Broad Protests Across Egypt Focus Fury on Mubarak
CAIRO — Thousands of people calling for the end of the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak clashed with riot police in this Egyptian capital on Tuesday, on a day of some of the most serious civil unrest in recent memory here. The protesters, mobilized largely on the Internet and energized by recent events in Tunisia, occupied one of the city’s most famous squares for hours, beating back attempts to dislodge them by police officers wielding tear gas and water cannons.
“Freedom, freedom, freedom,” they chanted. “Where are the Egyptian people?” ... “Our government is unjust,” Mr. Ashraf said. “I’m not happy. The state is very aggressive with people.” At least six young Egyptians have set themselves on fire in recent weeks, in an imitation of the self-immolation that set off the Tunisian unrest. Egypt has forbidden gas stations to sell to people not in cars and placed security agents wielding fire extinguishers outside government offices.
More than 90,000 people signed up on a Facebook page for the Tuesday protests, framed by the organizers as a stand against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment. ... She had been to one protest before, after the police were accused of fatally beating a young man in Alexandria named Khaled Said to death last year. “I came to change the government,” she said. “I came to change the entire regime.” ....
Liam Stack and Dawlat Magdy contributed.
