Egyptian Army Says It Will Not Fire on Protesters

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/world/middleeast/01egypt.html

Egyptian Army Says It Will Not Fire on Protesters
By ANTHONY SHADID, DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK AND KAREEM FAHIM

CAIRO — The Egyptian Army announced Monday for the first time that it would not fire on protesters, even as tens of thousands of people gathered in central Liberation Square for a seventh day to shout for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. The announcement came after the opposition dismissed Mr. Mubarak’s cabinet reshuffle as inadequate and as concerns over violence were heightened by the presence of security police officers clustered near the square’s entrances, their first deployment there in three days.

Since the demonstrations began last Tuesday, Mr. Mubarak has stayed mostly out of sight, apparently intent on waiting for the protesters’ passions to cool. But opposition organizers called for the largest demonstrations yet — a “march of millions” and a general strike — on Tuesday, and the Egyptian economy showed more signs of shutting down. Across the square, trepidation inflected the euphoria. Many protesters suggested that the coming days may be pivotal, as an inchoate movement struggles to maintain the pressure on an entrenched state.

In contrast to previous days in the uprising, which were dominated by the young, the demonstrations Monday included a more obvious contingent of older, disciplined protesters and members of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Islamist organization, outlawed under the Mubarak government, has been playing a steadily larger role in the demonstrations, after holding back at the outset.

The president appeared fatigued in a ceremony broadcast on state television in which he welcomed a new interior minister, Mahmoud Wagdy, a retired general, who will oversee the police. He replaced Habib el-Adly, who had been interior minister since 1997 and came under sharp criticism from human rights advocates for tolerating — or even encouraging — torture and other police abuses. Mr. Mubarak left several longtime associates in place, including the foreign minister, the minister of information and the defense minister...

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