CAIRO: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak refused on Saturday to bow to demands that he resign, after ordering troops and tanks into cities in an attempt to quell an explosion of street protest against his 30-year rule.
Mubarak dismissed his government and called for national dialogue to avert chaos following a day of battles between police and protesters angry over poverty and political repression.
The unprecedented unrest has sent shock waves through the Middle East, and unsettled global financial markets on Friday.
Shortly after midnight, the army took control of Cairo’s central Tahrir Square, which had been the focus for thousands of protesters trying to force their way to parliament.
More than 20 military vehicles moved into the square, blanketing the area. Protesters, who had earlier been fired at with teargas and rubber bullets, fled into side streets leaving the square empty except for the military.
“It is not by setting fire and by attacking private and public property that we achieve the aspirations of Egypt and its sons, but they will be achieved through dialogue, awareness and effort,” said Mubarak, in his first public appearance, on state television, since unrest broke out four days ago.
Shots were heard in the evening near parliament and the headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party was in flames, the blaze lighting up the night sky.
Mubarak said he was dismissing his government — a move unlikely to placate many of the thousands who defied a nighttime curfew after a day of running battles with police.
The president made clear he had no intention to resign over the protests, triggered by the overthrow two weeks ago of Tunisian President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Al Ben Ali after demonstrations over similar issues of poverty and liberty.
“There will be new steps toward democracy and freedoms and new steps to face unemployment and increase the standard of living and services, and there will be new steps to help the poor and those with limited income,” he said.
“There is a fine line between freedom and chaos and I lean toward freedom for the people in expressing their opinions as much as I hold on to the need to maintain Egypt’s safety and stability,” Mubarak said.
Medical sources said at least five protesters had been killed and 1,030 wounded in Cairo on a day that saw security forces using rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds. Thirteen were killed in Suez and six in Alexandria.
Many protesters are young men and women. Two-thirds of Egypt’s 80 million people are below 30 and many have no jobs. About 40 percent of Egyptians live on less than $2 a day.
The unrest in Egypt, Yemen and elsewhere was triggered by the overthrow two weeks ago of Tunisian President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Al Ben Ali.
Snatch squads of plain clothes security men dragged off suspected ringleaders. At the Fatah mosque in central Ramses Square in Cairo, several thousand were penned in and teargassed.
Protesters often quickly dispersed and regrouped.
Some held banners saying: “Everyone against one” and chanted “Peaceful peaceful peaceful, no violence.” Others threw shoes at and stamped on posters of Mubarak. “Leave, leave, Mubarak, Mubarak, the plane awaits you,” people chanted.
Activist Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Laureate, was briefly penned in by police after he prayed at a mosque in the Giza area but he later took part in a peaceful march with supporters. Arabiya television said later police had “asked” him to stay home but this could not be confirmed.
In some parts of Cairo, protests were peaceful. Dozens of people prayed together on one road. In Giza, on the city outskirts, marchers shook hands with the police who let them pass peacefully.
It is far from a foregone conclusion that the protesters will force Mubarak out given the strength of the security forces in Egypt.
.”.. the Egyptian security apparatus ... over the years has developed a vested interest in the survival of President Mubarak’s regime,” said Amon Aran, a Middle East expert at London’s City University.
“This elaborate apparatus has demonstrated over the past few days that it is determined to crush political dissent,” he said.
“Mubarak is showing he is still there for now and he is trying to deflect some of the force of the process away from himself by sacking the Cabinet. In some ways, it is reminiscent of what Ben Ali did in Tunisia before he was forced out,” Anthony Skinner, Associate Director of political risk consultancy Maplecroft, said.
“We will have to see how people react but I don’t think it will be enough at all. I wouldn’t want to put a number on his chances of survival — we really are in uncharted territory.”
Markets were hit by the uncertainty. US stocks suffered their biggest one-day loss in nearly six months, crude oil prices surged and the dollar and US Treasury debt gained as investors looked to safe havens.
“I think the next two to three weeks, the crisis in Egypt and potentially across the Middle East, might be an excuse for a big selloff of 5 to 10 percent,” said Keith Wirtz, president and chief investment officer at Fifth Third Asset Management in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The head of the opposition Wafd party, Sayyid Al-Badawi, said Egypt needed a period of transitional rule, new parliamentary elections and an amended constitution to prevent a president serving for more than two six-year terms.
Wafd, a decades old liberal, nationalist party, boycotted the parliament election in November saying the vote was rigged in favor of Mubarak’s National Democratic Party.
Before Friday’s clashes, at least five people had been killed over the four days, one of them a police officer. Police have arrested several hundred people.
Members of the Muslim Brotherhood opposition group, including at least eight senior officials, were rounded up overnight. The government has accused the Brotherhood of planning to exploit the protests.
Many protesters are young men and women. Two thirds of Egypt’s 80 million people are below 30 and many have no jobs. About 40 percent of Egyptians live on less than $2 a day.
Elections were due to be held in September and until now few had doubted that Mubarak would remain in control or bring in a successor in the shape of his 47-year-old son Gamal.
Father and son deny that Gamal is being groomed for the job.
In Washington, the White House said it would review its aid policy toward Egypt based on the events of coming days. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington was deeply concerned by violence used by the security forces.
The unrest, which has raised fears of instability in other Middle Eastern countries, hit global financial markets. Crude oil prices surged, world stocks fell and the dollar and US Treasury debt gained as investors looked to safe havens.
The Pentagon said Egyptian armed forces chief of staff Lt. Gen. Sami Enan would break off defense talks in Washington and return to Cairo on Friday.
The protests have put the United States into a quandary of its own. Washington views Mubarak as a key partner — a linchpin for future Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking and a bulwark against Iran’s regional clout — but US officials have stressed this week their long-standing support for democratic reform in his country.
President Barack Obama and aides intensified their rhetoric as the protests continued, and the threat of a change in aid raised that pressure to a new level.
Washington gave Cairo $1.3 billion in military aid and $250 million in economic aid in the 2010 fiscal year, making it one of the largest US aid recipients across the globe.
“We will be reviewing our assistance posture based on events that take place in the coming days,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.
“We are watching very closely the actions of the government, of the police, of all the security forces and all of those in the military — that their actions may affect our assistance would be the subject of that review.”
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed all sides to refrain from violence.
“We urge the Egyptian authorities to allow peaceful protests and to reverse the unprecedented steps it has taken to cut off communications,” she told reporters in Washington, referring to the blocking of Internet social networking sites.
“These protests underscore that there are deep grievances within Egyptian society, and the Egyptian government needs to understand that violence will not make these grievances go away.”
