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Egyptian protests – timeline for the weekend's events

 

By staff writer
The Guardian
January 30, 2011 ET

Sat­urday's events

10.42am Overnight, Pres­ident Mubarak makes his first appear­ance to an­nounce that he is sacking his cab­i­net. Protesters throw stones as riot po­lice try to enter Tahrir square in central Cairo. Egypt's cab­i­net meets to formally submit its res­ignation.

11.51am Egyptian state televi­sion an­nounces that the curfews imposed in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez have been ex­tended to run from 4pm (2pm GMT) to 8am (6am GMT).

12.18pm The armed forces close the pyra­mids, with tanks and armoured person­nel carri­ers sealing off the normally packed site on the Giza plateau to tourists. Reuters says the country's stockmar­ket will be closed tomorrow. The move comes af­ter sharp falls over the last few days.

12.29pm King Abdullah of Saudi Ara­bia backs Mubarak. 'he Kingdom of Saudi Ara­bia ... de­clares it stands with all its resources with the govern­ment of Egypt and its people,' he is quoted as saying.

1.13pm The For­eign Office says that around 30,000 British tourists are in Egypt. While it wasn't advis­ing Britons to leave, it said they should not take part in the protests and should abide by the curfews.The de­part­ment is advis­ing against all but essential trav­el to the cities of Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor and Suez.

2.01pm AP reports peaceful protests in Tahrir Square with few po­lice in the crowds, soon fol­lowed by news of po­lice opening fire near the in­te­rior min­istry. A number of people are wounded by gunshots.

2.15pm Egyptian state televi­sion reports that loot­ers have bro­ken into the Egyptian Mu­se­um and de­stroyed two an­cient mummies. Demonstrators form a human chain around army tanks in Tahrir Square as they help to pro­tect the mu­se­um.

2.23pm Thou­sands of people con­tinue to protest af­ter the start of the ex­tended curfew. Defying an army warning that anyone vio­lating the or­der would be in dan­ger, crowds throng in central Cairo and Alexandria.

3.22pm: Po­lice in Cairo are firing live rounds at protesters, accord­ing to Jack Shenker. He says there's still confu­sion over the military's role. Out­side the min­istry he saw a tank roll in to cheers from protesters. But it then appeared to move into a holding po­sition, prompting some protesters to throw rocks at it. Oth­er demonstrators tried to stop them.

3.30pm AP reports that at least three demonstrators have been killed around the area of Tahrir Square af­ter thou­sands tried to storm the in­te­rior min­istry. The news agency now puts the death toll at 48

4.23pm For­mer air force commander Ahmed Shafiq is ap­pointed prime min­is­ter. Egypt's intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, is now vice-pres­ident – the first to hold this office since Mubarak took power in 1981.

4.25pm Reuters reports on the deploy­ment of army vehicles to pro­tect wealthy ar­eas of Cairo's suburbs. Witnesses say the action was tak­en af­ter they heard gunshots and accounts of looting.

5.58pm Pe­ter Bouckaert, emergencies di­rector for Human Rights Watch, says he went to the morgue at the Alexandria general hos­pital, where he saw 13 bod­ies. He says an Egyptian lawyer counted 20 bod­ies at an­oth­er Alexandria morgue. An hour lat­er, al-Jazeera reports more than 100 people have died in the protests in the past 24 hours – including 25 in Cairo, 38 in Suez and 36 in Alexandria. AP puts the toll at 62 over the last two days.

7.04pm: Var­ious news sources report that the curfew has been bro­ken in Alexandria and Cairo, and that looting is now a major concern.

7.55pm In a joint state­ment with Nicolas Sarkozy and An­gela Merkel, David Cameron says: 'The Egyptian people have le­git­i­mate grievances and a long­ing for a just and better fu­ture ... We urge Pres­ident Mubarak to embark on a process of transformationreflected in broad-based govern­ment and free elections.'

8.10pm: AFP reports 12 dead in fight­ing be­tween demonstrators and po­lice in Beni Suef, 100km south of Cairo.

9.29pm al-Jazeera reports the arrest of gangs in Alexandria, and 9.46pm Reuters reports that po­lice have shot dead 17 people who were trying to attack two po­lice stations in Beni Suef gover­norate. Dozens of oth­ers were injured in the exchanges.

10.58pm As protests con­tinue across Egypt, both AP and al-Jazeera report that 19 private jets carrying the fam­i­lies of wealthy busi­ness­men have de­parted Cairo for Dubai.

Today's events

8.59am Most shops re­main closed as more than 1,000 people gath­er in central Cairo.

9.27am Israeli PM Binyam­in Netanyahu ex­presses concern about 'stability and secu­rity' in the region. The Rafah bor­der cross­ing be­tween the Gaza Strip and Egypt has been closed. The Israeli military is concerned that mili­tants in Gaza may try to bring in weapons from Sinai.

10.14am The For­eign Office advises Britons to leave Cairo, Alexandria and Suez.

10.56am Al-Jazeera is tak­en off air in Egypt.

11.03am 34 members of the Muslim Broth­er­hood, including sev­en leaders, escape from pri­son, accord­ing to Reuters, af­ter rel­atives storm the jail north-west of Cairo.

11.33am Hos­pitals in Alexandria and Cairo request blood.

12.04pm A check­point starts con­duction weapons searches in Tahrir square in central Cairo.

12.25pm Sev­eral countries, including the US and India, an­nounce plans to organ­ise evac­uation flights from Egypt.

1.05pm Modern US tanks are deployed in Cairo for the first time, confirm­ing rumours that elite troops are be­ing moved to the cap­ital.

1.39pm The Muslim Broth­er­hood says it will support the Mohamed ElBa­radei's negotiations with the regime.

2.01pm ElBa­radei calls on Mubarak to 'leave today and save the country'.

2.19pm At least 20,000 protesters are in Tahrir square, left, many cheering as fight­er jets fly past repeatedly. The crowd chants: 'We will not leave until he leaves.'

2.21pm Hillary Clinton tells US TV: 'We … don't want to see some takeover that would lead not to democ­racy but to op­pres­sion and the end of the as­pirations of the Egyptian people.'

2.26pm The Muslim Broth­er­hood calls for a 'national salvation govern­ment'.

2.51pm Human Rights Watch confirms 17 have died in Suez dur­ing the protests and more than 100 injured.

3.14pm False rumours that Mubarak has fall­en are greeted by hugs and cheering by protesters in Tahrir square, but the army has two columns of tanks and wa­ter cannon in place.

4.31pm ElBa­radei arrives in Tahrir square to address the crowd, right. He tells them: 'You have tak­en back your rights and what we have be­gun cannot go back … We have one main de­mand – the end of the regime and the be­ginning of a new stage, a new Egypt.'

5.13pm Egyptian TV viewers can't see the footage of ElBa­radei because al-Jazeera con­tinues to be blocked.

5.53pm Eu­ropean Union of­ficials say the unrest in Egypt will top the agenda at a meeting of EU for­eign min­is­ters today in Brus­sels.

6.41pm Army tank joins protesters in pro­ces­sion through Alexandria, al-Jazeera reports. The commander of the tank in­sisted that the army had 'no in­tention of stopping this march'.

7.09pm Of­ficial secu­rity sources an­nounce that the curfew will be ex­tended tomorrow – Monday – starting from 3pm local time until 8am on Tuesday. It has been ignored nationwide so far.

Source: The Guardian
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Egyptian protests – timeline for the weekend's events
credit: Khalil Hamra/AP
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Mohamed ElBaradei addressing the crowd at Tahrir Square in Cairo. Photograph: Khalil Hamra/AP
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