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Mubarak deploys the army to enforce a curfew
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CAIRO (Reuters) – President Hosni Mubarak sent troops and armored cars onto the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities on Friday in an attempt to quell street fighting and mass protests demanding an end to his 30-year rule.

Mubarak declared a night-time curfew firstly in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, the epicenter of demonstrations in the last four days, then extended it to all cities. Demonstrators stayed on the streets in defiance of security forces, some mounting armored cars, cheering and waving flags.

Medical sources said 870 protesters had been wounded on a day that saw security forces using rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds n running battles. Some were in a serious condition with bullet wounds.

The demonstrations involving tens of thousands of people were the biggest and bloodiest in four consecutive days of protests by people fed up with unemployment, poverty, corruption and the lack of freedom under Mubarak.

Protesters hurled stones at police and shouted “Down, Down, Hosni Mubarak.”

“This protest is not going to stop. They won’t and can’t trick the people again and give us some lame concessions. Hosni has to go,” protester Mohamed Taha in Hussein said after fleeing a police attack.

“I am 70 years old, I am going to die, but these people have to fight to live,” he said.

The unrest in Egypt, which has raised fears of instability in other authoritarian Middle Eastern countries, hit global financial markets. Investors turned to the dollar and U.S. Treasuries as safe havens, while stocks fell around the world and crude oil prices rose.

Friday evening marked the first time the army had been put onto the streets. It was not immediately clear what role it would play or how troops would react to the protesters.

“According to what some provinces witnessed in terms of riots, lawlessness, looting, destruction, attack and burning of public and private property including attacks on banks and hotels, President Hosni Mubarak decreed a curfew as a military ruler,” state TV said.

FIRES

As darkness fell, tracked armored cars took up positions in key cities.

“The armed forces started to deploy forces in the governorates of Cairo, Alexandria and Suez as a first stage in implementing the decree…imposing a curfew starting from 6 p.m.,” the official news agency reported.

Some 2,000-3,000 people thronged around a military vehicle near Cairo’s Tahrir square, a Reuters witness said. They climbed on it, shaking hands with the soldiers, and chanted: “The army and the people are united” and “The revolution has come.”

Shots were heard near parliament and TV showed the headquarters of the ruling party in flames, the blaze lighting up the night sky. Al Arabiya television said protesters forced their way into the state television building

In the eastern city of Suez, site of the strategically crucial canal, armored cars deployed in front of the charred remains of a police station, a Reuters witness said.

Dozens of protesters climbed on the military vehicles in Suez. They talked to soldiers who attempted to wave them off.

The unrest was triggered by the overthrow two weeks ago of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Al Ben Ali in an uprising that has also inspired anti-government protests in Yemen and elsewhere.

The events pose a quandary for the United States, which has professed its wish for democracy to spread across the Middle East. Mubarak, however, has been a close Washington ally for many years and the recipient of huge amounts of military aid.

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. government was deeply concerned by the violence used by the security forces against the protesters and she urged the government to restrain them. Protesters should be allowed to express themselves peacefully, she said.

Snatch squads of plain clothes security men dragged off suspected ringleaders. At the Fatah mosque in central Ramses Square, several thousand people were penned in and teargassed.

Protesters often quickly dispersed and regrouped.

Some held banners saying: “Everyone against one” and chanted “Peaceful peaceful peaceful, no violence.” Others threw shoes at and stamped on posters of Mubarak. As clashes intensified, police waded into the crowds with batons and fired volleys of tear gas.

“Leave, leave, Mubarak, Mubarak, the plane awaits you,” people chanted.

Prominent activist Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Laureate, was briefly penned in by police after he prayed at a mosque in the Giza area but he later took part in a peaceful march with supporters. Arabiya television said later police had “asked” him to stay home but this could not be confirmed.

TROUBLE ACROSS EGYPT

In some parts of Cairo, protests were peaceful. Dozens of people prayed together on one road. In Giza, on the city outskirts, marchers shook hands with the police who let them pass peacefully.

It is far from a foregone conclusion that the protesters will force Mubarak out. They face two key challenges, said Amon Aran, a Middle East expert at London’s City University.

“One is the Egyptian security apparatus, which over the years has developed a vested interest in the survival of President Mubarak’s regime. This elaborate apparatus has demonstrated over the past few days that it is determined to crush political dissent,” he said.

“Another obstacle derives from the fact that, so far, the protesters do not seem to form a coherent political opposition. The popular outcry is loud and clear, but whether it can translate into a political force is questionable.”

Before Friday’s clashes, at least five people had been killed over the four days, one of them a police officer. Police have arrested several hundred people.

Members of the Muslim Brotherhood opposition group, including at least eight senior officials, were rounded up overnight. The government has accused the Brotherhood of planning to exploit the youth protests while it says it is being made a scapegoat.

Many protesters are young men and women. Two thirds of Egypt’s 80 million people are below the age of 30 and many have no jobs. About 40 percent of Egyptians live on less than $2 a day.

Egypt has been under emergency rule throughout Mubarak’s term in office. The government says it is used to combat terrorism. Critics say it is used to stifle any dissent.

Elections were due to be held in September and until now few had doubted that Mubarak would remain in control or bring in a successor in the shape of his 47-year-old son Gamal.

Father and son deny that Gamal is being groomed for the job.