Some in Army Appear to Side With Demonstrators

[underpants]

Source: NY Times

Mods- this is the headline as it appears on the NY Times homepage

Egyptians Defiant as Military Does Little to Quash Protests

Late Saturday, it was still unclear whether the military was defying orders to crack down or simply had not been issued them yet. But at least some troops seemed to be sympathizing with the protesters. In the most striking instance, four armored military vehicles moved at the front of a crowd of thousands of protesters in a pitched battle against Egyptian security police officers defending the Interior Ministry.

But the soldiers refused protesters’ pleas to open fire on the security police. And the police battered the protesters with tear gas, buckshot and rubber bullets. There were pools of blood in the streets, and protesters carried at least a dozen wounded from the front line of fighting.

Everywhere in Cairo, soldiers and protesters hugged or snapped pictures together on top of tanks. With the evident consent of the soldiers, protesters had scrawled graffiti denouncing Mr. Mubarak on many of the tanks in downtown Cairo. “This is the revolution of all the people,” read a common slogan. “No, No, Mubarak” was another. In Alexandria, demonstrators took tea to troops.

One crowd cheered and chanted, “The army and the people will purify the country.” And jubilant crowds marched with their fists in the air, many of them carrying Egyptian flags.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/world/middleeast/30-egypt.html?hp

[virgogal]

1. Exactly who are the security officers? I thought they were just

the regular Cairo police department.

Confusion reigns in this old head.

[xchrom]

2. The army is made up of conscripts.

Badly paid and having more in common with the people.

[rhett o rick]

3. The army will side with the demonstrators. It's over for Mubarak. The US will have to scramble to

find another dictator to back (in the name of democracy, of course).