Cairo(ANN)Thousands of protesters have gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square awaiting word on whether Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will stay in office amid conflicting reports as he is expected to address the nation Thursday evening.
A senior Egyptian official confirms to Fox News that President Hosni Mubarak will step down shortly and transfer authority to the Egyptian Higher Council of the Armed Forces — but Egypt’s information minister tells Reuters that “the president is definitely not going to step down.”
The group is comprised of the minister of defense, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi – who stands atop the military hierarchy – along with the military’s chief of staff, the chief of operations, and commanders of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Air Defenses.
In a statement read on Egyptian television, a spokesman reportedly said, “Stemming from the armed forces’ responsibility and committing to the protection of the people, safeguarding their interest and security, and keen on the safety of the homeland, the citizens and the achievements of the great Egyptian people, and asserting the legitimate rights of the people, the Higher Council of the Armed Forces convened today, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011, to deliberate on the latest developments of the situation and decided to remain in continuous session to discuss what measures and arrangements could be taken to safeguard the homeland and its achievements, and the aspirations of the great Egyptian people.”
The Egyptian army is threatening to act if protesters resist change.
Mubarak has left his presidential palace and travelled to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh with his army chief of staff, according to Al Arabiya as reported by Reuters. This report comes as Nile television says that Mubarak recorded his speech Wednesday.
A senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood tells Reuters that he believes the Egyptian army was staging a military coup.
“It looks like a military coup … I feel worry and anxiety. The problem is not with the president, it is with the regime,” Essam al-Erian told Reuters.
President Obama said at a new wireless initiative event in Michigan that “we are witnessing history unfold.”
“The people of Egypt are calling for a change,” Obama said.
The president also said the U.S. will do anything it can to support a smooth transition of power in Egypt.
“We want all Egyptians to know America will continue to do every thing that we can to support an orderly and genuine transition to democracy in Egypt,” he said.
Footage on state TV showed Defense Minster Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi chairing the military’s supreme council, with around two dozen top stern-faced army officers, seated around a table. Not at the meeting were Mubarak, the military commander in chief, or his vice president Omar Suleiman, a former army general and intelligence chief named to his post after the protests erupted Jan. 25.
That could be a sign that Suleiman, as well, was being pushed out of power.
“All your demands will be met today,” Gen. Hassan al-Roueini, military commander for the Cairo area, told thousands of protesters in central Tahrir Square. The protesters lifted al-Roueini onto their shoulders and carried him around the square, shouting, “the army, the people one hand.” Some in the crowd held up their hands in V-for-victory signs, shouting “the people want the end of the regime” and “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” a victory cry used by secular and religious people alike.
But protesters also chanted, “civilian not military,” a signal they do not want military rule. More people flowed into the square following the military announcement in the evening.
In the military’s announcement on state TV, the council’s spokesman read a statement announcing the military’s “support of the legitimate demands of the people.”
He said the council was in permanent session to explore “what measures and arrangements could be made to safeguard the nation, its achievements and the ambitions of its great people.” That suggested Tantawi and his generals were now in charge of the country.
The statement was labeled “Communique No. 1,” language that also suggests a military coup.
The head of Mubarak’s ruling party, Hossam Badrawi, told The Associated Press that he expects that Mubarak will “respond to protesters’ demands” in his evening speech.
The moves came after protests Thursday increasingly spiraled out of the control of efforts led by Suleiman to contain the crisis. Labor strikes erupted around the country in the past two days, showing that the Tahrir protests had tapped into the deep well of anger over economic woes, including inflation, unemployment, corruption, low wages and wide disparities between rich and poor.
In the past two days, state employees revolted against their directors, factories around the country were hit by strikes, riots broke out in several cities far from Cairo. Protesters angry over bread and housing shortages or low wages burned the offices of a governor and several police headquarters while police stood aside. Professionals and workers began joining the crowds of anti-Mubarak protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
On Thursday, hundreds of lawyers in black robes broke through a police cordon and marched on one of Mubarak’s palaces — the first time protesters had done so. The president was not in Abdeen Palace, several blocks from Tahrir. The lawyers pushed through a line of police, who did nothing to stop them.
Tens of thousands were massed in Tahrir itself, joined in the morning by striking doctors who marched in their white lab coats from a state hospital to the square and lawyers who broke with their pro-government union to join in.
“Now we’re united in one goal. The sun of the people has risen and it will not set again,” one of the lawyers, Said Bakri, said before the series of military announcements.
Suleiman has led the regime’s management of the crisis since he was named to the vice president post soon after protests erupted on Jan. 25. With his efforts failing to bring an end to protests, he and his foreign minister both warned of the possibility of a coup and imposition of martial law if the protesters do not agree to a government-directed framework of negotiations for reforms. The protesters demanded Mubarak step down first.
The protests were only gaining momentum, given a further push by the labor unrest. Strikes were flaring so quickly that protesters sent out messages to railroad workers not to halt trains with a strike because people in the provinces want to come to Cairo to join the Tahrir rallies.
Youth activists organizing the protests planned to up the pressure on the streets even further, calling for an expanded rally on Friday, hoping to repeat a showing earlier this week that drew about a quarter-million people. Friday’s protest was to be expanded, with six separate rallies planned around Cairo, all to eventually march on Tahrir, said Khaled Abdel-Hamid, speaking for a coalition of groups behind the protests.
Strikes erupted in a wide breadth of sectors — postal workers, electricity staff and service technicians at the Suez Canal, in factories manufacturing textiles, steel and beverages and hospitals.
A bus strike launched Thursday snarled traffic in Cairo, a city of 18 million where many of its impoverished residents rely on public transport. Few buses were seen on the streets, which were jammed and slow moving because of the extra reliance on cars.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Refresh for further updates
Key facts about Egypt’s military:
Egypt’s military has produced all three presidents the country has had since a 1952 coup led by Lt. Col. Jamal Abdel Nasser ended the monarchy, and the army remains a powerful force.
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Key facts about Egypt are military:
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It is one of the world’s largest recipients of U.S. military aid. Washington agreed to a $13 billion, 10-year aid package to Egypt in 2007.
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Morale in the military and paramilitary security forces is good, partly because of a higher standard of living among the military than the population as a whole, according to Jane’s Intelligence. The military monitors troops to keep Islamist influence in check.
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President Hosni Mubarak was commander of Egypt’s air force during the 1973 war with Israel, which saw initial Arab victories before Israel’s counterattack defeated the Arab armies. Mubarak became President Anwar Sadat’s vice president in 1975 and became president when Sadat was assassinated in 1981.
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Egypt’s military is among the largest in the Middle East. Older officers were trained in the Soviet Union, but younger ones studied in the west. Egypt regularly conducts joint military exercises with NATO.
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