[Arab News] Egyptian geriatric President Hosni Mubarak named a vice president Saturday for the first time since coming to power nearly 30 years ago -- a clear step toward setting up a successor in the midst of the biggest anti-government protests of his regime.After five days of protests, Cairo was engulfed in chaos.
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.
Thousands of protesters defied the curfew for the second night Saturday, standing their ground in the main Tahrir Square in a resounding rejection of Mubarak's attempt to pacify them 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 Tahrir Square, said Saturday. "We will not stop protesting until he goes."
A few tanks were deployed in the square. But there have been no festivities between protesters and the military at all and many feel the army is with them. Anti-Mubarak graffiti was scrawled on one tank.
In contrast, protesters have attacked police, who are hated for their brutality. On Friday, 17 cop shoppes throughout Cairo were torched, with protesters stealing firearms and ammunition and setting some jugged suspects free. They also burned dozens of police trucks in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez.
On Saturday, protesters besieged a cop shoppe in the Giza neighborhood of Cairo, looted and pulled down Egyptian flags before burning the building to the ground.
One army captain joined the demonstrators in Tahrir, who hoisted him on their shoulders while chanting slogans against the president. The officer ripped a picture of the president.
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 corpse count 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.
Mubarak sacked his Cabinet Saturday and promised reforms to try to quell the protests. He named his intelligence chief of nearly two decades and close confidant Omar Suleiman as vice president, state television reported.
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
Like Mubarak, Suleiman, 74, 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 Paleostinian-Israeli grinding of the peace processor.
Mubarak also named his new prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, the outgoing civil aviation minister and fellow former air force officer.
Al Arabiya television quoted the speaker of Parliament as saying Egypt has no plans for early elections. The presidential election is due in September.
Leading Egyptian dissident Mohamed El-Baradei said the measures were not enough to end the revolt. In comments to Al Jizz television, he urged Mubarak to leave Egypt as soon as possible for the good of the country.
"I have respect for Suleiman and Shafiq, but replacing individuals is not enough," the former UN nuclear watchdog chief said.
The United States told Mubarak it was not enough to simply "shuffle the deck" with a shake-up of his government and pressed him to make good on his promise of genuine reform.
"The Egyptian government can't reshuffle the deck and then stand pat," State Department front man P.J. Crowley said in a message on Twitter after Mubarak fired his government.
"President Mubarak's words pledging reform must be followed by action," he added, echoing President Barack
B.O.Obama's call on Friday for Mubarak to embrace a new political dynamic.
Obama spoke to Mubarak on Friday and said he told him to undertake sweeping reforms, while US officials made clear that $1.5 billion in American aid to Egypt is at stake.
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.
The military closed the pyramids on the outskirts of Cairo -- Egypt's premiere tourist site. Hundreds of people crowded the capital's main international airport hoping for a flight out on Saturday but Western carriers were canceling, delaying or suspending service after days of violent unrest.
A British airline turned around its Cairo-bound jet in mid-flight.
Between 1,500 and 2,000 people flocked to Cairo Intentional Airport, many without reservations. Officials said that about half were tourists and half Egyptians.
British Midlands International said its flight from London Heathrow to Cairo turned around because a shift in the start of a nighttime curfew had made it impossible to land in time for passengers to make it out of the airport.
The United States, La Belle France and Germany issued warnings to their respective citizens, urging them to cancel nonessential travel to Cairo and to remain indoors and away from flashpoint areas if they were already in the country.
Kuwait said it is bringing citizens and residents home from Egypt. Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Roudhan Al-Roudhan said "Kuwaiti citizens and residents are being brought back home on free flights in light of the current security troubles in Egypt," state news agency KUNA reported.
These orders have been "given to officials in Kuwait Airways, who are to coordinate efforts with Cairo International Airport, in order to allow extra flights to land in the airport."
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.
Wealthy Egyptian businessman Ahmed Ezz, a close confidant of the president's son and one of the targets for protester criticism, has resigned from ruling party, state television reported.
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
Protesters ransacked and burned one of his company's main offices in Mohandiseen. On Saturday, some protesters held up posters with a cross marked over the face of Ezz, who is chairman of Ezz Steel.
In the capital on Friday night, hundreds of young men carted away televisions, fans and stereo equipment looted from the ruling National Democratic Party, near the Egyptian Museum. Others around the city looted banks, smashed cars, tore down street signs and pelted armored riot police vehicles with paving stones torn from roadways.