U.S. Officials Meet as Egypt Chaos Spreads

Associated Press

CAIRO—As protests raged across Egypt, Obama Administration officials involved in monitoring the developments met at the White House on Saturday morning.

The meeting was chaired by White House national security adviser Tom Donilon and included White House chief of staff William Daley and CIA Director Leon Panetta. Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Margaret Scobey, the U.S. ambassador to Egypt, participated by teleconference, the White House said.

The meeting lasted two hours. The White House said Mr. Obama would get an update from his national security staff later Saturday. The administration offered no immediate official reaction to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak naming of a vice president and a prime minister, or the continued protests in which at least 62 people have died, according to Egyptian security officials.

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Associated Press

Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman was named vice president.

"The Egyptian government can't reshuffle the deck and then stand pat," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said earlier in a message on Twitter. "President Mubarak's words pledging reform must be followed by action."

By afternoon, protesters had filled the street in front of the Egyptian embassy in Washington, demanding that Mr. Mubarak step down.

Mr. Mubarak on Saturday elevated to vice president—the first one he has had in his 30-year rule—his intelligence chief of nearly two decades and close confidant, Omar Suleiman. Ahmed Shafiq, the civil-aviation minister and fellow former air-force officer, was named prime minister and charged with forming a new government.

Both appointments perpetuate the military's overriding role in Egyptian politics.

The appointments didn't slow the protests, as chaos engulfed Cairo, Alexandria and Suez in defiance of the government curfew imposed Friday. There was rampant looting and lawlessness was spreading fast. Residents of affluent neighborhoods were boarding up their houses against gangs of thugs roaming the streets with knives and sticks and gunfire was heard in some neighborhoods.

Tanks and armored personnel carriers fanned out across the city of 18 million, guarding key government buildings. Egyptian television reported the army was deploying reinforcements to neighborhoods to try to control the lawlessness.

The military was protecting major tourist and archaeological sites such as the Egyptian Museum, home to some of the country's most treasured antiquities, as well as the Cabinet building. The military closed the pyramids on the outskirts of Cairo—Egypt's premiere tourist site.

On Friday, protesters burned down the headquarters of Mr. Mubarak's ruling party along the Nile and set fire to other buildings, roaming the streets of downtown Cairo in defiance of a night curfew enforced by the first army deployment.

Photos: Saturday Protests

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Reuters

Protesters clashed with riot police in Cairo Saturday.

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Thousands of protesters defied the curfew for the second night Saturday, standing their ground in the main Tahrir Square in a resounding rejection of Mr. Mubarak's attempt to hang onto power with promises of reform and a new government.

"What we want is for Mubarak to leave, not just his government," Mohammed Mahmoud, a demonstrator in the city's main Tahrir Square, said Saturday. "We will not stop protesting until he goes."

A few tanks were deployed in Tahrir Square. But there have been no clashes reported between protesters and the military at all and many feel the army is with them. On one tank was scrawled black graffiti: "Down with Mubarak."

In contrast, protesters have attacked police, who are hated for their brutality. On Friday, 17 police stations throughout Cairo were torched, with protesters stealing firearms and ammunition and setting some jailed suspects free. They also burned dozens of police trucks in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez.

On Saturday, protesters besieged a police station in the Giza neighborhood of Cairo, looted and pulled down Egyptian flags before burning the building to the ground.

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak addresses the nation for the first time since violent protests erupted against his regime. Calling for reform, he shows no intention of stepping down. Video courtesy AFP.

One army captain joined the demonstrators in Tahrir, who hoisted him on their shoulders while chanting slogans against Mr. Mubarak. The officer ripped a picture of the president.

"We don't want him! We will go after him!" demonstrators shouted. They decried looting and sabotage, saying: "Those who love Egypt should not sabotage Egypt!"

Violence erupted when thousands of protesters tried to storm the Interior Ministry and police opened fire. At least three protesters were killed and their bodies were carried through the crowd.

The death toll for five days of protests has risen sharply since Friday to at least 62 with about 2,000 injured on both sides, according to security officials.

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Mr. Mubarak sacked his Cabinet Saturday and promised reforms to try to quell the protests, but it did not satisfy the demonstrators who were out in force again to demand a complete change of regime.

The president had been seen as grooming his son Gamal to succeed him, possibly even as soon as in presidential elections planned for later this year. There was significant public opposition to the hereditary succession, however.

The appointment of Mr. Suleiman, 74, answers one of the most intriguing and enduring political questions in Egypt: Who will succeed 82-year-old Mubarak?

Another question is whether his appointment will calm the seething streets of Egypt's cities.

Like Mr. Mubarak, Mr. Suleiman has a military background. The powerful military has provided Egypt with its four presidents since the monarchy was toppled nearly 60 years ago. He has been in charge of some of Egypt's most sensitive foreign policy issues, including the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

Mr. Suleiman, additionally, is widely seen as a central regime figure, a position that protesters were likely to view negatively.

Mr. Mubarak, confronted with the most dire threat to his three decades of authoritarian rule, faced his nation for the first time since the unrest began in a televised address after midnight. He made vague promises of social reform in what is likely to be interpreted as an attempt to cling to power rather than a genuine pledge solve Egypt's pressing problems.

He also defended his security forces and accused the protesters of plotting to destabilize Egypt and destroy the legitimacy of his regime, outraging those still in the streets well into the night.

"We want Mubarak to go and instead he is digging in further," protester Kamal Mohammad said. "He thinks it is calming down the situation but he is just angering people more."

Zahi Hawass, Egypt's top archaeologist, meanwhile, told state television on Saturday that he was "seriously concerned" about the safety of the capital's famed Egyptian Museum. Neighboring buildings were gutted by fires on Friday night, and he feared they would collapse and damage the museum, home to the treasures of king Tutankamun and other priceless artifacts.

Buildings, statues and even armored security vehicles were covered in anti-Mubarak graffiti, including the words "Mubarak must fall," which by morning had been written over to say "Mubarak fell."

The military extended the hours of the night curfew imposed Friday in the three major cities where the worst violence has been seen—Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. State television said it would begin at 4 p.m. and last until 8 a.m., longer than the 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. ban Friday night that appeared to not have been enforced.

Internet appeared blocked for a second day to hamper protesters who use social networking sites to organize. And after cell phone service was cut for a day Friday, two of the country's major providers were up and running Saturday.