'Let Them Have Anarchy'

Flying the flag for change ... Abdullah al-Qadi waves the Egyptian flag while being carried by anti-government demonstrators during celebrations of his wedding to Sonia al-Beali in Tahrir Square in Cairo. Photo: AFP


By Jason Koutsoukis
February 10, 2011
Courtesy Of "The Sydney Morning Herald"

EGYPTIAN police received direct orders from the then interior minister, Habib al-Adly, to leave their posts on Saturday, January 29, following the ''day of rage'' in which democracy supporters occupied Tahrir Square.

Confirmation of the order to vacate the streets was provided to the Herald by a police officer from Kafr el-Meselha, 70 kilometres north-west of Cairo, where the President, Hosni Mubarak, was born and raised.

''The order was very clear: disappear. Go back to your homes. Let the protesters experience anarchy,'' the police officer said.

The policeman, who asked for a ride to Kafr el-Meselha after giving directions on how to get there, said that many police officers had been afraid to come back to their posts.

''Many policemen feel great shame, and are afraid, because we abandoned our posts when the people needed us,'' he said.

The same day police were ordered to abandon their posts, looters took to the streets in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, robbing thousands of shops, businesses and homes.

''We were mainly concerned about our jobs, getting food, so that is why we followed the orders,'' the policeman said.

As Mr Mubarak hung on to power, demonstrators turned out in force on Tuesday, with hundreds of thousands gathering in Cairo's main square.

Washington urged Egypt to lift its 30-year-old emergency law and introduce democratic reforms as protesters staged their biggest show of defiance against Mr Mubarak in a three-week-old revolt.

But the Vice-President, Omar Suleiman, warned that hasty reforms could spell ''chaos''. He said ''we can't put up with'' continued protests in Tahrir Square for a long time and that the crisis must be ended as soon as possible, in a sharply worded sign of increasing regime impatience with the mass demonstrations.

At a meeting between Mr Suleiman and the heads of state and independent newspapers, he said there would be ''no ending of the regime'' and no immediate departure for Mr Mubarak, the state news agency MENA reported. He also told them the regime wanted dialogue to resolve protesters' demands for democratic reform, adding in a veiled warning: ''We don't want to deal with Egyptian society with police tools.''

But with thousands of demonstrators still camped out in the square yesterday, after the huge turnout on Tuesday, they seem set for the long haul. After signs that the protests were were losing momentum, organisers have set Tuesdays and Fridays as the main days of action and have vowed to maintain their occupation of Tahrir Square until Mr Mubarak heeds their call to leave office.

''We leave when you leave'', says a huge sign hanging in the square.

with agencies