Friday, December 7, 2012

Egypt’s Republican Guard falls back as hundreds of thousands converge on palace

By Joseph Mayton
Bikya Masr

"CAIRO: In what could very well be a monumental moment in Egypt’s modern history, the Republican Guard that had been preventing protesters from reaching the Presidential Palace moved aside on Friday early evening and allowed the masses who had gathered to pour onto the street directly in front of the palace.
The shouts of joy as protesters moved swiftly into the area, some jumping over concrete barriers aimed at keeping them away from the palace.
The Republican Guard has stationed itself in front of the palace, but has not intervened as hundreds of thousands of Egyptians continue to demand the removal of President Mohamed Morsi, in what has become two weeks of near continuous protests in Cairo and across the country.
It also follows Wednesday’s clashes when Muslim Brotherhood supporters attacked peaceful protesters who had entered into a sit-in in front of the palace the night before.
That violence left at least 6 people dead and over 1,000 injured. Activists and videos show the Brotherhood brutally attacking the anti-Morsi protesters with knives, sharp objects, sticks and even gun fire and rubber bullets.
The Brotherhood and Morsi have maintained that it was the doing of a “third-party” in what activists say is a return to the claims made by the now ousted regime of Hosni Mubarak during the January 2011 uprising.
On Friday afternoon, leading figure Mohamed ElBaradei called on Egyptians to reject Morsi’s call for a national dialogue, saying “it lacks all basics of a real dialogue”.
“I appeal to all national forces not to participate in dialogue that lacks all basics of a real dialogue,” ElBaradei wrote on his Twitter account.
“We support dialogue that is not based on arm-twisting tactics or imposing a fait accompli,” he added....."


Graffiti on the Walls of the Presidential Palace

Beside the obvious, it says "Step Down and Go, You Dog of America!"

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