by stealth, and by death.
Those who do not drown are chased back to their shores of departure. Some are caught and returned to countries of transition such as Libya.
A 2009 EU agreement assigns maritime patrolling and policing to Libya so that boat people do not reach Italian ports, discarding the ethical implications of entrusting refugee protection to countries with dubious human rights records.
From Israel to Spain, fences are erected to keep non-Europeans out. They are allowed to dream of Europe ... but not of setting foot in it.
The time has come for the Arab Gulf labour markets to do more for the Arab marginals.
The 'geography of hunger'
In Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth one finds resonance with the misery engulfing Tunisia and Algeria today, where the have-nots, or the mahrumin, and the khobzistes strike back at the state and target its symbols. They fight back and thus "struggle ... and with their shrunken bellies [and humiliated egos] outline of the geography of hunger". In this geography of hunger and marginalisation, the ruling native becomes the new coloniser. By contrast to the have-nots, the ruling natives and the economic 'mafias' are sheltered not only in mansions and villas, but also within 'a hard shell' that immures them from the "poverty that surrounds" them. In The Wretched of the Earth one reads about the "poor, underdeveloped countries, where the rule is that the greatest wealth is surrounded by the greatest poverty". To map out the "geography of hunger" is not complete without marking out the geography of authoritarianism. In both Algeria and Tunisia, the big interests and profiteers supporting Bouteflika and Ben Ali seem to fulfill Fanon's prophecy about corruption "sooner or later" making leaders "men of straw in the hands of the army ... immobilising and terrorising". It is the security forces and the army that run the show in both countries.
Fanon, the ideologue of the Algerian revolution, is probably turning in his grave at the thought that a country of "one million martyrs" sacrificed for independence is today battling for new freedoms from housing shortages, rising food prices, autocracy and overall marginalisation.
The figures construct on paper stories of growth and stability that are not matched by the reality of marginalisation. For how long republics of paper and men of straw can withstand the hell-fire of the Algerian and Tunisian eruptions fuelled by marginalisation remains to be seen. What is certain, however, is that the beginnings of a 'Tunisian democratic spring' are in the offing.
Larbi Sadiki is a senior lecturer in Middle East Politics at the University of Exeter, and author of Arab Democratisation: Elections without Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2009) and The Search for Arab Democracy: Discourses and Counter-Discourses (Columbia University Press, 2004), forthcoming Hamas and the Political Process (2011).
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
Police in Cairo are using tear gas and water cannon to try to quell rare anti-government protests.
Thousands have joined the protests after an internet campaign inspired by the uprising in Tunisia.
They are marching through Cairo and other areas chanting anti-government slogans, after activists called for a "day of revolt" in a web message.
Weeks of unrest in Tunisia eventually toppled President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali earlier this month.
Protests are uncommon in Egypt, which President Hosni Mubarak has ruled since 1981, tolerating little dissent.
The events in Cairo were co-ordinated on a Facebook page - tens of thousands of supporters clicked on the page to say they would take part.
Reports said the social networking site Twitter had been blocked in Egypt and that mobile phone networks in the Cairo area were down.
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says rallies are being held in several parts of the capital, and the turnout so far is more than the organisers could have hoped.
Police were taken aback by the anger of the crowd and let protesters make their way to the parliament building, he says.
There police regrouped in full riot gear with tear gas and water cannon and temporarily drove the crowd back. However, protesters threw stones and pushed the police back until they were on the run.
There are also reports of protests in Alexandria and Ismailiya, among others. 'Nothing to fear'
The Associated Press (AP) news agency reports that in Tahrir Square, demonstrators attacked a police water cannon vehicle, opening the driver's door and ordering the man out of the vehicle.
Officers beat back protesters with batons as they tried to break the police cordons to join the main demonstration, it added.
One protester, 43-year-old lawyer Tareq el-Shabasi, told AP: "I came here today willing to die, I have nothing to fear."
The AFP news agency reported that protesters had gathered outside the Supreme Court holding large signs that read: "Tunisia is the solution."
They then broke through lines of police and began to march through the streets, chanting: "Down with Mubarak."
Some chants referred to Mr Mubarak's son Gamal, who some analysts believe is being groomed as his father's successor. "Gamal, tell your father Egyptians hate you," they shouted. Protester holds sign saying "Mubarak, out" in French during a protest in central Cairo on Tuesday 25 January 2011 Protesters alluded to the Tunisian uprising - this one using the French word "degage", meaning "out"
The organisers rallied support saying the protest would focus on torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment, calling it "the beginning of the end".
"It is the end of silence, acquiescence and submission to what is happening in our country," they said in comments carried by Reuters news agency.
"It will be the start of a new page in Egypt's history - one of activism and demanding our rights."
George Ishaq, an Egyptian opposition leader, said security forces had been "confounded".
"In the end, we will get our rights because this is just the beginning," he said.
"This will not end. Our anger will continue over the coming days. We will put forth our conditions and requests until the system responds and leaves." Disillusioned
Egypt has many of the same social and political problems that brought about the unrest in Tunisia - rising food prices, high unemployment and anger at official corruption.
However, the population of Egypt has a much lower level of education than Tunisia. Illiteracy is high and internet penetration is low.
There are deep frustrations in Egyptian society, our Cairo correspondent says, yet Egyptians are almost as disillusioned with the opposition as they are with the government; even the Muslim Brotherhood, the banned Islamist movement, seems rudderless.
While one opposition leader, Mohamed ElBaradei, called on Egyptians to take part in these protests, the Muslim Brotherhood has been more ambivalent.
Our correspondent adds that Egypt is widely seen to have lost power, status and prestige in the three decades of President Mubarak's rule.
Nu e nici un daca.Cand reuseste.Care e urmatoarea e irelevant.La rand sunt toate. Problema e banal de simpla.Orientul redevine un actor pe scena geopoliticii.Nici o masura nu va reusi altceva decat sa-i intarzie.Singura masura,ce acum e tardiva ar fi fost ideea mult hulitului Bush de a face in lumea araba ce s-a facut in Japonia.Liberalizare treptata,sub protectia si amenintarea armei occidentale.Dar daca el nu a reusit sa vanda ideea chiar dupa 9/11 atunci nimic nu ar fi putut convinge Vestul ca e mai mult pe lumea asta decat fotbalul sau shoppingul.
Profetia in pustie nr. 2 a subsemnatului.Europa se va transforma radical in urmatoarele 2-3 decenii. Zise Heraclit din Efes:''razboiul e parintele nostru,al tuturor;pe unii ii face zei,pe altii oameni,pe unii liber iar pe altii sclavi''.
Eu vad in Africa o viitoare vaca de muls a tarilor dezvoltate .Acum ca Sudanul s-a "rupt" , eu vad in Sud un bun teren de incercare de "dezvoltare" prin indatorare exclusiv prin corporatii[nimic nou sub luna] dar si prezenta PMC pt securizarea teritoriului, si , de ce nu constructia unor magistrale cu iesire la litoral prin ocolirea unor teritorii neprietenoase... Ma intreb in Libia sunt ceva sanse de vreo revolutie?Sau ce a fos in Tunisia o sa vedem in Libia mai peste vreo 20 de ani pt ca Libia nu e suficient de pro-americana si mai nesociabila de felul ei?
Stai calm,nimeni nu vede altceva in Africa.In Sudan e posibil sa vedem primul razboi prin interpusi intre China si Vest.Mercenariatul are intradevar un viitor luminos.Meserie,bratara de aur.
''ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — Demonstrators in Egypt have protested against rising prices and stagnant incomes, for greater freedom and against police brutality. But religion, so often a powerful mobilizing force here, has so far played little role.
T
hat may be about to change.
With organizers calling for demonstrations after Friday prayer, the political movement will literally be taken to the doorsteps of the nation’s mosques.
And as the Egyptian government and security services brace for the expected wave of mass demonstrations, Islamic groups seem poised to emerge as wildcards in the growing political movement.
Reporters in Egypt said on Friday that, after rumors swept Cairo late Thursday that the authorities planned to throttle the protesters' communications among themselves, access to the Internet, text messaging services and Twitter was not possible on Friday morning in Cairo, Alexandria and possibly other cities.
Heightening the tension, the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest organized opposition group in the country, announced Thursday that it would take part in the protest. The support of the Brotherhood could well change the calculus on the streets, tipping the numbers in favor of the protesters and away from the police, lending new strength to the demonstrations and further imperiling President Hosni Mubarak’s reign of nearly three decades.
“Tomorrow is going to be the day of the intifada,” said a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood here in Egypt’s second largest city, who declined to give his name because he said he would be arrested if he did. The spokesman said that the group was encouraging members of its youth organization — roughly those 15 to 30 years old — to take part in protests.
But Islam is hardly homogeneous, and many religious leaders here said Thursday that they would not support the protests, for reasons including scriptural prohibitions on defying rulers and a belief that democratic change would not benefit them. “We Salafists are not going to participate in any of the demonstrations tomorrow,” said Sheik Yasir Burhami, a leading figure among the fundamentalist Salafists in Alexandria.
While the largest demonstrations have taken place in the capital, Cairo, and the most chaos Thursday was to be found in Suez, Alexandria has been a focal point for past protests. The beating death of a young businessman named Khaled Said last year led to weeks of demonstrations against police brutality and calls to overhaul the security services.
The city on the Mediterranean, long Egypt’s gateway to the outside world, has mirrored the country’s steady erosion over decades of authoritarian rule. It has gone from being a cosmopolitan showcase to a poor, struggling city that evokes barely a vestige of its former grandeur. The New Year’s bombing of a Coptic church here was a reminder of the direction of the city, identified by European intelligence services as a hub for radicalizing students who come to study Arabic. Many of the most radical Salafists — those who would support the use of violence — were arrested by the government after the bombing.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Sheik Gaber Kassem, leader of the mystic Sufi community here, said the Sufis were discouraging their followers from taking part in the demonstrations, which the government has deemed illegal.
“We are going to be in the mosque and we’re going to be in front of the mosque, but we are not going to march in the streets,” said Mr. Kassem, adding that they were in favor of freedom of expression and had taken part in legal protests Tuesday, but that they were against the violence and chaos that were likely on Friday.
Relative calm prevailed here on Thursday, as activists said they were preparing for Friday’s demonstrations. With riot police and plainclothes security personnel watching, dozens of lawyers protested in front of the courthouse, calling for two of their colleagues who had been arrested at Tuesday’s demonstration to be set free and shouting, “People, people, take to the streets.”
Hamid Said, 29, who founded the Nasar Center for Human Rights in Alexandria, said that to date the protests here had not been led by Muslim groups, as the government claimed. “You did not have the Muslim Brotherhood protesting here, you had normal people protesting against their problems,” said Mr. Said, a lawyer who said he had been arrested five times since 2008, but never detained for more than a few days.
Mr. Said cited political oppression and police brutality as the leading causes of frustration among the people. He said that he had once applied for a position for which he was well qualified, but that he lost out to the son of a government minister.
Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, a Muslim cleric known as Abu Omar, said that many conservative Muslims would not support a secular politician like Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Prize winner and former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. “ElBaradei and the others, they have no connection to religion. If Hosni Mubarak goes, they will replace him with someone else like him,” said Abu Omar, who came to prominence after it was disclosed that he had been kidnapped by the Central Intelligence Agency from Milan in 2003.
Religious leaders like Mr. Kassem said they could not rule out that many of their followers would join the protests.
The spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in Alexandria said that efforts by the government to hinder groups from gathering, like blocking access to social networking sites, would no longer be effective.
“It’s already clear that we will go out tomorrow. The message is already out,” he said. “Tomorrow all the Egyptians are going to be on the streets.”
@ach: LINK TUNISIA. Regimul preşedintelui Ben Ali, contestat prin manifestaţii de stradă 14 Ianuarie 2011 Revolte în Tunisia: de ce tace Parisul? Forțele speciale și de poliție rămân pe străzile capitalei. 66 de oameni au fost omorâți de forțele de ordine. Românii sunt sfătuiţi să evite călătoriile în Tunisia Escaladarea violenţei folosite de forţele de ordine contra manifestaţiilor de protest din Tunisia îngrijorează comunitatea internaţională. Parisul a reacţionat abia ieri, în pofida zecilor de morţi în confruntări.
În capitala tunisiană sute de oameni au fost împiedicaţi de poliţie să manifesteze pe stradă, iar în noaptea de miercuri spre joi au avut loc confruntări violente între forţe de securitate şi tineri într-un cartier periferic. Armata, amplasată pentru prima oară pe străzile capitalei, a fost retrasă ieri, în loc fiind poziţionate blindatele şi unităţile de intervenţie ale poliţiei. Singurele vehicule ale armatei cu soldaţi înarmaţi erau vizibile în faţa Ambasadei Franţei. Maşini cu forţe antitero staţionau pe străzi laterale, iar dispozitivele de securitate au fost întărite pe ruta care duce la palatul prezidenţial, interzisă circulaţiei auto.
Manifestanţii şi forţele de ordine s-au confruntat violent pentru prima oară miercuri, în centrul Tunisului, şi trei civili au fost ucişi în provincie într-un context de amplă contestare a regimului care a făcut zeci de morţi în ultima lună în Tunisia. Sute de tineri au strigat sloganuri contra preşedintelui Ben Ali, a familiei sale şi a oligarhiei. Nu există un bilanţ oficial al acestor violenţe, cele mai grave care au avut loc în Tunisia de la venirea la putere a lui Ben Ali, în urmă cu 23 de ani, dar Federaţia Internaţională a Ligilor pentru Drepturile Omului (FIDH) afirmă că deţine o listă nominală cu 66 de persoane ucise de la debutul tulburărilor sociale, la jumătatea lunii decembrie. Printre victime se află un profesor universitar franco-tunisian şi un cetăţean (femeie) elveţian de origine tunisiană.
Guvernul de la Tunis a încercat să calmeze protestele - l-a demis pe ministrul de Interne şi a eliberat persoanele arestate, „cu excepţia celor implicate în acte acte de vandalism".
Reacţie timidă la Paris
Violenţele cu care sunt reprimate manifestaţiile din Tunisia suscită vie îngrijorare în rândul comunităţii internaţionale, SUA şi UE acuzând „folosirea disproporţionată a forţei" de către poliţie. Lipsa reacţiei Franţei faţă de revoltele din Tunisia a fost criticată de presa franceză şi străină. Potrivit Time, având în vedere răspunsurile prompte în mod obişnuit faţă de nedreptăţile regimurilor opresive, acum este frapantă discreţia oficialilor francezi în reacţiile privind escaladarea violenţei în Tunisia. Iar poziţionarea prudentă a Parisului faţă de fosta sa colonie din Africa de Nord nu pare susceptibilă să se schimbe. Ministrul francez de Externe, Michele Alliot-Marie, declara marţi în parlament că „datoria noastră este să facem o analiză calmă şi obiectivă a situaţiei", iar cel al Agriculturii, Bruno Le Maire, estima la Canal Plus în aceeaşi zi: „Nu eu trebuie să judec regimul tunisian. Preşedintele Ben Ali este judecat adesea, dar a făcut multe lucruri".
Preşedintele tunisian, confruntat cu o revoltă de o amploare inedită în Tunisia după 23 de ani de când se află la putere, este considerat în exterior ca un dig eficient în faţa islamiştilor, iar în 2009 a fost ales pentru al cincilea mandat. Pentru aliaţii săi occidentali, Ben Ali reprezintă stabilitatea într-o ţară vizitată de mii de turişti europeni şi pentru care fosta putere colonială franceză rămâne un partener privilegiat.
Anarhie în Egipt: 150 de morţi, 4000 de răniţi, centrul capitalei ocupat
În pofida restricţiilor de circulaţie, piaţa Tahrir din centrul Cairo a rămas plină de protestatari, atât în cursul nopţii de sâmbătă, cât şi duminică noapte. Guvernul a anunţat că poliţia, scoasă de pe străzi vineri seara şi înlocuită cu armata, îşi va reface simţită prezenţa pe străzi începînd de luni dimineaţă. Interdicţiile de circulaţie au fost extinse de armată cu o încă oră luni, între ora 15.00 şi 8 dimineaţă a doua zi.
Trupe şi vehicule blindate au fost desfăşurate, dar nu au fost luate măsuri deocamdată.
Armata egipteană a intensificat activităţile în Cairo, centrul capitalei Egiptului fiind survolat de avioane de vânătoare şi de un elicopter militar.
sursa: realitatea
Acum mingea este ]n terenul Armatei. Să vedem acum cum va Armata suporta presiunea străzii. Ea va decide acum cum va arăta viitorul ţării pe termen scurt. Eu cred că o democraţie veritabilă nu poate rezista acolo. În scurt timp vor ajunge la putere fundamentaliştii.
jocul de domino se pare că va continua cu Algeria, Yemen şi probabil Maroc.
Revoltele din Egipt continuă: Opoziţia vrea să organizeze un marş cu peste un milion de oameni
Revoltele egiptenilor continuă. Mii de oameni au ieşit şi luni pe străzi în principalele oraşe ale ţării, unde armata a încercat să menţină ordinea, cu o mână de fier. Pe străzile capitalei egiptene s-au auzit focuri de armă şi în noaptea de duminică spre luni. Restricţiile de circulaţie impuse de autorităţi au mai domolit protestele, dar nu le-au pus capăt. Mii de oameni şi-au petrecut din nou noaptea în stradă.
Laureatul premiului Nobel pentru pace, Mohamed ElBaradei se erijează tot mai clar într-un lider real al opoziţiei egiptene.
"Ceea ce a început e ireversibil. Cum am spus şi mai devreme, avem o singură cerere: sfârşitul regimului Mubarak şi începutul unei noi etape", a spus ElBaradei.
Mohamed El Baradei a cerut egiptenilor răbdare, pentru că "schimbarea se va produce în cîteva zile". Tot ieri au luat o primă poziţie şi Fraţii Musulmani, principala grupare islamică de opoziţie, care i-a cerut lui ElBaradei să formeze un guvern de uniune naţională - evident, fără partidul lui Mubarak.
La Cairo atmosfera a rămas relativ calmă peste noapte. Numeroşi protestatari au preferat să revină acasă pentru a-şi păzi gospodăriile de hoţii care profită de vidul de autoritate.
Guvernul a anunţat că poliţia, scoasă de pe străzi vineri seara şi înlocuită cu armata, îşi va reface simţită prezenţa pe străzi începând de astăzi.
Aseară, televiziunea de stat a difuzat imagini cu sute de deţinuţi evadaţi sâmbătă noaptea şi arestaţi câteva ore mai târziu. Sursele oficiale afirmă că peste 3200 de oameni au fost arestaţi şi rearestaţi după ultimele evenimente. Sursele oficiale indică 2000 de evadaţi, cele neoficiale vorbesc de peste 6000.
Forums
