Internet shut down as Egypt unrest continues

The internet has been closed down in Egypt ahead of the biggest protests yet planned against president Hosni Mubarak's 30-year-rule.Emboldened by this month's revolt that toppled the authoritarian leader of Tunisia, Egyptians have staged mass protests since Tuesday in an unprecedented outburst of anger against Mr Mubarak.The angry nationwide demonstrations have swelled into the largest uprising in three decades, in which seven people have been killed and more than 100 injured."This is a revolution," one 16-year-old protester said in Suez."Every day we're coming back here."Internet access was shut down across the country shortly after 12:00am on Friday (local time). Mobile phone text messaging services also appeared to be partially disabled, working only sporadically.Activists have relied on the internet, especially social media services like Twitter and Facebook, to organise their protests.US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said in a tweet on Twitter: "We are concerned that communications services, including the internet, social media, and even this tweet are being blocked in Egypt."US-based internet monitoring firm Renesys said the total shutdown of the internet it recorded early on Friday was "unprecedented in internet history", going far beyond measures taken during Tunisia's protests or the 2009 uprising in Iran."Renesys observed the virtually simultaneous withdrawal of all routes to Egyptian networks in the internet's global routing table," it said."The Egyptian government's actions tonight have essentially wiped their country from the global map."A page on Facebook social networking site listed more than 30 mosques and churches where protesters were expected gather."Egypt's Muslims and Christians will go out to fight against corruption, unemployment and oppression and absence of freedom."Fires burningIn Suez, which has been ground zero for some of the most violent demonstrations, police fired tear gas at protesters who hurled stones and petrol bombs into the early hours of Friday. Fires burned in the street, filling the air with smoke.The city fire station was ablaze. Waves of protesters charged towards a police station deep into the night. Demonstrators dragged away their wounded comrades into alleys.Security forces shot dead a protester in the north of the Sinai region on Thursday, bringing the death toll to five.Video images obtained by Reuters showed the man among a small group of protesters some distance from the security forces when he suddenly collapsed with a gunshot wound and was dragged away by other demonstrators.The video circulated widely on the internet, galvanising anger.Dr Ben McQueen, an expert on Middle Eastern politics at Monash University in Melbourne, says the deterioration of economic conditions is the catalyst for the unrest."It's not so much the political unrest, it's more about unemployment and food prices and these sorts of things," he said."All of that is coinciding also with the real establishment of this incredibly large young cohort in the Arab world, the population is very much weighted to people within [the ages of] 15 and 30."All of these things sort of coalescing at the same time have created quite a volatile situation in Arab countries that are poor, that are quite populous and have quite ageing leaders and that's a consistent thing we see across Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt and to a lesser extent, in Jordan as well."More arrestsMeanwhile, at least eight senior officials of the country's largest opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, were arrested overnight.A security source said authorities had ordered a crackdown on the group.The Brotherhood has kept a low profile during the protests, although many of its supporters were expected to join demonstrations on Friday.The government has accused the group of planning to exploit the youth protests for its "hidden agendas", while the Brotherhood says it is being used as a scapegoat.Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei has arrived back in the country to join demonstratorsMr ElBaradei, a campaigner for reform in Egypt who won the peace prize for his earlier work as head of the UN nuclear agency, says it is time for Mr Mubarak to step aside."He has served the country for 30 years and it is about time for him to retire," he said.Mr ElBaradei and other opposition figures say the government exploits the Islamist opposition to justify authoritarianism.

Source: http://www.tayyar.org/Tayyar/News/PoliticalNews/en-US/129406814628648630.htm

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