Egypt in Chaos: Government tries to Assuage Demonstrators

On January 25, 2011, about 200,000 demonstrators filled the streets of Cairo, Egypt in open protest of President Hosni Mubarak, who has led the country for 30 years. The protests were aftershocks of a successful uprising in Tunisia on January 15, which ousted the country's president who had been in office for 23 years. The demonstrators were mostly young people, who used online social networks, like Facebook, to organize the protests. As these protests drag on, their ranks will be swelled by the lower and upper classes, the unemployed, opposition figures, and radical Islamic groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned fundamentalist group. The demonstrations are meet with force by Cairo police, who use such methods as tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd. As clashes between protesters, law enforcement, and pro-Mubarak groups grow, Cairo descends into a state of anarchy, as the government employs the army to act as peacekeeper. 

Vice President Omar Suleiman

Over the weekend, any signs regarding the future of the uprising remains unclear. According to The New York Times, representatives of opposition groups have stated that they will increase pressure on President Mubarak to resign, even as the newly appointed vice President Omar Suleiman has begun discussions with opposition groups. Key figures in the ruling party, including Mubarak's son, have stepped down, possibly to show that the government is genuinely interested in reform. Meanwhile, the United States has also been working behind the scenes to convince the government to accept concessions and adopt reforms. Vice President Joe Biden made a phone call to his Egyptian counterpart urging the Egyptian government to act with restraint when dealing with the protesters.

Sources include:

http://www.counterpunch.org/asfour02012011.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/world/middleeast/07egypt.html?_r=1&hp

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/02/03/egypt.protests.timeline/index.html

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/latest-updates-on-day-13-of-egypt-protests/?hp