The International Bankers' Modus Operandi Is Order Out of Chaos
We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.” - Chris Hedges, 2011: A Brave New Dystopia, truthdig.com, December 31, 2010Protesters Accuse Egyptian Government of Instigating Violence in Cairo - Egypt Army Moves to Stop Assault on Protesters
Egypt PM apologizes for attack on protestersFebruary 3, 2011
AP - Egyptian army tanks and soldiers cleared away pro-government rioters and deployed between them and protesters seeking the fall of President Hosni Mubarak, moving to halt violence as the prime minister made an unprecedented apology Thursday for the assault by regime backers that turned central Cairo into a battle zone.
Pime Minister Ahmed Shafiq said the attack Wednesday on the anti-Mubarak protesters was a "blatant mistake," acknowledged it was likely organized and promised to investigate who was behind it.
The protesters accuse the regime of organizing the assault, using paid thugs and policemen in civilian clothes, in an attempt to crush their movement. Government supporters charged the protest camp in central Tahrir Square Wednesday afternoon, sparking uncontrolled violence that lasted until the next morning, as the two sides battled with rocks, sticks, bottles and firebombs and soldiers largely stood by without intervening.
Thursday morning, the army fanned out to separate the two sides and allowed thousands more protesters to enter their camp in the square. Soldiers then stepped aside as the anti-government side surged ahead in the afternoon in resumed clashes.
With volleys of stones, the protesters pushed back their rivals swarmed onto a nearby highway overpass that their regime supporters had used as a high ground to batter them.
At the same time, Mubarak supporters carried out a string of attacks on journalists around the square. One Greek print journalist was stabbed in the leg with a screwdriver, and a photographer was punched, his equipment smashed. Arab TV network Al-Jazeera reported two correspondents attacked. The army started rounding up journalists, possibly for their own protection.
Shafiq's highly unusual apology and the army intervention suggested at least some in the regime want to step back from Wednesday's dangerous turn — the first outbreak of street violence between the two sides in what is now 10 days of unprecedented protests demanding Mubarak, unquestioned leader for nearly 30 years, quit power.
The notion that the state may have coordinated violence against protesters, whose vigil in Tahrir Square had been peaceful for days, raised international outrage, including a sharp rebuke from Washington, which has considered Egypt its most important Arab ally for decades, and sends it $1.5 billion a year in aid.
"If any of the violence is instigated by the government, it should stop immediately," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
The military began to move with muscle to stop the fighting for the first time early Thursday after a barrage of automatic gunfire hit the anti-government camp before dawn. The shooting killed five people, according to the health minister, bringing the death toll since the fighting began Wednesday to eight.
Four tanks cleared a highway overpass from which Mubarak supporters had hurled rocks and firebombs onto the protesters. On the streets below, several hundred soldiers carrying rifles lined up between the two sides, pushing the pro-government fighters back and blocking the main battle lines in front of the famed Egyptian Museum and at other entrances to the square.
A sense of victory ran through the protesters, even as they organized their ranks in the streets in case of a renewed assault.
"Thank God, we managed to protect the whole area," said Abdul-Rahman, a taxi driver who was among thousands who stayed hunkered in the square through the night, hunkered down against the thousands besieging the entrances. "We prevented the pro-Mubarak people from storming the streets leading to the square."He refused to give his full name.
Bands of Mubarak supporters moved through side streets, trading volleys of stone-throwing with the protesters and attacking cars to stop supplies from reaching the protest camp. One band stopped a car, ripped open the trunk and found boxes of juice, water and food, which they took before forcing the driver to flee.
The Mubarak backers seethed with anger at a protest movement that state TV and media have depicted as causing the chaos and paralyzing businesses and livelihoods.
"You in Tahrir are the reason we can't live a normal life," one screamed as he threw stones in a side street.
The apology by Shafiq, who was appointed by Mubarak over the weekend, was highly unusual from a leadership that rarely admits mistakes. His promise to investigate who organized the attack came only hours after the Interior Ministry issued a denial that any of its police were involved.
"I offer my apology for everything that happened yesterday because it's neither logical nor rational," Shafiq told state TV. "Everything that happened yesterday will be investigated so everyone knows who was behind it."
He later told a press conference that the attack "seemed to have been organized" but said he did not know by whom.
The anti-Mubarak movement has vowed to intensify protests to force the president out by Friday. In a speech Tuesday night, Mubarak refused to step down immediately, saying he would serve out the remaining seven months of his term — a halfway concession rejected by the protesters.
Secret police blamed as peace protesters are gunned down in the siege of CairoOver 20,000 Take to Streets in Yemen 'Day of Rage'
February 3, 2011
Reuters - More than 20,000 Yemenis filled the streets of Sana'a on Thursday for a "Day of Rage" rally, demanding a change in government and saying President Ali Abdullah Saleh's offer to step down in 2013 was not enough.
Further anti-government protests were expected across Yemen, which Saleh has ruled for over three decades, and supporters of the president were driving around the capital urging Yemenis over loudspeakers to join pro-government counterdemonstrations.
But by early morning, anti-government protesters had already gathered the largest crowd since a wave of protests hit the state two weeks ago, inspired by protests that toppled Tunisia's ruler and threaten Egypt's president.
"The people want regime change," protesters shouted as they gathered outside Sana'a University. "No to corruption, no to dictatorship."
Saleh, eyeing the unrest spreading in the Arab world, indicated on Wednesday he would leave office when his term ends in 2013, and promised his son would not take over the reins of government, among a host of other political concessions.
It was his boldest gambit yet to stave off turmoil in Yemen, a key ally of the United States against Al Qaida, as he sought to avert a showdown with the opposition that might risk sparking an Egypt-style uprising in the deeply impoverished state.
Wael Mansour, an organiser of the Thursday rally, said Yemenis were not satisfied with Saleh's concessions.
"Today will bring more, fresh pressure on President Saleh, who will have to present further concessions to the opposition," he said, without specifying what those concessions might be.
Turkish Police Clash with Protestors
February 3, 2011PressTV - Turkish security forces have clashed with thousands of people who were protesting against a draft labor law proposed by the government.
Up to 10,000 people gathered at a park in Ankara on Thursday with the intention of marching on parliament, Hurriyet daily newspaper reported on Thursday.
Riot police blocked a main road leading to parliament's premises and sprayed pepper gas and water cannons at demonstrators to disperse them.
The protestors in return threw sticks, stones and eggs at security forces.
Turkish parliament is debating a new employment legislation, which the government says will produce a more flexible labor model.
Workers, however, argue that the changes will strip them of their rights and give employers more leeway to exploit employees.
Turkey has seen a period of unprecedented economic growth under the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party.
Opinion polls indicate that the AK Party will secure a third term in office at parliamentary elections slated for June.
Uprisings in Africa, 'Islamic Awakening'
February 3, 2011PressTV - Iran's Parliament (Majlis) Speaker describes the recent developments in North Africa as an “Islamic awakening”, urging the US to stop interfering in the affairs of the region.
“What is happening these days in Tunisia and Egypt is a kind of Islamic awakening that the Westerners should pay attention to,” Ali Larijani said on Thursday.Referring to the remarks by US officials that Washington wants real democracy in Egypt, the Iranian lawmaker said if the US stops interfering, “people will show you what kind of democracy they want.”
“Some foreign media are trying to connect the Egyptian people's uprising to Marxist movements in order to create the wrong impression,” IRNA quoted Larijani as saying.
Egypt has been the scene of protests over the past 10 days as the demonstrators are calling for the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
The protesters say they want Mubarak to end his 30-year rule, pledging to continue the uprising until he resigns. However, the embattled president has so far defied widespread public calls for his resignation.
A report by the United Nations says at least 300 people have so far been killed and thousands more injured in troubled Egypt.
At least seven people have also been killed and more than 1,500 have been wounded in the latest round of clashes in Cairo.
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) has expressed its deep concern regarding the flagrant use of violence against protesters.
'Islamic Revolution Guides Arab Risings'
February 2, 2011PressTV - Iranian Brigadier General Yahya Rahim-Safavi says the Islamic Revolution of Iran is the conceptual framework of the popular revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia.
The Iranian commander said that the blood of the martyrs of the Islamic Revolution freed Muslim nations and humanity from the grips of global and regional tyrannical oppressors
“The Revolution of the people of Tunisia and Egypt is modeled after Iran's Islamic Revolution,” IRNA quoted Rahim-Safavi as saying.The top military adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei made the remarks on Wednesday at the commemoration of the martyrs of the 1980-1988 war Iraq imposed on Iran.
Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's 23-year dictatorship, which was marred by repeated human rights violations and torture, ended in January after weeks of street protests.
Poverty, high unemployment rates and rampant corruption triggered protests in Egypt similar to the unrest that led to the revolution in Tunisia.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has urged political leaders in Egypt to listen to the “rightful demands” of their people.
He said that Tehran regarded the demonstrations as the “justice-seeking movement” by the Muslim people of the country.
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