• • VERY INFORMATIVE & DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE MUBARAK GOVERNMENT'S DECLINE & DEMISE.
• They demanded political change and asked for a fair election with more than one candidate. In 2006, with opposition rising, The Daily News Egypt reported on an online campaign initiative, called the National Initiative against Power Inheritance, which demanded Gamal reduce his power. The campaign stated, "President Mubarak and his son constantly denied even the possibility of [succession]. However, in reality they did the opposite, including amending the constitution to make sure that Gamal will be the only unchallenged candidate."^[48]
• However, many claims by domestic and international groups provided evidence through cellphone videos or first-hand accounts of hundreds of cases of police abuse.^[62]
• During the year activists and observers circulated some amateur cellphone videos documenting the alleged abuse of citizens by security officials. For example, on 8 February, a blogger posted a video of two police officers, identified by their first names and last initials, sodomizing a bound naked man named Ahmed Abdel Fattah Ali with a bottle. On 12 August, the same blogger posted two videos of alleged police torture of a man in a Port Said police station by the head of investigations, Mohammed Abu Ghazala. There was no indication that the government investigated either case."^[63]
• A Facebook page called "We are all Khaled Said" helped bring nationwide attention to the case.^[
• the government has frequently sanctioned home raids, torture, arrests, and fining of bloggers and reporters that criticize the government in any way. Under the current state of emergency laws, the government can censor anything if it is considered a threat to “public safety and national security”. If any reporter or blogger violates this law by criticizing the government, they could be legally penalized with a fine of 20,000 pounds ($3,650) and up to five years in prison.
• The Egyptian government shut down the Internet to most of Egypt during the recent protests in order to limit communication between protest groups.^[80]

• National Police Day protests

   
• Opposition groups planned a day of revolt for 25 January, coinciding with the National Police Day.
• Twenty-six-year-old Asmaa Mahfouz was instrumental^[103] in sparking the protests.^[104] In a video blog posted a week before National Police Day,^[105] she urged the Egyptian people to join her on 25 January in Tahrir Square to bring down Mubarak's regime.^[106] Mahfouz's use of video blogging and social media went viral^[107] and urged people not to be afraid.^[108] The Facebook group set up for the event attracted 80,000 attendees.
• 26 January 2011: "Shutting down The Internet and Mobile Services": After several Facebook groups were created and tweets (from Twitter) called for mass demonstrations, the Egyptian government shut down internet access for most of the country.^[109] This was done to cripple one of the protesters' main organizational tools and to impede the flow of news and people.
• 11 February 2011: The "Friday of Departure": Massive protests continued in many cities as Egyptians refused the concessions announced by Mubarak. Finally, at 6:00 pm local time, Suleiman announced Mubarak's resignation, entrusting the Supreme Council of Egyptian Armed Forces with the leadership of the country. Nationwide celebrations immediately followed.

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• Egypt: Rights Group Accuses Police of Using Torture and Violence

   
• An Egyptian rights group on Tuesday accused the country’s police of “acting like a gang,” torturing detainees and using violence to impose control. The report by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights documented 16 cases of police violence in which 11 people were killed and 10 were tortured inside police stations. Three died under torture during the first four months after President Mohammed Morsi took office on June 30, it said. The police were among the most hated state institutions under Hosni Mubarak, who was deposed in a popular revolt in 2011. “Police still use excessive force, and torture is still systematic just as it was under the Mubarak regime,” the report said. It also accused the police of carrying out random shootings and collective punishment. There was no immediate comment from the government.

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• Egypt News — Revolution and Aftermath

   

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• But the transition to democracy has been anything but smooth, as the country has lurched from crisis to crisis. In a three-sided tussle, Egypt seemed to break repeatedly into three camps: the military and other supporters of the Mubarak regime; the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic party that had been officially banned but had nonetheless been the country’s largest political force; and the young liberal, secular activists who set off the revolution in the first place.

   

  Perhaps the overarching questions in the months of tumult would be whether the army and the Brotherhood would be in conflict or find a way to co-exist, and whether the liberal dreams that ignited the revolution would survive either outcome.

   

  The military council that pushed out Mr. Mubarak after two weeks of unrest was initially hailed as the country’s savior, only to disillusion many activists who saw the generals as more interested in cementing their privileged place than in opening up the government.

   

  In late 2011 and early 2012, the Brotherhood and more conservative Islamist parties took command of the country’s new Parliament. The military council reacted to the rise of the Brotherhood by threatening to limit the powers of any new government.

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• Protesters Clash With Police in Cairo

   
• Protesters clashed with the police on Thursday in Cairo near Tahrir Square on the eve of the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. Three police officers and dozens of protesters were injured in skirmishes after protesters tried to dismantle concrete barriers that had been set up around the Interior Ministry after previous demonstrations. A coalition of opposition groups has called for a major rally in Tahrir Square, the center of the 2011 uprising, to voice opposition to the new Islamist-backed Constitution and President Mohamed Morsi. The Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group allied with Mr. Morsi, has asked its supporters to observe the anniversary by taking part in community service projects far from the square, a plea aimed at preventing renewed fighting between the factions.

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• Blog: Cairo in Turmoil: the Egyptian Revolution Part Two
• • VERY INFORMATIVE & DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE MUBARAK GOVERNMENT'S DECLINE & DEMISE.
• For the second time within 11 months the eyes of the White House and the world are focused on Cairo.
• An injured Egyptian protester is helped away during clashes with security forces on the third day at Tahrir Square in Cairo on November 21, 2011.
• Every so often protestors come running away from the frontline at the eastern side of the square to escape the vicious tear gas clouds, the plastic bullets and the charge of the well-armed police officers in their black uniforms. A particularly brutal charge, at 5pm on Sunday, led to more than 30 deaths and hundreds of injured. It appears that live ammunition was used. Still, after only 30 minutes the police were forced to retreat again from Tahrir Square. In response to the killings, the day after, on Monday, an even larger crowd descended on Tahrir Squareto show their defiance.

• Among the protestors there are many supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis, an even more extreme Islamic party. But there are also Coptic Christians and a good number of liberal groups. The police violence of the last few days has united these diverse unarmed groups into a common movement which, however, is devoid of any real leadership and proper organization.

  The young protestors are calling for the introduction of democracy and an elected civilian government. The square echoes with the chants demanding the ouster of Field Marshal Tantawi, the chairman of the Supreme Council of the Army, and the end of the rule of the military elite that in one way or another has been in charge of Egypt since Gamal Abdel Nasser's bloody 1952 coup. The revolution that began on January 25, 2011, and led to the downfall of long-standing Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak just over two weeks later has entered its second and perhaps decisive stage.
• An Egyptian female protester covers her face with the national flag during clashes on the third day with security forces at Tahrir Square in Cairo on November 21, 2011

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• Egypt Cabinet Offers to Resign as Violence Grows

   

   
• Egypt's army-appointed government handed in its resignation Monday, an apparent gesture to thousands of protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square who clashed for the third straight day with security forces in violence that has killed at least 24 people and posed the most sustained challenge yet to the rule of the military.

• The crowds in Tahrir, which had grown to well over 10,000 after nightfall, broke out into cheers with the news of the Cabinet's move, chanting "God is great." But there was no sign the concession — resignation of a virtually powerless Cabinet — would break their determination to protest until the military steps down completely and hands over power to a civilian government.
• Many Egyptians had seen the government, headed by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, as a mere facade for the military and either unable or unwilling to press ahead with democratic reform or take action to stem increasing turmoil and economic crisis around the country.
• "We are not clearing the square until there is a national salvation government that is representative and has full responsibility," said activist Rami Shaat.

• The protests have spread to other cities around the country, including the coastal city of Alexandria, where one of the deaths took place.
• An Egyptian protester throws a stone on the third day of clashes with security forces at Tahrir Square in Cairo on November 21, 2011.

   

       

• A video posted on social networking sites showed a soldier dragging the motionless body of a protester along the street and leaving him in a garbage-strewn section of Tahrir.
•     Egyptian protesters run for cover on the third day of clashes with security forces at Tahrir Square in Cairo on November 21, 2011.

   

       

• But the law falls far short of demands by many that all members of Mubarak's former ruling party be banned from politics.

     

     

     

   

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• Egypt Police Clash with Protesters Ahead of Vote

   

   
• Egyptian riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets stormed into Cairo's Tahrir Square Saturday to dismantle a protest tent camp, setting off clashes that killed one protester, injured hundreds and raised tensions days before the first elections since Hosni Mubarak's ouster
• Man carrying Facebook sign, reading "Thank you youth of Egypt" and "We are holding our ground.  We are not going to leave" at bottom.

   

       
• "Violence breeds violence," said Sahar Abdel-Mohsen, an engineer who joined in the protest after a call went out on Twitter urging people to come to Tahrir to defend against the police attacks. "We are tired of this and we are not leaving the square."
• A videojournalist for the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry al-Youm, Ahmed Abdel-Fatah, was also hit in the eye by a rubber bullet and was undergoing surgery.

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