A sad regression in Egypt. Pro-democracy activists across the spectrum from secularists to Islamists have long suspected that the military government that took over from Mubarak was just his a different face of the same government, and this seems to be proven correct. The Egyptian Army was demanding major powers in any democratic government including being able to overturn policies. When the people stepped out to demand power, the military ruler shot them.
Egypt's revolution entered a dangerous phase of confrontation on Sunday after the army attacked thousands of anti-junta protesters in Cairo, putting the viability of imminent parliamentary elections in serious doubt.
Several political parties and individual candidates said they were suspending their electoral campaigns after a weekend in which at least five people were killed and almost a thousand injured in some of the fiercest clashes seen since the heady days of February when Hosni Mubarak was ejected from power.
Protesters later retook Tahrir Square, in central Cairo, and vowed to stay put until the military authorities are removed. Many said they were ready to die for the revolution, which began in late January as an anti-Mubarak movement, but is now targeting the army generals of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (Scaf) who replaced him.
Amid calls for a national government of salvation to be set up to face down the junta, the opposition figurehead, Mohamed ElBaradei, said he was ready to do "whatever it takes" to save Egypt from deepening crisis.
"I think what we've seen today is an excessive use of force, bordering on a slaughterhouse, against innocent civilians exercising their inalienable right to demonstrate," ElBaradei told the Guardian.
But the interim authorities merely stated that the elections, due to start on 28 November, would go ahead as planned – and thanked officers for "self-restraint in dealing with the events".
Egypt's revolution entered a dangerous phase of confrontation on Sunday after the army attacked thousands of anti-junta protesters in Cairo, putting the viability of imminent parliamentary elections in serious doubt.
Several political parties and individual candidates said they were suspending their electoral campaigns after a weekend in which at least five people were killed and almost a thousand injured in some of the fiercest clashes seen since the heady days of February when Hosni Mubarak was ejected from power.
Protesters later retook Tahrir Square, in central Cairo, and vowed to stay put until the military authorities are removed. Many said they were ready to die for the revolution, which began in late January as an anti-Mubarak movement, but is now targeting the army generals of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (Scaf) who replaced him.
Amid calls for a national government of salvation to be set up to face down the junta, the opposition figurehead, Mohamed ElBaradei, said he was ready to do "whatever it takes" to save Egypt from deepening crisis.
"I think what we've seen today is an excessive use of force, bordering on a slaughterhouse, against innocent civilians exercising their inalienable right to demonstrate," ElBaradei told the Guardian.
But the interim authorities merely stated that the elections, due to start on 28 November, would go ahead as planned – and thanked officers for "self-restraint in dealing with the events".
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