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Egyptian Military Refuses to Use Force Against Protesters

31 January 2011 22:34 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The Egyptian Military said Monday it â€œwill not use forceâ€ against the public as protesters called for a million-strong march in Cairo on Tuesday to force President Hosni Mubarak to resign, APA reports quoting â€œThe Voice of Americaâ€.

The demonstrators have also called for a general strike, although much of the Egyptian capital already is shut down as demonstrations raged on Monday night.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians continue to protest in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, defying a fourth government-imposed curfew as they continue to press for an end to Mr. Mubarak’s nearly 30-year rule.

Egyptian media say Mr. Mubarak has appointed a new interior minister and finance minister in an apparent attempt to quell angry protesters. The foreign minister and long-serving defense minister kept their posts in the Cabinet shuffle.

Reports from Cairo say former director of prisons General Mahmoud Wagdy will replace Habib Adly as the interior minister, who oversees the police and plainclothes domestic security forces. Many Egyptians had been calling for his firing after deadly clashes last week between police and demonstrators.

Police are going back onto the streets Monday, but security sources say they have orders to stick to regular police work without confronting any demonstrators.

More than 100 people have died during protest violence since Tuesday.

Looting has become a problem in Cairo. Egypt’s army is continuing its increased presence, with tanks guarding banks and government buildings.

The al-Jazeera television station says authorities detained six of its workers and confiscated their camera equipment. The reporters were later released.

The uprising in Egypt began as a spontaneous, local-level movement but began to seriously organize Sunday when the country’s largest opposition group, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, threw its support behind Egypt’s most prominent democracy advocate, former U.N. nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei.

A newly formed opposition coalition, which includes the Islamist movement, has asked ElBaradei to form a national unity government and make contact with Egypt’s military.

Earlier Sunday, ElBaradei told some 5,000 protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square that they â€œcannot go back.â€ He called for â€œa new Egyptâ€ in which every citizen â€œlives in freedom and dignity.â€ Senior Brotherhood leader Essam el-Erian also addressed the crowd.

El-Erian had walked out of prison earlier in the day after the guards fled. Gangs freed at least 34 members of the Muslim Brotherhood and thousands of other inmates after attacking jails across Egypt and overpowering the guards.

Mr. Mubarak ordered his new Cabinet Sunday to preserve subsidies, control inflation and provide more jobs. In a letter read on state television, the embattled president also stressed the need for political reform through dialogue with the country’s opposition parties.

An unprecedented Internet cutoff remained in place for a third day Sunday, an apparent move by the government to disrupt protest organizers. Also, the pan-Arab broadcaster al-Jazeera said Egyptian authorities ordered the closure of its Cairo news hub. The Qatar-based satellite network has faced criticism by some government supporters and other Arab leaders that its nearly around-the-clock coverage of the uprising has incited more unrest.