al-Jazeera - 6000 prison inmates have been released from Egyptian jails

[shaayecanaan]

after guards left their posts. The police have almost disappeared from the city square. Even plainclothes seem to be thinning out. The army have not stepped in to intervene.

al-Baradei is understood to be preparing to accept leadership of the protests, and the April 8 movement is said to be amenable to this.

I can't believe this, they might actually pull it off. They just might get rid of the feeble old bastard.

http://english.aljazeera.net/

[tabatha]

1. Yes ! and they will be pulling it off themselves

not because of any outside influence.

[DeSwiss]

2. K&R! n/t

[DURHAM D]

3. Could you provide a direct link?

The one you provided doesn't support your story.

[shaayecanaan]

6. You need to click on the live stream

and watch the broadcast. Its moving very quickly.

Its currently 3am in Egypt, still thousands of people out there. The police have left altogether. The Army have parked armoured vehicles but dont know what else to do. Public employees are abandoning their posts everywhere.

[dipsydoodle]

8. see reply #5

Part of the narrative is from Thursday.

[Taverner]

4. Here's hoping that the most psychotic are removed before anything bad happens

[dipsydoodle]

5. al-Baradei is understood to be preparing to accept leadership of the protests ?

I don't think most Egyptians even know who he is.

He leads a minority party with mainly middle class supporters.

The ref. is actually to a statement made on Thursday with regard to leading Friday's protests during which he was out under house arrest anyway. Today is Saturday.

[shaayecanaan]

7. Ginzi was on just now and said that 50 members of the opposition will meet tomorrow...

and discuss what to do.

[orion007]

9. Human Rights Watch had the number at 17,000 in 2005 for political prisioners in Egypt n/t

[shaayecanaan]

10. Muburak's wife's cousin had her house burned and razed...

a number of factories associated with figures close to the regime have been burned, as have police stations in the capital are also burned.

Local residents in Cairo have formed posses that are establishing roadblocks to make sure only local residents can enter, and are keeping out looters and plainclothed police.

[targetpractice]

11. Saddam Hussein did this before we invaded...

It's like a poison pill, isn't it? Makes the new system much more difficult to govern... guarantees looting, violence, and general chaos.

[malletgirl02]

12. Opening up jails

It wasn't due to a revolution, but Castro did that several times. He would open up the prisons and many of the prisoners would go to the US. He did it in the 1980s, and it was one of the reasons Miami had the explosion of drug crime in the same time period.

I wonder if we look at other dictators who were overthrown if the use the same tactic.

[Scurrilous]

13. K & R

:thumbsup:

[riderinthestorm]

14. The prisoner release was news hours ago but scoffed at as a lie by many DUers

Is it more credible now that Al Jazeera is reporting it?

I have to say, this is a poison pill of the worst sort. There are bound to be some pretty bad sorts amongst the mostly innocent political prisoners.

[emilyg]

15. Yes. Not a good thing.

[NuclearDem]

16. Unrec

I'm willing to bet for every political prisoner, there's three or four murderers or rapists.

[WillyT]

17. Bastille Day, Version 2.0 ???

:wow:

:toast: