The Egyptian military called Wednesday for an end to
more than a week of demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak,
throwing its support behind his embattled regime hours after he
defiantly rejected demands to step down immediately and said he
would serve out his term in office.
The declaration was a clear shift in the stand of the army, which
gave a tacit endorsement to the movement on Monday by saying it
would not use force against protesters, and that they had legitimate
demands.
The embodened protesters brought more than 250,000 people into
Cairo's main square Tuesday to demand Mubarak leave within days. The
president responded before midnight with a statement pledging to
serve seven more months in office "die on Egyptian soil."
Representatives of his National Democratic Party immediatel
began making public statements trying to project the image of the
regime as Egypt's sole path back to stability and security after the
disruption of normal life caused by eight days of protests, and a
wave of looting and arson that gripped the country over the weekend
after the government pulled police from te street.
The army's message to the demonstrators Wednesday had a
conciliatory tone, appealing to young protesters to stand down "out
of love for Egypt."
"You have started coming out to express your demands and you are
the ones capable of returning normal life to Egypt," military
spokesman Ismail tman said in an address on state television.
"Your message has arrived, your demands have become known."
Immediately after his statement, state television ran a scrolling
message reading: "The armed forces call on the protesters to go
home for the sake of bringing back stability."
Internet service lso began returning to Egypt after days of an
unprecedented cutoff by the government, and state TV said
authorities were easing a nighttime curfew, which now runs from 5
p.m. to 7 a.m. instead of 3 p.m. to 8 a.m.
Several thousand pro-Mubarak demonstrators were rallying in
support of him in Cairo.
Ahme Abdel Hamid, representing The Revolutionary Committee, one
of several youth groups that organized the protests, said that the
regime was going all out to pressure people to stop protesting.
"Starting with the emotional speech of Mubarak, to the closure
of banks, the shortage of food and commodities and deployment of
thugs to intimidate people, these are all means to put pressure on
the people"
The movement against Mubarak is fueled by deep frustration with
an autocratic regime blamed for ignoring the needs of the poor and
allowing corruption and official abuse to run rampant.
After years of tight state control, protesters emboldened by
unrest in Tunisia took to the streets on Jan. 25 and mounted a
once-unimaginable series of protests across this nation of 80
million.
Mubarak address to the nation around 11 p.m. Tuesday did not calm
public fury as clashes erupted in at least one city between his
opponents and supporters.
On Wednesday morning in the capital, long lines formed at gas
stations and bakeries. Fresh vegetables have all but vanished from
Cairo, with farm producers from surrounding areas unable to ferry
their goods to the city of 18 million people.
Some cars in Cairo had small papers stuck on their windscreen
declaring 'Yes to Mubarak."
On the edge of Tahrir Square , protesters from the two camps were
engaged in heated arguments over whether continued protests were
beneficial after Mubarak promised reforms and declared his intention
not to run again.
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Michael Weissenstein and Diaa Hadid contributed to this report.
