Tonight in Cairo, the Parliament is Surrounded

[nadinbrzezinski]

Source: The AWIL (And reuters on the tweeter)

Tonight, protesters have surrounded the parliament building in downtown Cairo. There have been two deaths of protestors in Suez; one policeman has died in Cairo, hit by a rock. The protestors in Tahrir Square have been tear-gassed, and Twitter has been blocked within the borders of Egypt.

But this morning, as the sun burned a smoky haze off the face of this city, the streets were open and clear as I rode downtown at 8 a.m.

There had been tweets that protests would be staged in Tahrir Square and in the downtown neighborhood of Mohandeseen. These tweets were received by Egyptian authorities monitoring the hashtag #jan25, and they deployed a massive security presence to deter any demonstrations. Officers stood in groups of 6 to 8, on nearly every street corner. They blockaded the entrance to the parliament building. The teams stood quietly with folded arms watching the empty streets as the sun rose over the Nile.

Read more: http://www.theawl.com/2011/01/tonight-in-cairo-the-parliament-is-surrounded

---

I cannot predict what the next government of Egypt will look like, but I am sure POTUS will go from speech to situation room. This is getting quite hot.

[HighLowRoller87]

1. Oh Man! That's crazy!! YIKES!!!

[somone]

2. Well, it's about time

50,000 demonstrators? That's a helluva turnout for Egypt.

[aquart]

6. Who estimated the count?

[somone]

10. Unnamed:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704698004576104112320465414.html

The protests appeared to be the biggest in decades in Egypt, a country where opposition has long been kept in check and demonstrations rarely draw more than a few hundred people. According to some initial accounts, as many as 50,000 demonstrators in all turned out in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and other Egyptian cities.

[aquart]

15. I would put the crowd in Tarir at 50,000 at least. Look at the density.

Do we have pictures of the other cities?

[eleny]

3. Been following this off and on today

Thx for this update.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. I love reuters on the tweeter

I mostly follow News orgs... and Keith... and a few friends

[eleny]

12. Not watching the sotu but a movie + KO on Twitter

Easier on the blood pressure tonight.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. He's been funny

[aquart]

4. I thought they suspended the parliament session for tonight/today?

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. 50K people will make you do that

we should, as a people, start taking notes.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. 50K people will make you do that

we should, as a people, start taking notes.

[Dennis Donovan]

7. Today, had a right wing co-worker say to me, "this is happening because Bush invaded Iraq!"

...and I shot back, "that's something we can agree on, but not for the reasons you believe..."

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. This was something a few of us predicted back in the day

irony of ironies though. This will be domino theory in practice FINALLY...

[Hissyspit]

13. Tell him its more likely because of WikiLeaks.

[WheelWalker]

19. Exactly.

It is a turning of the wheel.

[WheelWalker]

16. Whoa.

Is that the Wheel I hear turning?

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. 1849 comes so strongly to mind

[Odin2005]

23. 1848, you mean.

The Liberal revolutions.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. yes, but the first real effects started to be felt by 1849

the taking to the streets was in '48 and most were seen as not successful... but by '49 real changes started all over Europe.

By the way 1848 led to Das Kapital...

:-)

They affected Marx and Engels a lot.

[DeSwiss]

17. K&R

- This should be D.C.

[WheelWalker]

18. There will be a day.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. This is not limited to the arab world

London



Athens



Italy



Spain



Portugal...

And this is just last year

It will come here

Oh and of course the direct inspiration of this...

http://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.2605867.1294963850!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/display_600/image.jpg

Tunis

[Odin2005]

22. K&R

[upi402]

24. are corporatists getting worried? cuz

their media doesn't like us to know about peasants getting upitty.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. BBC has been on it all day

our 24 hour nooz on the other hand.

[Catherina]

26. Hot indeed.

Chanting ""Oh Mubarak you coward, we don't want you, revolution to victory"


http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/csm-photo-galleries-images/in-pictures-images/egyptian-protests/01/9398135-1-eng-US/01_http://www.csmonitor.com/CSM-Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Egyptian-protests/(photo)/333930full_600x400.jpg