Gen. Hosni Mubarak’s response to a mass uprising demanding an end to military rule in Egypt?
He appoints the former head of Egyptian military intelligence (Omar Suleiman) his vice president (and therefore likely successor).
He appoints the Air Force Chief of Staff (Ahmad Shafiq) as prime minister.
Can you spell TONE DEAF?
Meanwhile, crowds in the streets in Cairo, Suez, Mansoura, Alexandria into the night, defying curfew. Police fired on demonstrators in Alexandria & around the Ministry of Interior building in Cairo, some reports say 100 have died in the past few days. Army mostly not intervening in either demonstrations or looting, decline of security. Police absent altogether. Neighborhood militias being thrown up to guard against thieves, burglars, rapists invading. Light looting of Egyptian museum halted by patriotic crowd joining hands, then army came in there. Some say Mubarak ordered police to stay home and give middle classes a taste of what life is like without the law and order he provides. Don’t know if it is true. If so, would indicate attempt to play on class anxieties and to cast the uprising as a mob of greedy slum dwellers.
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