Thursday, February 10, 2011

Protesters gain ground. But have the Western powers forsaken them?


By Donald Macintyre in Cairo
The Independent

"Hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators were occupying the street outside parliament and the Cabinet Office yesterday after spilling out of Cairo’s Tahrir Square as the 16-day-old protest expanded across the country.

With thousands of workers responding to their calls for strikes - and poor Egyptians launching other protests in several regions - anti-Mubarak organisers regained the initiative despite heavy hints from the regime that force might be used if the uprising was prolonged.

Four people were killed as armed police moved against around 3000 protesters in the New Valley province of Egypt’s Western desert. The casualties appeared to be the most serious of their kind since police were withdrawn after they quelled the big January 28 demonstration in Cairo with tear gas and rubber bullets......."

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