White House intensifies call for change in Egypt

By the CNN Wire Staff

Washington (CNN) -- The White House stepped up its campaign for a peaceful transition and an end to the violence in Egypt Thursday as President Barack Obama called for greater respect for the "rights and aspirations of the Egyptian people."


We pray "that a better day will dawn over Egypt," Obama said at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington.White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters "it is important that we all begin to see meaningful steps, and that negotiations take place between the (Mubarak) government and a broadly based group of members of the opposition as we work through the transition toward free and fair elections."


Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has announced he will not seek re-election in September. Protesters, however, continue demand that Mubarak step down immediately with a caretaker unity government running the country until the fall elections.


Gibbs also reiterated the administration's condemnation of the violence that erupted in Cairo Wednesday. At least eight people were killed and 836 injured, according to the Egyptian health ministry.State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Thursday that the violence was carried out by "elements close to the government or ruling party."


"I don't think we have a sense of how far up the chain it went," he noted.Newly appointed Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq has apologized for the attacks. Vice President Omar Suleiman has promised the perpetrators of the violence will be held accountable.


Also of concern to the U.S. administration: a spate of attacks against journalists in Egypt. Members of the media attempting to cover the unrest are reporting being targeted, beaten, arrested and harassed by security forces and police.


State Department officials told CNN Thursday they have information that the Egyptian Interior Ministry is involved in a roundup of journalists. The officials said they are hearing reports from the U.S. Embassy in Egypt that the ministry has been involved in the arrest of reporters.


Senior State Department officials are expected to discuss the issue with the Egyptian Embassy in Washington and the Foreign Ministry in Cairo.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to issue a statement Thursday afternoon about the violence against journalists."There is a concerted campaign to intimidate international journalists in Cairo and interfere with their reporting. We condemn such actions," Crowley said.


The United States continues to walk a fine diplomatic line in the crisis, encouraging President Hosni Mubarak to transition from power while stopping short of publicly asking him to step down.


Officials say the restraint is needed because the White House is mindful that allies in the Middle East are concerned about American loyalty. Government contacts have expressed reservations about how vocal the Obama administration has been in pressing Mubarak, a close American ally of three decades.


Other regional allies are concerned about how quickly the United States might turn on them if protests start in their countries, the State Department officials said.The White House, meanwhile, has made a deliberate decision to let Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, take the lead role in communicating with the Egyptian military about its role in the current unrest, according to two senior U.S. officials.


Mullen has not told Egyptian military leaders to pressure Mubarak to step down, the officials insisted to CNN. "That's not his role," one official said.Mullen is, however, trying to push the Egyptian military to maintain security, not move against peaceful protestors, and keep the violence from escalating.


The U.S. government believes Mubarak will not issue a direct order to the Egyptian army to do anything because he is uncertain his orders would be followed, one official with very direct knowledge of evolving U.S. policy in the crisis told CNN.


A refusal on the part of the army to obey Mubarak would spell the end of the Egyptian leader's rule, the official noted. At that point, Mubarak would have to leave the country.The U.S. belief right now, the official said, is that Suleiman is letting the army feel it is "representing the flag of the nation" in trying to help without making a massive move against the government.


While Mullen is communicating with his Egyptian counterparts, the CIA has set up its own task force to monitor the crisis."The Central Intelligence Agency always surges personnel and resources as needed to meet any crisis head-on. This situation is no different, and we've established a Middle East Task Force," CIA spokesperson Jennifer Youngblood confirmed.


"Our 24/7 operations are focused on ensuring we provide the best possible insights and freshest intelligence to policymakers," she said.The chaotic situation has raised concerns that terrorist entities could try to exploit the situation."People are watching for signs that terrorists or militant groups might try to take advantage of the situation in Cairo and launch attacks," a U.S. official noted. "We expect groups like al Qaeda to take advantage of instability anywhere as a means to promote their cause publicly."


As U.S. diplomatic officials try to navigate the quickly evolving crisis, the State Department is urging Americans who want help in getting out of Egypt to take advantage of U.S. government charter flights while they are available.A senior State Department official, speaking on background because he was not authorized to use his name, told CNN that while "we cannot demand that an American leave ... we certainly (will) push for them to leave."


According to that official, the State Department began cutting back on the number of flights Thursday because some of those flights have been leaving with empty seats.About 3,000 Americans have registered for evacuation so far. An estimated 2,000 have been flown out on U.S. government charters to European locations.


Since Monday, the State Department has been running four flights a day, on average, and has been urging American citizens who want to leave to come to the Cairo airport as soon as possible.Commercial flights from Cairo are operating, and a number of Americans have also left via commercial airlines, private airlines, and other governments' chartered flights, according to the State Department.


U.S. officials are assessing whether flights will continue Friday and into the weekend.

Journalists report second day of detentions, harassment in Cairo

By the CNN Wire Staff

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Journalists attempting to cover unprecedented unrest in Egypt reported being targeted, beaten, arrested and harassed by security forces and police for a second day Thursday.


Al Jazeera released a statement demanding that three of its journalists, detained by Egyptian security forces, be released. A fourth has been reported missing, the network said.The Washington Post reported, citing multiple witnesses, that its Cairo bureau chief, Leila Fadel, and photographer Linda Davidson were among two journalists arrested Thursday morning by the Egyptian Interior Ministry. The Post later said on its blog that Fadel had called to say she and Davidson were released, but the two were separated from Sufian Taha, their translator and a longtime Post employee, and their Egyptian driver, Mansour el-Sayed Mohammed Abo Gouda. The two men were unaccounted for, the Post said.


The New York Times reported Thursday that two of its reporters had been released after being detained overnight in Cairo.Others said their gear had been confiscated. And the BBC tweeted Thursday, "Egyptian security seize BBC equipment at Cairo Hilton in attempt to stop us broadcasting."


"Gear taken at hotel for its own security," one photojournalist posted online. "... See if we get it back."U.S. State Department officials told CNN they have information that Egypt's Interior Ministry was behind the journalist detentions, citing reports from the U.S. Embassy in Egypt. Department officials were expected to discuss the issue with the Egyptian Embassy in Washington and the Foreign Ministry in Cairo.


Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the attacks and harassment of journalists seem to be part of an organized effort, but it was unclear who was directing it. "I don't think these are random attacks," he told reporters."There is a concerted campaign to intimidate international journalists in Cairo and interfere with their reporting," Crowley posted earlier Thursday on Twitter. "We condemn such actions."


A photojournalist for CNN-IBN, Rajesh Bhardwaj, was detained in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the site of bloody clashes between supporters and opponents of President Hosni Mubarak. He was taken away by the Egyptian Army and later released, but only after his identification card and tapes were destroyed, said Suhasini Haidar, CNN-IBN deputy foreign editor.


The Indian Ministry of External Affairs was advising Indian journalists in Egypt to avoid trouble spots.Other journalists reported being beaten and harassed by protesters."Situation on ground in Egypt very tense," CNN's Anderson Cooper tweeted Thursday. "Vehicle I was in attacked. My window smashed. All OK."


The Greek daily newspaper Kathimerini said one of its reporters, Petros Papaconstantinou, was beaten by protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Papaconstantinou was clubbed in the head with a baton and stabbed in the foot, either with a knife or a screwdriver, said Xenia Kounalaki, head of the newspaper's foreign desk. A photographer also sustained minor injuries, Kounalaki said, and both were treated at a Cairo hospital and released.


Other journalists reported close calls. Marie Colvin of the Sunday Times of London said she was approached by a gang of men with knives in Imbaba, a poor neighborhood of Cairo. Another group of men, who also were strangers to her, pushed her into a store and locked it to protect her, she said.


In addition, several human rights groups reported their representatives had been detained.The Hisham Mubarak Law Center, a human rights law firm, was taken over by military police, as was the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, Oxfam International said in a statement. A total of eight people were detained, including the directors of both centers, the organization said.


Oxfam said several of its staff members were among those detained. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch each said one of their researchers was detained at the law center. They were interrogated before being taken away to an unknown location in Cairo, Human Rights Watch said. All three groups called for the immediate release of their staffers.


Al Jazeera said Thursday that six of its journalists had been detained by Egyptian authorities in the past week, with equipment stolen and destroyed. "It has also faced unprecedented levels (of) interference in its broadcast signal across the Arab world," the network said in a statement.U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attacks.


"The freedom of speech, whether journalists or demonstrators -- they should be fully guaranteed and protected. That is a ground principle of democracy," he said.


Meanwhile, Shahira Amin, a reporter for Egypt's state-run Nile TV, resigned Thursday."I spent the day at Nile TV yesterday," she told CNN. "I was only allowed to air the pro-Mubarak rallies that were going on, as if nothing was happening at Tahrir Square. We weren't allowed to reveal any figures. There was a near total blackout," she said, calling it "hypocritical ... I just don't want to be part of it."


She said she should have resigned "ages ago. ... I was happy to spend the day in Tahrir Square where the people are. ... I am on their side."


"People are too scared to tell the truth," she said. "There is a built-in or inherent feeling that many Egyptian journalists have because of (the threat of) detention and arrest."She added, "I haven't been intimidated all these years. I have been telling the truth. I managed to get away with it until now. This time around, I just couldn't tell the truth, so I just walked out."


Journalists were also targeted on Wednesday, with some beaten, bloodied, harassed and detained by men, most of them apparently aligned in some way with Mubarak.Numerous news outlets -- including the BBC, ABC News and CNN -- reported members of their staffs had been attacked, mostly on the streets of Cairo. In several cases, news personnel were accused of being "foreign spies," seized, whisked away, and often assaulted.


Fox News reported Thursday that a reporter and cameraman, forced to flee their position after a Molotov cocktail ignited a fire, ran into pro-Mubarak protesters and were so severely beaten they spent the night in a hospital before being released Thursday.


"It was pandemonium. There was no control. Suddenly a man would come up to you and punch you in the face," said CNN's Cooper, describing being attacked by pro-Mubarak demonstrators along with two colleagues outside of Tahrir Square.


CNN's Hala Gorani got caught Wednesday morning in a stampede of demonstrators, some of whom were riding on camels and horses."I got slammed against the gates and was threatened by one of the pro-Mubarak protesters who was ... telling me to 'get out, get out!'" Gorani said. "The pro-Mubaraks, whoever they are, whoever sent them, are being threatening toward camera crews, journalists, anybody who looks like they may be onlookers."


A BBC correspondent, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, and his crew were "arrested by members of the secret police" on Wednesday after interviewing a presidential adviser, the BBC reported. They were later released, the network said.The Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news network was among the worst hit, with its office damaged and several of its staff targeted. Among them was correspondent Ahmed Abdullah, who his editor confirmed Wednesday was found bloodied after being severely beaten by his captors. He was transported to a hospital,


Maurice Sarfatti told the Brussels-based Le Soir newspaper, which he writes for along with publications in Switzerland and France, that he "received a stream of blows to the face" from men claiming he backed leading opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei."I am being guarded by two soldiers with Kalashnikovs (rifles) and bayonets," said Sarfatti, according to a translation from Le Soir. "They say I will be taken before the intelligence services. They say I am a spy."


The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based advocacy organization, claimed that such accounts were all too commonplace around Cairo.In a news release, the group detailed about a dozen incidents, accusing men -- most of them described as pro-Mubarak demonstrators, "plainclothes police," uniformed officers and military -- of perpetrating attacks on reporters seen with cameras and notepads.


The group laid the blame for this violence squarely on Mubarak's administration, accusing it of scheming to suppress and stifle news coverage."The Egyptian strategy is employing a strategy of eliminating witnesses to their actions," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, the committee's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. "The government has resorted to blanket censorship, intimidation and, today, a series of deliberate attacks on journalists carried out by pro-government mobs."

Mubarak tells ABC his resignation would cause chaos

By the CNN Wire Staff

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday blamed the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood for the violence unfolding in Cairo and said he would like to step down right away, but cannot because he does not want to risk plunging his nation into chaos, ABC News reported.
Mubarak told ABC correspondent Christiane Amanpour that he was troubled by the bloody clashes that broke out Wednesday in Tahrir Square, the center of anti-government demonstrations.
As the United States and other countries condemned increasing attacks on journalists and diplomats, Mubarak rejected the notion that government instigated the violence, instead blaming the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist umbrella group that is banned in Egypt.
"I don't care what people say about me," Mubarak told ABC. "Right now I care about my country, I care about Egypt."I was very unhappy about yesterday. I do not want to see Egyptians fighting each other," he said in the interview, which was conducted at the heavily guarded presidential palace where the embattled leader has been staying with his family.


Mubarak told ABC that U.S. President Barack Obama is a very good man but bristled at the notion of an ally's interference in internal problems. He said he told Obama: "You don't understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now."


Obama has said he told Mubarak a transition must take place, and it "must be meaningful, it must be peaceful and it must begin now."


Mubarak said he never intended to seek re-election. Nor did he intend his son, Gamal, who was believed to be groomed as Mubarak's successor, to seek the post. He made the comment to Amanpour in his son's presence.\


Vice President Omar Suleiman, tapped as Mubarak's vice president last Saturday, publicly announced Thursday that Gamal Mubarak will not stand in September elections.


Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt for three decades, announced his decision to not run again last week. But that concession has not been enough for tens of thousands of protesters demanding immediate change.


His regime moved Thursday to quell the deadly revolt, telling protesters their demands had been met and cracking down on journalists and human rights activists bearing witness to the crisis.


All day long, Mubarak's supporters and foes clashed again to retain control of Tahrir Square, the central city plaza that has become the symbol of the 10-day Egyptian uprising. Many looked like medieval warriors, toting handcrafted shields while throwing stones and other objects.


Top government leaders vowed to hold accountable perpetrators of the bloodshed and told protesters to return home."I want to thank the youth for all you have done," Suleiman said on state-run Nile TV. "You are the lights that have ignited reform in this period. Please give the (government a) chance to play its role. All of your demands have been met."


Mubarak supporters, some believed to be paid government thugs, converged with anti-government crowds Wednesday in a confrontation that quickly evolved into continuing mayhem in Tahrir Square. At least eight people were killed and 836 injured, including 200 wounded within one hour Thursday morning, according to the health ministry.


Journalists covering the crisis also became targets -- beaten, bloodied, harassed and detained by men, most all in some way aligned with Mubarak.Numerous news outlets -- including the BBC, ABC News, the Washington Post and CNN -- reported members of their staffs had either been attacked or arrested. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch also reported that staffers were detained.
In several cases, news personnel were accused of being "foreign spies," seized, whisked away, and often assaulted.


"The Egyptian government is employing a strategy of eliminating witnesses to their actions," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem of the Committee to Protect Journalists."The government has resorted to blanket censorship, intimidation, and today a series of deliberate attacks on journalists carried out by pro-government mobs," he said. "The situation is frightening not only because our colleagues are suffering abuse but because when the press is kept from reporting, we lose an independent source of crucial information."


The U.S. State Department publicly condemned the crackdown on journalists, and officials told CNN they have received reports that Egypt's Interior Ministry was involved.


Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called such attacks "a violation of international norms that guarantee freedom of the press, and it is unacceptable in any circumstances."


Increasingly concerned about the potential for further violence, Clinton called on the government, political parties and others to immediately begin talks "on a peaceful and orderly transition."


The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain also urged a "rapid and peaceful transition," and the European Union foreign affairs chief, Catherine Ashton, called on Mubarak to act "as quickly as possible."


Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq apologized repeatedly for the violence. He blamed infiltrators and a "complete disappearance" of police for the human toll in the "catastrophe."


"This group got in and some clashes happened," Shafiq said, adding that he would look into whether the violence was part of an organized attempt to disband the opposition.


Suleiman said Thursday that unrest has done massive economic damage to the country."Unfortunately, the economic losses every day, I cannot estimate but it's going to have a huge impact in the future," he said. "Continuing with this strike is continuing with the paralysis of the state."A million tourists have left Egypt in the past three days, Suleiman said.


The government froze the bank accounts of former leaders and imposed a travel ban that restricts them from exiting the country, state-run television said. The travel ban will remain in effect "until national security is restored and the authorities and monitoring bodies have undergone their investigations," Nile TV said.


Among the leaders facing the punitive measures is Habib Adli, former minister of the interior, which oversees Egypt's police forces.Earlier, the sound of sustained gunfire echoed through central Cairo. The military maneuvered to separate the two sides but in the afternoon, in parts of the square, the soldiers were nowhere to be seen.Shafiq appealed to his compatriots, especially Egypt's youth, to show patience as the government's leadership goes through the transitional period.


"It has great meaning not to hurt each other, hurt our reputation," he said. "Do they want what happened in Tunisia to happen here?" Shafiq said, referring to the revolt in Tunisia that led to the ouster of the nation's longtime strongman in January and served as inspiration for other nations in the region that have seen similar demonstrations.


Shafiq said he and Suleiman were meeting with the opposition -- including protesters in Tahrir Square. He said no one would be excluded from the national dialogue, including the Muslim Brotherhood.But spokesman Essam El-Erian said the Muslim Brotherhood will not participate in talks with the regime."We refuse to sit with him," El-Erian said Thursday, referring to Suleiman.


Other key opposition groups have also rejected meeting invitations, including the secular liberal Wafd Party and the Al-Ghad party, led by former presidential candidate Ayman Nour.


In the nation's second-largest city of Alexandria, some signs of normality could be seen Thursday as trams returned to the streets for the first time in days.


A group of fishermen said they wanted life to get back to normal, and one Mubarak supporter said the protests in Cairo were humiliating.

Protests start in Yemen, despite concession from president

From Mohammed Jamjoom, CNN

Sanaa,Yemen (CNN) -- What seemed like hundreds of anti-government protesters gathered near Sanaa University in Yemen's capital early Thursday morning, a clear indication that many in the country were not satisfied with President Ali Abdullah Saleh's recent announcement that he would not seek re-election.
Protesters of all ages chanted and held signs with messages against poverty and the government. Some proclaimed that Saleh needed to step down.
As the protest quickly grew, there was very litte visible security in the area.
Demonstrators had said they would continue Thursday with a planned "Day of Rage" march in Yemen despite Saleh's concession on Wednesday.
Trying to quell a growing discontent in the country, Saleh said he will not seek re-election once his current term ends in 2013, after more than three decades in office.
Saleh also said he won't install his son to replace him. He has asked his political opponents "to re-engage in dialogue in hopes of reaching a sustainable and reconcilable political agreement," the Yemeni government said.
Thursday's protest come amidst a similar ongoing unrest in Egypt and a revolt in Tunisia that forced that nation's longtime strongman to flee to Saudi Arabia in mid-January.
King Abdullah of Jordan, meanwhile, has sacked his government and appointed a new prime minister in the face of protests there.
In Yemen, Saleh had called an emergency parliamentary meeting ahead of Thursday's protests.
The protests -- which have also caught on to various extents in Algeria and Sudan -- have proved to be "a real watershed event for the Arab world," said Blake Hounshell, managing editor of Foreign Policy magazine. "It's really unprecedented."

Saleh has been in office for 32 years and was last re-elected in 2006.

Day of uncertainty begins with gunfire in Egypt

By the CNN Wire Staff

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- In a way, the events of the past week may have been a prelude to what could happen in Egypt on Thursday.
The military, which has until now said it would not use force on peaceful demonstrators, has urged anti-government protesters to return home. And supporters of embattled President Hosni Mubarak, who had been largely silent since the unrest began, came out in full force Wednesday, in one case wielding whips and thundering through the crowd on horses and camels.
As dawn broke Thursday, heavy gunfire reverberated in central Cairo as the two sides continued to face off at Tahrir Square -- the confrontations portending what awaits when Egypt awakes.
Egypt's minister of health said the number of injuries in Cairo's Tahrir Square has reached 829 -- including 200 within one hour on Thursday morning, state-run Nile TV reported. The minister also said four people were killed in Tahrir Square on Thursday morning.

CNN could not independently verify the figures.
A national security official in U.S. President Barack Obama's administration told CNN that the situation in the country could "turn really ugly" and the next 24 to 48 hours will be critical.
"Will the military continue to act responsibly? Or will it fracture?" said the official, who has been involved in Egypt deliberations. "Will Mubarak get it that the writing is on the wall and that he has to transition out quicker? Not sure anyone has the answers."
Meanwhile, chunks of concretes and Molotov cocktails flew in Tahrir Square during the escalating crisis Thursday.
The wounded were being carried into the square, largely held by anti-regime demonstrators, through an entrance that leads to the nearby Egyptian Museum. Several ambulances entered and left the square shortly before 4 a.m. Thursday.
The source of the gunfire was not immediately known.
Another U.S. official said the administration's conversations with Egyptian officials have turned tense and urgent -- with the U.S. side voicing hope the military will see the reality and pressure Mubarak to step down.
While the official was encouraged by signs that the military was not involved in the violence that broke out Wednesday, allowing such fights between supporters and opponents of Mubarak to go on "could fairly be interpreted as a choice, and a troubling choice."
This official voiced hope that "as time passes, the military will see which side it wants to be on for the good of the country and the society."
Some chanted a prayer Thursday after a day of violent street battles in central Cairo. People also shouted, "No one hurt anyone."

Sustained fire from automatic weapons, including from what sounded like a heavy machine gun, echoed around the square, the epicenter of nine days of protests calling for Mubarak's ouster.
Anti-government demonstrators hunkered down behind makeshift barricades in the square and outside the nearby national museum against the onslaught, which demonstrators said included plainclothes police officers.
"They're coming in with weapons. They're spreading violence," human rights activist Gigi Ibrahim told CNN on Wednesday. "We've had peaceful protests here since Friday and no violence here. Only today were we faced with this really violent reaction."
The pro-government protesters were not impeded by the army when they entered the square Thursday. Anti-regime protesters are now unhappy with troops -- whose commanders had promised Monday not to use force against peaceful demonstrations -- for standing by, he said.
Small fires burned in the square early Thursday, with some spreading to trees and walls.
Reported fatalities in the first eight days of demonstrations ranged as high as 300, but CNN could not independently confirm the death toll.
In one surreal moment, whip-wielding Mubarak supporters thundered through the crowd astride horses and camels, and at least one man was pulled off his mount and beaten. A Mubarak supporter who spoke to CNN said the riders were pyramid workers who were protesting the negative economic impact of the crisis.
"What you are seeing is the demonstration of the real Egyptian people who are trying to take back their country, trying to take back their street," said businessman Khaled Ahmed, who described himself as "pro-Egyptian."
But some observers said the pro-Mubarak push Wednesday was likely orchestrated by a regime bent on breaking up peaceful demonstrations.
"These are tactics that are well-known in Egypt," Michele Dunne, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told CNN's John King.
Robert Kagan of the Brookings Institution said the "rent-a-thugs" were likely sanctioned and paid by the government. This is meant to create an image of chaos so the government can move in to restore order, he said.
"Mubarak has -- now, certainly, with the violence today, but even before that -- lost the confidence of the overwhelming number of the Egyptian people," Kagan said.
Desperate for more ammunition, they dismantled sidewalks and picked up chunks of concrete They beat each other in what rapidly spiraled into utter mayhem.
Hundreds of injured people were treated by doctors and medical staff, who turned to volunteers for assistance.
CNN iReporter Hunter Moore, 26, helped treat the wounded. The U.S. schoolteacher said Tuesday's crowds at Tahrir Square were mostly peaceful. "It went downhill really, really quickly" on Wednesday, he told CNN.
It was unclear whether such confrontations were being repeated elsewhere. Other Cairo neighborhoods were calm, and rallies in Egypt's second-largest city, Alexandria, were largely peaceful.
Mubarak's opponents had stood shoulder to shoulder in Tahrir Square to call for his immediate resignation in a massive rally on Tuesday. The 82-year-old president's announcement that night that he would spend the remaining seven months of his current term working to ensure a "peaceful transition of power" failed to satisfy them, and they vowed to keep up the pressure on him to resign.
The crisis has paralyzed the Egyptian economy, as the government has closed banks, idled trains and shuttered schools. Markets are running short of basic food staples, and the situation is hurting the ability of ordinary citizens to join the demonstrations, opposition activist Ziad Aly told CNN.
"We can't get enough bread. We can't get enough food supplies," he said.
Vice President Omar Suleiman reiterated the government stance that the people have been heard, that they should go home and that they should stop demonstrating. Protesters should respect the curfew and "enable people to return to their jobs and their daily lives, and to allow schools and universities to reopen," he said in a statement.
The state-run television network, Nile TV, sought to portray the unrest as a "foreign conspiracy" fueled by international journalists, several of whom -- including CNN's Anderson Cooper -- were attacked during Wednesday's clashes.
Despite reports that shots had been fired, Nile TV's reporters denied any shooting had taken place or even that violence had broken out in Tahrir Square. The network also said that members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood were heading to the square "to throw balls of fire and to start acts of riots and violence."
When asked if that were true, Mohamed Morsy, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, said the action came from all segments of the Egyptian people, "not the Muslim Brotherhood only."
Morsy told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that the time for change is now, not when Mubarak's term ends.
"We need a new era, a new regime," Morsy said. "We have a constitution."
Asked whether Suleiman could lead the government until new elections, Morsy said the head of the country's supreme court should fulfill that role.
Mubarak's government bluntly told outsiders to mind their own business.
"Our interactions within our country are Egyptian affairs and nothing more than that," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said. Egypt "will continue to be a beacon of moderation and stability in our region," he said, but its people must settle their differences without "intervention from the outside."
Though Mubarak's concessions were large and remarkable for a man who has held a tight grip on power for three decades, it was too little, too late for many Egyptians.
"He is unfortunately going to continue the agony for another six or seven months," opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei said Tuesday night.
However, Mubarak supporter Waleed Tawfik told CNN that not all Egyptians agree that Mubarak should step down immediately.
"Change will not happen overnight. There's not a magical button for change. Change will take time," he said.
The Egyptian army can't sit on the sidelines too much longer, or it could risk unraveling, one foreign policy expert said.
The army needs to pick a course of action by Friday, when more mass protests are expected after prayers, Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, told CNN's "Parker Spitzer."

The Egyptian crisis is among the aftershocks of the revolt in Tunisia that forced that nation's longtime strongman to flee to Saudi Arabia in January. In Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh -- who has been in office for 32 years -- said Wednesday he will not run for president nor hand over power to his son once his term ends in 2013.

Who are the pro-Mubarak demonstrators?

By the CNN Wire Staff

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- For more than a week, opponents of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak had the upper hand in Cairo, protesting with near impunity in the face of police and an army that did little to stop them.
That all changed on Wednesday.
The morning after Mubarak dramatically announced he would not run for re-election in September, his supporters waded into Tahrir Square by the thousands and suddenly, serious, prolonged violence reigned in central Cairo.


There were immediate suspicions that the pro-Mubarak demonstrators were not simply average citizens standing up for the man who has led Egypt for three decades -- suspicions that proved at least partly founded.


As battles raged between the two sides, some pro-Mubarak protesters were captured by his opponents. Some were terrified to be caught and begged for their lives, screaming that the government had paid them to come out and protest. Others turned out to be carrying what seemed to be police identification, though they were dressed in plain clothes.


Shadi Hamid, a Brookings Institution analyst based in Qatar, told CNN that the use of hired muscle to break up demonstrations "is a longtime regime strategy."


"There are usually a line of thugs outside a protest who are waiting there," he said. "They're dressed in plain clothes, and then they'll usually go and attack the protesters. Egyptians have seen this for quite some time, and that's why they were able to recognize what was going on fairly quickly."


The global rights group Amnesty International said it has documented the use of unsavory forces by Egyptian authorities to disperse political gatherings in election years.


"It looks like much of this violence is being orchestrated by the Egyptian authorities in order to force an end to the anti-government protests, restore their control and cling onto power in the face of unprecedented public demands for them to go," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, the deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.\


An Interior Ministry spokesman denied on state-run television that police identification cards had been confiscated from demonstrators. He said if they had been, they were were stolen or fake. But state television reporting Wednesday did not always match CNN's own observations of what was happening in Tahrir Square.


Several CNN journalists heard from pro-Mubarak demonstrators that they worked for the government. Staff from the national petrochemical company said they had been ordered to come and protest.


Amnesty International researchers said witnesses told them of "lorry loads" of pro-Mubarak supporters leaving Wednesday morning from Mahalla, north of Cairo.


"These (pro-Mubarak) protests were organized by the government and the ruling National Democratic Party," analyst Kamal Zakher told CNN. The government mustered government workers and lawmakers whose seats are threatened, he said.


"They were ordered to go out today. They are well organized and that is suspicious -- especially the use of camels and horses. These are abnormal techniques to demonstrate," he said, referring to the shocking charge of about 50 or 60 mounted men through Tahrir in the middle of the afternoon.


And Emad Shahin, a Mideast analyst at the University of Notre Dame, said "reliable contacts in Egypt" told him the counter-protesters were organized "by Mubarak himself," with the aid of businessmen who support him.


"The whole objective is actually to give the impression that there is still support for Mubarak and to force the demonstrators out of Tahrir Square," Shahin said. He said the embattled president "is presenting a very difficult choice before the Egyptian people -- either liberty or security -- and he is hoping that they will choose security at the expense of liberty."


In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs expressed concerns about the outbreak of violence."The president and this administration strongly condemn the outrageous and deplorable violence that's taking place on the streets of Cairo," Gibbs said."Obviously, if any of the violence is instigated by the government, it should stop immediately," Gibbs added.


State television called the pro-Mubarak demonstrators tourism workers. At least some Egyptians working in the tourism industry are known to be genuinely upset at the anti-Mubarak demonstrators, accusing them of hurting their business by bringing instability.


Zakher also said it was suspicious that security forces did not intervene to break up the violence."There were no police or military to separate the two crowds at the beginning and that's also suspicious enough to implicate the security agencies," Zakher said.


Journalist and protestor Reham Saeed told CNN she saw men with police uniforms go into hotels on the way to Tahrir Square and then come out wearing civilian clothes, joining the pro-Mubarak protesters. She called that an act of "betrayal."


State TV interviewed several people at the demonstration who said they backed the president because he had provided stability and independence.


"For 30 years, we lived in peace. President Mubarak kept us safe and secure for 30 years instead of being a country that takes orders from external forces just like (U.S. President Barack) Obama now wants," Iman Abu Futuh, a pro-Mubarak demonstrator, said on Nile TV. "They want us to be another Iraq and this will not happen."


Another man said, "I didn't cry when my father died. I cried when Mubarak spoke yesterday. I grew up watching him, seeing him, having him as my leader and the great president of this nation."


And a female demonstrator said: "Mubarak is our father. No one can insult and ridicule their elders. If we do that, we belittle ourselves. This is how we destroy our country."

Opposing sides clash in fierce Cairo street battles

By the CNN Wire Staff 

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Pandemonium reigned Wednesday in the epicenter of Cairo's demonstrations, where violent street battles unfolded between supporters and foes of embattled President Hosni Mubarak.


State-run Nile TV flashed a warning ordering people to adhere to a government-imposed curfew and clear out of Tahrir Square. But curfews in the past few days have been largely ignored and a crowd, though a less intense one, remained in the downtown plaza into the night.


Earlier, tear gas and gunshots were fired to quell confrontational crowds and in one surreal moment, demonstrators thundered through the crowds on horses and camels. At least one man was pulled off his horse and beaten.


State television said the riders were pyramid workers who were protesting the negative economic impact of the crisis.Mubarak's announcement Tuesday that he will not seek re-election had been expected to dampen the passion of Egypt's nine-day uprising.


But the opposite rang true, at least in central Cairo's Tahrir Square, where a mob-rule mentality was in sharp contrast to the jubilant mood of tens of thousands of anti-Mubarak protesters the day before.


It remained unclear whether such confrontations were repeated elsewhere. Contesting rallies in Egypt's second-largest city, Alexandria, were largely peaceful. Other Cairo neighborhoods also remained calm.


Events in Egypt "have moved enormously quickly in a very volatile region of the world, the likes of which we have not seen in our lifetime," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs noted Wednesday."What we're watching," he said, "is history being made."


The sound of gunfire reverberated in Tahrir Square, which means "liberation" in Arabic. People hurled verbal insults, Molotov cocktails, rocks and anything else they could find -- shards of metal, sticks, shoes -- at one another. Desperate for more ammunition, they dismantled sidewalks and picked up chunks of cement to throw. They beat each other in what rapidly spiraled into utter mayhem.


Through the course of the afternoon, pro-Mubarak supporters added to their ranks and eventually overturned a military vehicle to surge forward past the Egyptian National Museum toward the center of Tahrir Square. Flames shot out from the awnings and doorways of several burning buildings and thick black smoke filled the air.


Some people expressed fears to journalists that a bloodbath would ensue.
Scores of people have already been wounded. Blood streaming down their faces, they were carried away from the square into a nearby makeshift clinic.Egypt's health minister said 611 people were injured, Nile TV reported. Many suffered head injuries. Ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman Shaheen also reported the death of a security forces member in an incident at a nearby bridge over the Nile River.


Protesters climbed atop army tanks, waving flags and chanting loudly.Each side in the chilling street battle fought to lay claim to this patch of central Cairo territory that has all along been the symbol of the uprising. But despite the extremely volatile altercations, the police were nowhere to be seen and the army did little to restore order.


Mubarak deployed the army Friday after police forces -- who don't have a clean track record with the Egyptian people -- used excessive force on protesters. The army said it would not attack peaceful demonstrations, but Wednesday morning, it urged a return to normalcy.


"Your message is received ... (your) demands became known," a Defense Ministry spokesman said on Nile TV. "And we are here and awake to protect the country for you ... not by power but by the love to Egypt. It is time to go back to normal life."


But the situation in Tahrir Square raised the issue of how long soldiers would stand by passively."The army seems now to be reneging on its commitment to protect peaceful protesters," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. "The fact that such violence is allowed to continue as the army stands there begs the question whether they have orders not to interfere."


Egyptian Finance Minister Samir Radwan said the army has made its mission clear: It will not harm its own people. He said the government was urging opposition leaders to begin dialogue.


"I don't care who's responsible," Radwan said of the ongoing chaos. "But I think any wise person should come to the table. This is not a blaming game. I am trying to save my country."


Nile TV sought to portray the unrest as a "foreign conspiracy" fueled by international journalists.Despite reports that shots had been fired, the television network's reporters denied any shooting had taken place and even that violence had broken out in Tahrir Square. It also said that members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood were heading to the square "to throw balls of fire and to start acts of riots and violence."


CNN journalists could not corroborate such reports. Mubarak has in the past blamed the outlawed but tolerated Islamist umbrella organization for inciting revolt.


Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said the Cairo clashes represented "the very raw and high emotions" of the Egyptian people, and "what is required now is for people to calm down. I don't agree that the Egyptian government has lost control," he said, adding that the international community should not interfere in Egypt's internal affairs.


The dramatic and potentially deadly situation Wednesday erupted after pro-Mubarak demonstrators broke through a barricade separating them from anti-government protesters who have been amassing for more than a week in the downtown plaza.


The whole world was watching the crisis engulfing the Arab world's most populous nation, often a barometer for regional sentiment and action. In Washington, the Obama administration renewed its call for calm Wednesday.
"We continue to watch the events very closely, and it underscores that the transition needs to begin now," Gibbs said from the White House, adding that there needs to be "real change" in Egypt.


United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon echoed those sentiments after a meeting in London with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

A scene of violent chaos in Cairo

By the CNN Wire Staff

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- It started with verbal abuse, and then -- perhaps inevitably -- it got physical.
Supporters of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak flooded into Cairo's Tahrir Square Wednesday after the president's opponents dominated the scene for more than a week.
Separated at first by barriers, the rival demonstrators exchanged insults, then began throwing anything they could find at each other, including shoes, rocks and sticks.
Suddenly the barriers came down. People surged toward each other in a chaotic scene that conjured images of a revolution.

Some injured protesters fell. Others stumbled through the crowd. Blood streamed down the faces of the injured.
Many of the injuries were serious, even though demonstrators wrapped sweatshirts and other clothes around their heads to protect themselves from flying stones.
Dozens of wounded were carried away, bleeding from gashes. It was impossible to tell from visits to a makeshift clinic which side was faring worse, CNN's Ben Wedeman said. He said simply: "They are all Egyptians."
A mosque served as a makeshift field hospital, staffed by volunteer doctors, he said.
Police were nowhere to be seen.
Army tanks surrounded the square, but the military proved unable or unwilling to separate the two sides. The hatches on their tanks and armored personnel carriers remained closed.
Some brave Egyptians tried to stop the violence, putting their bodies between the sides. Briefly they seemed to succeed. There was a lull in the violence. Some protesters from the rival camps embraced.
All at once, about 50 or 60 people carrying clubs and riding horses and camels charged into the square, beating some protesters. At least one man was pulled off his horse and beaten.
And the frenzy intensified. People tore paving stones out of the streets with crowbars and their bare hands, filling bags with rocks to use as an arsenal in the street battle.

Some ripped street signs out of the ground, using the metal as makeshift shields.
CNN's Hala Gorani was threatened by a pro-Mubarak supporter who told her to get out of the area.
"I was a little bit fearful," she said. Another protester stepped in and protected her, telling the first not to touch her because "she is with me."
She said she ran as fast as she could back to her colleagues.
"I'm fine, but I've got to say, this is a situation that can turn on a dime. There is a lot of anger coming from those protesters."
They are attacking journalists, she said, and will threaten anyone who looks Western with violence.

It was unclear whether there was shooting on the square. CNN's Fred Pleitgen and Anderson Cooper said they heard shots being fired, although Cooper suggested it may have been troops on the sidelines shooting into the air to try to restore order.
The interior ministry denied there was shooting.
CNN's Ivan Watson, overlooking the square from a hotel, did not hear any gunfire, he said, calling that "a blessing."

And somehow, amid the clashes, pockets of peace remained -- including around small groups who, amid the violence, dropped to their knees and faced Mecca. The time had come for daily prayers.