Egyptian elections in doubt after violent clashes in central Cairo

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Several candidates suspend campaigns after army attack on protesters leaves five dead and almost a thousand injured

Jack Shenker in Cairo | Sunday November 20 2011 19.39 GMT

Egypt's revolution entered a dangerous phase of confrontation on Sunday after the army attacked thousands of anti-junta protesters in Cairo, putting the viability of imminent parliamentary elections in serious doubt.

Several political parties and individual candidates said they were suspending their electoral campaigns after a weekend in which at least five people were killed and almost a thousand injured in some of the fiercest clashes seen since the heady days of February when Hosni Mubarak was ejected from power.

=snip=

Amid calls for a national government of salvation to be set up to face down the junta, the opposition figurehead, Mohamed ElBaradei, said he was ready to do "whatever it takes" to save Egypt from deepening crisis.

"I think what we've seen today is an excessive use of force, bordering on a slaughterhouse, against innocent civilians exercising their inalienable right to demonstrate," ElBaradei told the Guardian.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/20/egypt-elections-cairo-clahes

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Much more at the link.

[Fool Count]

1. Where are the Qatari "democracy warriors" and the Arab League

and Turkey and Sarkozi and Hillary Clinton? Peaceful protesters are being killed by a military junta.
Shouldn't there be some kind of no-fly zone being discussed in UN right about now?

[No Elephants]

2. During the Arab Spring, the word was elections would be DELAYED to November in order

to allow people to become familiar with candidates (or was it only candidates other than the Brotherhood, which apparently we don't want?).

So, November is almost gone and Egyptians are protesting for elections--and that becomes the new reason elections are not being held.

I bet we're sorry now that we bragged about how we train so many Egyptian officers at West Point and have such good contacts in the Egyptian military that we were able to maintain contact with him during the Arab Spring in order to minimize damage to civilians.

Wonder what happened to all our contacts and relationships in the Egyptian military?

[christx30]

3. Meet the new boss

Same as the old boss.