EGYPT: Protesters emerge from their tents in Tahrir Square to resume their anti-government protest

Record ID: 699557

  • Title: EGYPT: Protesters emerge from their tents in Tahrir Square to resume their anti-government protest
  • Date: 8th February 2011
  • Summary: TANKS NEAR ENTRANCE TO SQUARE PROTESTERS PICKING UP RUBBISH IN SQUARE VARIOUS OF BANNER READING: "People demand removal of the regime!"
  • Embargoed: 23rd February 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt, Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAG98VL5EU31V0HDVAV4INQDRX
  • Story Text: Protesters camping in Cairo's Tahrir Square emerged from their tents on Monday (February 7) morning to begin a 14th day of anti-government demonstrations.
    The atmosphere was relaxed as people danced, read the newspapers and cleaned up the square.
    Many had spent the night sleeping on the street in front of tanks.
    But President Hosni Mubarak continued to hold onto power in Egypt, defying a popular uprising against his autocratic rule.
    Protesters in Tahrir Square, focal point of an uprising that has seen hundreds of thousands take to the streets and clashes in which an estimated 300 people have been killed, said they would intensify their battle to oust him.
    After nightfall on Sunday, soldiers fired shots in the air to try to disperse the crowd. But the demonstrators, who on Saturday lay down in front of army tanks, remained and the troops abandoned the attempt.
    The nation got back to work Sunday and banks reopened after a week-long crisis with lines of customers seeking access to their accounts.
    Also on Sunday, the government opened talks with opposition groups to try to resolve Egypt's deepest crisis in 30 years.
    But opposition figures said their core demand that Mubarak must go immediately was not met.
    Some expressed concern that the government was playing for time in the hope that Mubarak would hang on until September, when his current term expires.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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