Vintage Mubarak...

Some eight days after the start of the Egyptian people’s revolt, and which some have called a revolution, Mubarak’s supporters finally took to the streets, as if on cue.
Tens of thousands of them stormed Tahrir Square, hitherto the bastion of those demanding the President’s resignation.
In ten minutes, there will be a big fight here-it is an old game, the oldest game in the regime, one observer at the scene told the NYT.
Indeed, shortly, before 230PM, the violence began, instigated by Mubarak’s supporters.
The assault appeared well planned. Just twenty-four hours after Mubarak‘s speech during which he told his people he had no intention of stepping down, but would serve until the end of his term, and President Obama’s statement demanding that the political transition begin now, the old autocrat unleashed his supporters, brazenly announcing to all that he had not conceded defeat, on the contrary.
Mubarak is saying a big « F… you » to the United States and a big « F…you » to the Egyptian people, unfortunately. He’s saying, « you want me to leave? I will not leave. You will not intervene in my domestic affairs. And I will kill my people», Amr Shalakany, a professor at Cairo University, and the American University in Cairo, told McClatchy.
Some of his supporters arrived by bus. Some were reportedly paid 50 Egyptian pounds ($10 or so) to attend.
The onslaught started when Mubarak’s supporters threw projectiles at anti-government demonstrators thronging the square.
With our blood, we sacrifice for you, oh Mubarak, they chanted.
One hour later, the baltageya, or thugs in local slang, riding horses and camels, charged into the crowd wielding sticks and truncheons, striking all those within their reach…
The confrontation lasted some twenty hours, as each side lashed out at the other with clubs, sticks, bottles and rocks.
« He won’t go, » President Hosni Mubarak’s supporters chanted on the other side. « He will go, » went the reply. « We’re not going to go », reported Anthony Shadid, of the NYT.
Later Wednesday night, Mubarak supporters resorted to more lethal weapons, such as firearms and Molotov cocktails, thrown from rooftops onto opposition demonstrators below
Eight were killed, and some 890 injured during the violence, including some journalists (such as CNN‘s Anderson Cooper, who along with his crew was beaten up). Some two dozen others were also arrested.
Tellingly, the army refused to intervene.
Why don’t you protect us, the protesters complained to the idle soldiers?
Because of the mounting violence, the demands of anti-government demonstrators became more radical.
The people want the execution of the president. Mubarak is a war criminal, some shouted, according to the NYT.
They want to take the revolution from us. We are ready to die for the revolution, Mohamed Gamil, a dentist, told the NYT.
Who were the violent Mubarak supporters?
Many opposition demonstrators suspect that they were civilian-clad policemen, officers who vanished from the streets last Friday.
The strategy of sending in the thugs after making half-hearted promises was vintage Mubarak. The tactic is familiar to political observers, for he’s employed the same approach in national elections-assuring Western allies of fair polls and instead rounding up opposition candidates and dispatching foot soldiers to rough up supporters, wrote Hannah Allam of McClatchy.
Some Mubarak militants that were caught by opposition members possessed police identification cards. Some were severely beaten.
Not all were stalwart or opportunistic supporters of Mubarak, however.
Some attended because they considered that the concessions Mubarak had announced during his TV address (not seeking reelection, and amending the constitution to allow fair and free elections, for instance) were sufficient. There was no need to humiliate the President and demand his immediate departure..
People should leave Tahrir Square. The president has made the concessions he was asked for. So now people can go home. If he tries to undo the changes, we can always go back again, Mohamed Megahid, 30, told The Guardian.
On Thursday morning, bursts of gunfire were heard again in Cairo.
Clashes then erupted near the square.
This time however, the army did step in, positioning its tanks so as to separate the antagonistic factions.
Moreover, as more and more opposition demonstrators returned to the square (between 50 and 100,000 according to The Guardian), they remained firmly in control of this anti-Mubarak stronghold, and determined to pursue their campaign.
Yesterday was a slaughter. I will not leave Tahrir. I will be here until Mubarak leaves or I die, Mustafa Mohammad told the LAT.
The Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq actually apologized for the violence although a government spokesman denied the authorities had anything to do with the tragic events. I offer my apology for everything that happened yesterday because it is neither logical nor rational, he declared.
The opposition made it quite clear however, that it will not negotiate with the current regime, reflecting the will of the streets.
This is Mubarak’s mafia and they are trying to terrify us, Mohammed Ali, a twenty-three-year-old demonstrator told The Sydney Morning Herald, referring to the pro-Mubarak militants. We are not interested in negotiations. It’s been 30 years of talking. Mubarak has to leave.
The opposition has asked the Egyptian people to take to the streets again Friday, hoping that a massive turnout (which they have called the Departure Day demonstration) will finally convince Mubarak that it is time to leave.
Yet, it is not clear what will happen should, in all likelihood, he refuse to do so.
The lack of an effective and articulate opposition is also a legacy of Mubarakism.
The problem is that for 30 years, Mubarak didn’t let us build an alternative. No alternative for anything, Adel Wehba, an opposition supporter told Anthony Shadid of the NYT.
If I resign today, there will be chaos, Mubarak told Christiane Amanpour, of ABC News, this afternoon. The old autocrat has lost all sense of reality.
Chaos risks engulfing the entire nation if he does not leave and leave now.
It is clear that Egypt’s youth, having discovered its power and potential after eight days of revolt, will not tolerate any other denouement than Mubarak’s departure
What we want is simple-democracy. We don’t want Mubarak’s son as the next president; we want free elections and the right to choose the best candidate for president.
The mood here is positive among young people. We feel we are doing something very great. We feel the country is now ours and that we can change anything, Mohamed Saad, a young Egyptian, wrote in The Guardian.
Saad and millions like him have just sealed Mubarak’s fate…
(the title of this post is borrowed from this McClatchy piece; the photograph above of Mubarak supporters confronting opposition demonstrators is by AP)