Egyptian Protests Day 3: Next Steps

January 27, 2011 at 11:58 AM

Amid the third day of protests in Egypt, casualties and detentions are increasing: Today the brunt seems to be in the Suez region where Twitter reports indicate live ammo is being used by security forces.

Detentions over the three days now top over 1,000, according to Egyptian activists groups.  The arrested and injured include reporters both for Egyptian and Western media.

The Mubarak regime is still talking as strongly as it did three days ago, but among the activists in the Egyptian street there is one key consensus: The fear is gone.

There have been large demonstrations in Egypt before.  This was not the Muslim Brothers, despite the government’s efforts to strike fear in the West by blaming the protests on them.  This was not labor, nor the lawyers guild nor college students, though all have been active.

This was a protest that crossed class, ideology and religion, and that is what scares the government, so long used to successfully playing divide and conquer among the opposition groups. “The psychological barrier of fear has been broken,”  Shadi Hamid, director of research for the Brookings Doha Center told the Washington Post, a comment repeated by several others. “Eighty million Egyptians saw [Tuesday’s protests]. They saw that it’s okay to come out and that there is safety in numbers.”

For human rights activists, there are immediate and long-term issues to address.  The first is to renew Amnesty’s call Tuesday for the government to stop the crackdown on protesters and to end reckless responses by police and security officials.

The second is to get immediate attention to the thousands detained in Egyptian prisons.  The period immediately following arrest is frequently a period when prisoners are at greatest risk for abuse and torture in Egypt.  The government must either release the detained or present recognizably criminal charges and grant them unfettered access to legal assistance, family members and if necessary medical treatment.

Long-term there are many changes Amnesty has long demanded in Egypt, including the end of unfair trials, administrative detention and torture.  But all these abuses start with the State of Emergency law, which has been in place for more than 30 years.  It has to end now.

And here in the United States there is work to do.  State Department officials have scrambled in the past day to make stronger statements urging restraint by the Egyptian government.  To Egyptian activists these are too little, too late.  Many bloggers and twitters feeds are noting the tear gas canisters being used against protesters are being made in the United States.

The US government’s approach to Egyptian opposition groups for years has been clumsy and poorly thought out, angering many Egyptians who should be allies.  Regardless of the result of the protests, the US government can’t go back to the status quo.

Follow updates from Egypt through the Twitter hashtag #Jan25.

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24 thoughts on “Egyptian Protests Day 3: Next Steps”

  1. COMMUNICATION TO EGYPT IS BLOCKED. NO FACEBOOK TWITTER PHONES EMAIL. WILL THE GOVERNMENT KILL THE PROTESTERS TOMORROW??

  5. COMMUNICATION TO EGYPT IS BLOCKED. NO FACEBOOK TWITTER PHONES EMAIL. WILL THE GOVERNMENT KILL THE PROTESTERS TOMORROW??

  6. The Egyptian Street is far ahead of Establishment (Government and Opposition alike). It should create its own leadership. This shouldn't be a cause of worry. Those young men and women have demonstrated a unique and highly admired political maturity in their spontaneity. Since day one, they proclaimed their clear-cut demand: Change the System.
    For myself, I have been impressed by a few details. Demonstrators were remarkably peaceful and non-violent (violence came only from police forces). No Islamic slogans were raised; only political slogans against oppression and corruption. While tens of thousands took to the street for three days, not a single incident of sexual harassment was recorded (in a country notoriously known for that social problem!)
    I am really happy for my country and for my people, who have moved at long last.
    However, the fact that the regime has resorted to cutting all internet services and forcing a media blackout on the country bodes ill for tomorrow. Now is the time for every honest man and woman to stand by the Egyptian people in their struggle for freedom and dignity.
    Please, intensify your coverage of what is unfolding in Egypt. The dictatorial regime is cutting all internet services and forcing a media blackout on the country, preparing for a brutal crackdown on potentially hundreds of thousands of peaceful young men and women determined to take to the streets Friday.

  11. Please help pur desperate poeple in Egypt. Mubarak's regime is going to kill all protesters. USA, Europe and all civilized nations have to do some thing to help the proterters. Today the Egyptian army had orders to shoot on the protesters.
    Please stop the rivers of blood in Egypt.
    Mubarak, go to hell and leave your people in peace!

  13. To all the people of world
    The people in Egypt are under governmental siege. Mubarak regime is banning Facebook, Twitter, and all other popular internet sites. Tomorrow the government will block the 3 mobile phone network and the internet completely. And there is news that even the phone landline will be cut tomorrow, to prevent any news agency from following what will happen.
    Suez city is already under siege now. The government cut the water supply and electricity, people, including, children and elderly are suffering there now. The patients in hospitals cannot get urgent medical care. The injured protestors are lying in the streets and the riot police are preventing people from helping them. The families of the killed protestors cannot get the bodies of their sons to bury them. This picture is the same in north Saini (El-Sheikh zoyad city) and in western Egypt (Al-salom). The riot police is cracking down on protestors in Ismailia, Alexandria, Fayoum, Shbin Elkoum, and Cairo, the capital, in many neighborhoods across the city.
    The government is preparing to crackdown on the protestors in all Egyptian cities. They are using tear gas bombs, rubber and plastic pullets, chemicals like dilutes mustard gas against protestors. Several protestors today have been killed when the armored vehicles of the riot police hit them. Officials in plain clothes carrying blades and knives used to intimidate protestors.
    All this has been taken place over the past three days during the peaceful demonstrations in Cairo and other cities. Now, with the suspicious silence of the local media and the lack of coverage from the international media, Mubarak and his gang are blocking all the channels that can tell the world about what is happening.
    People who call for their freedom need your support and help. Will you give them a hand?
    The activists are flooding the net (youtube and other sites) with thousands of pictures and videos showing the riot police firing on armless people. The police started to use ammunition against protestors. 15-year old girl has been injured and another 25 year old man has been shot in the mouth. While nothing of these has appeared in the media, there is more to happen tomorrow. Will you keep silent? Will you keep your mouth shut while seeing all these cruelty and inhumane actions?
    We don’t ask for much, just broadcast what is happening

  14. The Egyptian Street is far ahead of Establishment (Government and Opposition alike). It should create its own leadership. This shouldn’t be a cause of worry. Those young men and women have demonstrated a unique and highly admired political maturity in their spontaneity. Since day one, they proclaimed their clear-cut demand: Change the System.
    For myself, I have been impressed by a few details. Demonstrators were remarkably peaceful and non-violent (violence came only from police forces). No Islamic slogans were raised; only political slogans against oppression and corruption. While tens of thousands took to the street for three days, not a single incident of sexual harassment was recorded (in a country notoriously known for that social problem!)
    I am really happy for my country and for my people, who have moved at long last.
    However, the fact that the regime has resorted to cutting all internet services and forcing a media blackout on the country bodes ill for tomorrow. Now is the time for every honest man and woman to stand by the Egyptian people in their struggle for freedom and dignity.
    Please, intensify your coverage of what is unfolding in Egypt. The dictatorial regime is cutting all internet services and forcing a media blackout on the country, preparing for a brutal crackdown on potentially hundreds of thousands of peaceful young men and women determined to take to the streets Friday.

  15. Everyone must to be born with equality and freedom rights.
    For the same reason, each individual must fight for it. One does not exist without freedom. The oppressed peoples under dictatorial regimes are tired, to see how their lives are every day more limited, repressed and stuck in the involution and misery. Religions should be a free spiritual tool to evolution of society, but should never be involved in power.
    All Theocratic governments who use religion to dominate his people are sooner or later destined to fail.
    The freedom of one person depends on the entire world. If we really want to survive in this global world, we must help each other defending new values for our survival. Those who expect to reap the blessings of human rights must undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
    No one is free when others are oppressed.
    History does not teach fatalism. As in Tunisia, there are moments when the will of a handful of free men breaks through determinism and opens up new roads. In this historic moment popular revolutions are going to seek a real change, social revolutions is nothing else but a chance to be better.
    This is what all military should know about their own countries and help their own people. Military forces are not only to make war, but rather to defend their own country even against their corrupt governments.

  17. Please help pur desperate poeple in Egypt. Mubarak’s regime is going to kill all protesters. USA, Europe and all civilized nations have to do some thing to help the proterters. Today the Egyptian army had orders to shoot on the protesters.
    Please stop the rivers of blood in Egypt.
    Mubarak, go to hell and leave your people in peace!

  19. To all the people of world
    The people in Egypt are under governmental siege. Mubarak regime is banning Facebook, Twitter, and all other popular internet sites. Tomorrow the government will block the 3 mobile phone network and the internet completely. And there is news that even the phone landline will be cut tomorrow, to prevent any news agency from following what will happen.
    Suez city is already under siege now. The government cut the water supply and electricity, people, including, children and elderly are suffering there now. The patients in hospitals cannot get urgent medical care. The injured protestors are lying in the streets and the riot police are preventing people from helping them. The families of the killed protestors cannot get the bodies of their sons to bury them. This picture is the same in north Saini (El-Sheikh zoyad city) and in western Egypt (Al-salom). The riot police is cracking down on protestors in Ismailia, Alexandria, Fayoum, Shbin Elkoum, and Cairo, the capital, in many neighborhoods across the city.
    The government is preparing to crackdown on the protestors in all Egyptian cities. They are using tear gas bombs, rubber and plastic pullets, chemicals like dilutes mustard gas against protestors. Several protestors today have been killed when the armored vehicles of the riot police hit them. Officials in plain clothes carrying blades and knives used to intimidate protestors.
    All this has been taken place over the past three days during the peaceful demonstrations in Cairo and other cities. Now, with the suspicious silence of the local media and the lack of coverage from the international media, Mubarak and his gang are blocking all the channels that can tell the world about what is happening.
    People who call for their freedom need your support and help. Will you give them a hand?
    The activists are flooding the net (youtube and other sites) with thousands of pictures and videos showing the riot police firing on armless people. The police started to use ammunition against protestors. 15-year old girl has been injured and another 25 year old man has been shot in the mouth. While nothing of these has appeared in the media, there is more to happen tomorrow. Will you keep silent? Will you keep your mouth shut while seeing all these cruelty and inhumane actions?
    We don’t ask for much, just broadcast what is happening

  20. Everyone must to be born with equality and freedom rights.
    For the same reason, each individual must fight for it. One does not exist without freedom. The oppressed peoples under dictatorial regimes are tired, to see how their lives are every day more limited, repressed and stuck in the involution and misery. Religions should be a free spiritual tool to evolution of society, but should never be involved in power.
    All Theocratic governments who use religion to dominate his people are sooner or later destined to fail.
    The freedom of one person depends on the entire world. If we really want to survive in this global world, we must help each other defending new values for our survival. Those who expect to reap the blessings of human rights must undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
    No one is free when others are oppressed.
    History does not teach fatalism. As in Tunisia, there are moments when the will of a handful of free men breaks through determinism and opens up new roads. In this historic moment popular revolutions are going to seek a real change, social revolutions is nothing else but a chance to be better.
    This is what all military should know about their own countries and help their own people. Military forces are not only to make war, but rather to defend their own country even against their corrupt governments.

  21. The Egyptian people will not forget the position of Obama's administration in their struggle for freedom. Indeed, they are in the wrong side of history.

  22. The Egyptian people will not forget the position of Obama’s administration in their struggle for freedom. Indeed, they are in the wrong side of history.

  23. What i received today: share and do ur best plz !! I sent this message to many organisations.

    Amal Sharaf 2 février, 19:48 Répondre • Signaler
    An Urgent call from the Egyptian demonstrators who are defending their country and for their right to live a free respectable life
    We appeal to all human rights organizations and to all the defenders of freedoms and human rights and all the free honourable media inside and outside Egypt to interfere immediately and support
    our peaceful demonstrations from the savage attack of the security
    against the demonstrators using all kinds aof weapons , knives, gas bombs and molotov bombs electric sticks to spread fear among the demonstrators and this is illegalized in any place in the world
    and against all human rights concepts.

    The victims till now today are 230 victims, killed and injured..
    and the security is protecting those criminals.
    It's worth mentioning that the government has closed the internet and the mobile phone networks and many headquarters of different channels to ensure that our voice won't reach the media
    and people….

    We need the help and support of all human rights organizations and
    all defenders of freedom all over the world to stop this massacre..

    What's happening in Egypt now is a crime against humanity
    Please Show your solidarity and Support….

    April 6 Youth Movement
    Egyptian Resistance Movement

  24. What i received today: share and do ur best plz !! I sent this message to many organisations.

    Amal Sharaf 2 février, 19:48 Répondre • Signaler
    An Urgent call from the Egyptian demonstrators who are defending their country and for their right to live a free respectable life
    We appeal to all human rights organizations and to all the defenders of freedoms and human rights and all the free honourable media inside and outside Egypt to interfere immediately and support
    our peaceful demonstrations from the savage attack of the security
    against the demonstrators using all kinds aof weapons , knives, gas bombs and molotov bombs electric sticks to spread fear among the demonstrators and this is illegalized in any place in the world
    and against all human rights concepts.

    The victims till now today are 230 victims, killed and injured..
    and the security is protecting those criminals.
    It’s worth mentioning that the government has closed the internet and the mobile phone networks and many headquarters of different channels to ensure that our voice won’t reach the media
    and people….

    We need the help and support of all human rights organizations and
    all defenders of freedom all over the world to stop this massacre..

    What’s happening in Egypt now is a crime against humanity
    Please Show your solidarity and Support….

    April 6 Youth Movement
    Egyptian Resistance Movement

Comments are closed.