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Mubarak
stays, Egypt erupts in rage
Friday February 11, 2011 07:17:30 AM,
Agencies
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Cairo:
Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, provoked rage on the
country's streets when, in an anticlimactic speech, he said he
would hand some powers to his deputy, but disappointed protesters
who had been expecting him to announce his resignation altogether
after more than two weeks of unrest.
"Leave! Leave!" chanted thousands who had gathered in Cairo's
Tahrir Square on Thursday in anticipation that a televised speech
would be the moment their demands for an end to Mubarak's 30 years
of authoritarian, one-man rule were met.
Instead, the 82-year-old former general portrayed himself as a
patriot overseeing an orderly transition until elections in
September, when his current term ends.
The hush that had swept over the crowd in Tahrir Square at the
start of Mubarak's speech turned into an angry roar halfway
through Mubarak's speech, as it became clear that the defiant
president would not be stepping down.
Al Jazeera's Aymen Mohyeldin, reporting from Cairo, said that the
speech was received as "patronising" as he referred to Egyptians
as his children, and he only re-enforced the idea that he is
"entrenched in the notion that he will hold on to power".
Mubarak praised the young people who have stunned the Arab world
with unprecedented demonstrations, offering constitutional change
and a bigger role for vice-president Omar Suleiman.
Rabab Al Mahdi, a professor at the American University in Cairo,
told Al Jazeera that the "level of anger and frustration at the
square is unprecedented".
"This is putting us into a messy situation that can turn bloody at
any moment," she said, adding that the fact that Mubarak "started
a speech for more than 10 minutes, he was talking about himself -
very narcissistic, again, giving the message that he's still in
control, and this, in and by itself, offended people."
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 Hosni
Mubarak may resign today evening: BBC
Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak may resign Thursday evening and hand over
power to Vice President Omar Suleiman, BBC reported.
»
Egyptian
Army tortured protesters
17 days
on, Cairo square protesters still hold the ground
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Picture of the Day |
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Hundreds of people February 07, 2011
converged at Mushawerat chowk in Malegaon - one of the site that
witnessed a series of blast on September 08, 2006, to listen to
Former Minister Nehal Ahmed. Nehal Ahmed addressed the people from
atop the Tipu Sultan tower because, according to him, the local
police did not give him the permission to hold the rally to press
the government to release the Muslim youths arrested in the case.
(Photo: ummid.com) |
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