Egyptian Military Using Nerve Gas on Protesters Demanding End to Military Rule

Egypt Protests: Military Warn of ‘Extremely Grave Consequences’

RT.com
November 27, 2011

No-one will be allowed to pressure the armed forces, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council has warned, as he asked political leaders to support new PM Kamal al-Ganzuri. His comments came amid mass protests demanding an end to military rule.

"We are faced with enormous challenges,” Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi told reporters on Sunday. “We will not allow troublemakers to meddle in the elections, and we will not allow any individual or party to pressure the armed forces,” he declared in a robust statement.

He has also asked two possible presidential candidates, the former head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, and ex-Arab League chief Amr Mussa, to “support the government of Kamal al-Ganzuri.”

Tantawi warned of “extremely grave” consequences if the nation does not pull through its current crisis, and urged voters to turn out for the parliamentary elections starting on Monday.

However, people gathering on Tahrir Square for a fresh wave of protests against Egypt's ruling military council do not share Tantawi’s optimism about the elections or the probity of the country’s military rulers.

Tantawi is facing mounting pressure to step down immediately, along with his fellow generals on the ruling military council, to make way for a civilian presidential council and a “national salvation” government to run the nation's affairs until a president is elected.

"The people calling for the elections are mistaken; how can we hold elections when protests continue and the country is in chaos?” asked Wajeeh Abdul Salam, a protester in Tahrir Square. “The military council has engineered the issue of elections so the people are distracted from its mistakes.This just proves they've failed in the administration and running of the country over the past months," he added.

The vote is now seen by many activists as serving the military's efforts to project an image as true democrats and the nation's saviours.

Another protester, Armani Salaha, is calling for the military council to return “to their barracks and start protecting the country." He says the military have “demonstrated they are incapable of leading the country over the last nine months.”

The next parliament is expected to be dominated by the country's most organized group, the Muslim Brotherhood, who decided to boycott the ongoing protests to keep from doing anything that could derail the poll.

However, the outcome of the vote is likely to be seen as flawed given the growing unrest and the suspension by many candidates of their campaigns in solidarity with the protesters.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which advocates Islamic reforms and a democratic system, but which has a history of terrorist violence and has been branded an extremist movement by some countries, claims it is set to win the majority of seats.

Political analyst Dr. Marcus Papadopoulos says if the Muslim Brotherhood comes to power, it may lead to a new Libya-like conflict with the West.

”If the people vote them in you could see in a few years time NATO or the British and Western press talking about how awful the regime is there, how dangerous it is, and then you are back to a situation where there is discussion about NATO air strikes against Egypt.”

The latest protests on Tahrir Square have been going on for over a week, with 42 people killed and more than 2,000 wounded. Well over 100,000 gathered in downtown Cairo for a ninth day on Sunday demanding the ruling military leadership steps down in favor of a civilian presidential council.

­The majority of Egyptians will go and vote in the first elections after the revolution, predicts Dr. Ahmed Abu Alwafa, Chief of Public International Law at Cairo University, sharing his perspective on the upcoming parliamentary elections in Egypt.

It's an increasingly unstable time in Egypt and it seems Monday's parliamentary election threatens to split Egyptians even further: Some call for a boycott of the vote, others, like the Muslim Brotherhood, now encouraging people to go to the polls.

The Muslim Brotherhood has high hopes for the election and polls suggest they could win up to 40 per cent of the seats. The west considers the Brotherhood a terrorist organization, but not the Egyptian people, Dr. Ahmed Abu Alwafa says.

If the Muslim Brotherhood comes to power, it will not violate any international agreements, with Israel for example, because “it is fundamental for Islamic law to carry out treaties and honor them,” – if the other party fulfills its part.

When the revolution kicked off in January, the Muslim Brotherhood played a pivotal role in organizing the protests. Now, the Muslim Brotherhood does not participate in protests anymore because they do not want to deteriorate relations with the military in power, calling supporters to come and vote.

“Political dealings are to be held in the interests of the Egyptian people and if the Muslim Brotherhood wins this election – they will try to nominate a [leader] person accepted by them, to carry out their aspirations and programme. If they see that the former IAEA chief Mohamed El Baradei is the right person – they will nominate him,” argues Dr. Ahmed Abu Alwafa.

Egyptian Military Using Nerve Gas on Protesters

Newsmax Wires
November 23, 2011

The Egyptian military has been using a banned chemical agent to deal with hundreds of thousands of protesters, according to several news sources.

At least 23 Egyptians have died and more than 1,700 have succumbed to a lethal gas military forces have been using during the past three days in clashes in and around Cairo's Tahrir Square.

The International Business Times reports that demonstrators have been struck with "dangerous levels of CR gas over the past two days of protests" and Australia's The Age said Wednesday that the canisters are marked "Made in the USA."

CR gas is an intense and lethal version of CS gas, called "tear gas," widely used by police for crowd control.

Wikipedia notes that CR gas has effects that are "are approximately 6 to 10 times more powerful than those of CS gas." CR causes intense skin pain and irritation, and can lead to blindness and death by asphyxiation.

CR gas was widely used by South African police during the height of Apartheid in the 1980s and its use was widely condemned by international bodies.

Former IAEA official Mohammed ElBaradei has confirmed in Twitter that Egyptian forces have used "tear gas with [a] nerve agent."

The Arabist, an Egyptian blog covering the protests Tuesday, quoted an Egyptian neurology expert as saying this "is not the regular tear gas used in January [during protests]" and was causing "extra-pyramidal symptoms -- involuntary jerks in extremities and trunk mimicking a convulsive seizure."

''It is some kind of neuro-toxic nerve gas,'' doctor Mohamed Aden, who usually works at the Cairo University hospitals, told Australia's The Age. ''We are seeing people whose upper respiratory tract is in convulsion - we have to give them diazepam to relax the muscles to allow them to begin to breathe again.''

The Australian paper continued: "A young man was rushed into the clinic, unconscious and fitting, as the doctor spoke. For at least five minutes it was touch and go as medics administered treatment. Finally he drew breath and the team moved to one of the four patients who had just been carried in, a man with gunshot wound to a leg."

Egypt’s Military Dictatorship Still Using U.S.-Made Tear Gas on Demonstrators

AllGov
November 23, 2011

Protesters in Egypt are once again being subjected to tear gas made in the U.S.A. Demonstrators rallying against the military dictatorship told the British media that spent tear-gas cartridges used by police bear the name and address of Combined Systems Inc. (CSI).

The Pennsylvania-based company was exposed earlier this year when its tear gas was used during rallies aimed at Hosni Mubarak.

CSI, which specializes in “crowd control devices,” sold the tear gas to the Egyptian Interior Ministry. The export of teargas to foreign governments is not prohibited under U.S. law.

Some demonstrators told The Guardian that the gas this time seemed more powerful than what was used by Egyptian police in February.

The nation’s interim leader, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, has promised to turn over the government to civilians…in July.

Egyptians Express Resentment of Israel and the United States

Egypt Vows to Try Those Who Targeted Israel Mission

Egypt's army, under pressure to hand power back to civilians after taking over from toppled president Hosni Mubarak, must balance public calls for a more assertive policy toward Israel with maintaining ties that bring it cash and U.S. military hardware. Egypt briefly threatened to withdraw its envoy to Israel after five Egyptian border guards were killed last month when Israel repelled cross-border raiders it said were Palestinians. Israel is finding itself increasingly at odds with formerly sympathetic states in the region. It is embroiled in a feud with Turkey, once the closest of its few Muslim allies, over an Israeli raid last year that killed nine Turks on a flotilla bound for Gaza.

Reuters
September 10, 2011

Egypt's army rulers vowed on Saturday to try those behind the violence that pushed Israel to evacuate its ambassador from Cairo, as they struggled to contain public fury against the Jewish state while fending off U.S. criticism.

Washington, which has poured billions of dollars in military aid into Egypt since it made peace with Israel in 1979, urged Cairo to protect the mission after protesters hurled embassy documents from the windows of the building and removed and burned the Israeli flag.

Three people died and 1,049 were wounded in the clashes that began Friday and raged on into the early hours of Saturday around the Cairo tower block housing the embassy, the Health Ministry said. Police and soldiers fired shots in the air and tear gas to disperse the crowd, which replied with stones.

Egypt's army, under pressure to hand power back to civilians after taking over from toppled president Hosni Mubarak, must balance public calls for a more assertive policy toward Israel with maintaining ties that bring it cash and U.S. military hardware.

"Egypt witnessed a harsh day that inflicted pain and worry on all Egyptians. It is clear that the behavior of some threatens the Egyptian revolution," Information Minister Osama Hassan Heikal said in a televised statement.

Egypt would transfer those in custody or "involved in inciting or participating in (Friday's) events to the emergency state security court," the minister said.

Justice Minister Mohamed Abdel Aziz el-Guindy told state television the government had decided to apply emergency laws still in place "forcefully" and that trials would be swift.

Protesters burned tyres in the street and at least two police vehicles were set alight near the embassy. Many had come from a demonstration in central Cairo organised to push the army to end emergency law and speed up political reforms.

"Our dignity has been restored," said Mohi Alaa, 24, a protester near the site of the overnight clashes.

Bits of concrete and bullet casings were strewn over the street.

"We don't want the Americans' money," he said, reflecting the greater readiness of many Egyptians to express resentment of Israel and the United States after decades of pragmatic official relations.

Some 500 protesters stayed after dawn and a few threw stones at police, who gradually pushed them away and secured the area around the embassy, located on the upper floors of a residential block overlooking the Nile.

AMBASSADOR EVACUATED

It was the second big eruption of violence at the embassy since five Egyptian border guards were killed last month when Israel repelled cross-border raiders it said were Palestinians. Egypt then briefly threatened to withdraw its envoy to Israel.

Israel has stopped short of apologising, saying it is still investigating the Egyptian deaths, which occurred during an operation against gunmen who had killed eight Israelis.

Israeli ambassador Yitzhak Levanon, staff and family members arrived home Saturday, but one diplomat stayed in Egypt to maintain the embassy, an Israeli official said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would preserve its 1979 peace with Egypt despite the incident.

"We are working together with the Egyptian government to return our ambassador to Cairo soon," he said in televised remarks. "I would like to ensure that the security arrangements necessary for him and for our staff will be steadfast."

The Egyptian information minister's statement followed a crisis meeting of his key cabinet members and talks with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who heads the military council that has ruled Egypt since Mubarak stepped down on February 11.

State television said the military council rejected an offer by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf to resign.

Israel is finding itself increasingly at odds with formerly sympathetic states in the region. It is embroiled in a feud with Turkey, once the closest of its few Muslim allies, over an Israeli raid last year that killed nine Turks on a flotilla bound for Gaza.

Egypt's ties with Israel, though never warm, were a pillar of Mubarak's foreign policy and buttressed his claim to be a regional mediator. Under Mubarak, displays of hostility to Israel were crushed by force.

U.S. DEMANDS

President Barack Obama called on Egypt to "honor its international obligations" and protect the Israeli mission. He told Israel's Netanyahu that Washington was taking steps to resolve the situation.

The State Department said Washington had been in contact with Egyptian and Israeli officials over the violence.

"Israel and Egypt are key partners and allies of the United States, and both states have made clear their continuing commitment to maintain their bilateral relationship and the peace treaty between them, which remains a cornerstone of regional stability," Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said Cairo was committed to "fully respect all its international obligations regarding protecting and safeguarding international diplomatic missions on its soil," the state MENA news agency said.

An Israeli official said the ambassador, staff and family members had left in one plane and a second one had brought home six Israeli security personnel who had been left guarding the embassy, protected from the crowd only by a reinforced door until Egyptian troops extracted them.

British Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the embassy attack and urged Egypt to protect diplomatic property.

Some Egyptian politicians and activists criticised the violence, even if they backed the anti-Israel demonstration.

Presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy called for the army to take a "serious stance matching the public anger" toward Israel but said violence sullied the image of Egypt's uprising.

Last month, a man scaled the embassy building, took down Israel's flag and replaced it with Egypt's. Protests continued daily but did not turn violent until the latest flare-up.

In response to the protests, the authorities had erected a wall around the building, which was quickly defaced with anti-Israel slogans and then painted in Egypt's national colours. Friday, the wall was torn down.

Protesters Accuse Egypt's Military Rule of Betraying the Revolution

Several thousand protesters in Cairo called on the ruling military on Friday to promptly transfer power to a civilian government and exclude old regime figures from politics. The protesters in Tahrir Square, the epicentre of Egypt’s uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February, chanted “down with the military” and called on the ruling generals to “return to the barracks.” The military assumed power after Mubarak’s ouster on February 11, promising a transition to civilian rule within six months. It is headed by Mubarak’s former defence minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. - Protesters Accuse Egypt's Military Rule of Betraying the Revolution, AFP, October 29, 2011

Protests Spread in Egypt as Discontent with Military Rule Grows

Guardian
July 10, 2011

Protests have brought Egypt's administrative and commercial nerve centres to a standstill , as government attempts to stem a growing wave of opposition to military rule succeeded only in galvanising demonstrators further.

The interim prime minister, Essam Sharaf, took to the airwaves late on Saturday pledging to "meet the people's demands", following mass rallies across the country in which Egyptians accused the ruling council of army generals of betraying the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak this year.

In a short and strained address to the nation, Sharaf said all police officers accused of killing protesters would be stopped from working, and promised that the trials of former Mubarak ministers and other regime officials would proceed "as soon as possible". He insisted that social and economic problems would be reviewed by the army-appointed transitional cabinet.

But activists dismissed the announcement as empty rhetoric and claimed it contained nothing substantive.

"His speech sounded like one of these tricks of the old government," Sherif, an engineer in his late 20s, told local news website Ahram Online. "If this government is unable to take serious steps, it should resign."

Several thousand people flocked to Cairo's Tahrir Square after Sharaf's speech. Anti-government activists have taken control of the roads there and an open-ended sit-in began on Friday. By Sunday morning, access to the Mugamma – a giant concrete building on one side of the square that serves as the bureaucratic heart of the Egyptian state – had been blocked off, with some employees reportedly joining the protests.

In Suez, another focal point for political unrest, the families of some of those killed in the anti-Mubarak uprising helped protesters cut off the main highway between Cairo and Sokhna port, the main transit point for goods entering and leaving the Suez canal. The canal has also been targeted by strikes and protests in recent days, although officials insisted that international maritime traffic remained unaffected.

Sharaf – a popular choice among revolutionaries when he was first appointed interim prime minister in March – has repeatedly claimed that he draws his legitimacy from Tahrir, and said again on Saturday that "the people" were the only sovereign power in Egypt. But analysts believe that the army generals have given him little control over policy and personnel decisions, and in recent weeks the 59-year-old has cut an increasingly frustrated figure in public.

Egyptian newspapers used their Sunday editions to highlight the widening gap between the supreme council of the armed forces, which assumed power in the aftermath of Mubarak's overthrow and has promised democratic elections before the end of the year, and large sections of the general public who believe that the pace of reform is too slow.

"Protesters: Sharaf's decisions are not enough — Calls for hunger strikes and civil disobedience," stated the front-page headline in state-owned al-Ahram, the country's biggest-selling daily. Al-Tahrir, a new Egyptian paper that emerged out of the revolution, splashed with a smiling photo of the country's de facto leader, Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, under the words "The Marshall doesn't respond."

Activists have called for another round of mass demonstrations on Tuesday.

Is There a Military Coup Brewing in Egypt’s Army?

Is There a Coup Brewing in Egypt’s Army? ‎

The Egyptian Army's passivity in the bloody protests suggests an internal conflict of agendas, one which could inspire a coup by lower-level officers, a former Army Commander tells Channel 4 News.

Channel 4 News, London, England
February 3, 2011

The army rolled tanks into Cairo’s Tahrir Square last Friday – the epicentre of the country’s round-the-clock anti-Mubarak protests – which for over a week had largely been peaceful in nature until groups of people loyal to the President descended on the plaza.

Egypt’s military, which (including the air force) has 468,500 active members and 479,000 in the reserves, immediately announced it would not fire upon the citizenry, and gave widespread anti-Mubarak sentiment credence by branding the protests ‘legitimate.’

But when clashes between Mubarak antagonists and protagonists broke out on Wednesday, with at least five people dying in the process, the army were deliberate bystanders.

And despite some efforts on Thursday morning to keep the two sides apart, analysts have raised questions about the army’s agenda in what has now become a fully-fledged revolution.

‘Disagreement within the ranks’

Colonel Richard Kemp, former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan and member of the Joint Intelligence Committee, told Channel 4 News that the army’s inaction likely points to disagreement within the ranks.

“I suspect that the lower-level members of the Egyptian Army, probably at the colonel level, support (Egypt’s main opposition movement) the Muslim Brotherhood, and the higher echelons will be backing the current regime.” he said.

“So the fact that the army has taken no decisive physical action is probably down to the heads backing (Vice President) Omar Suleiman, with the lesser-ranking officers eyeing a alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood.”

The theory is given weight by the apparent incongruity of the army’s inertia during the process coming despite Mubarak, a former air force commander, naming Suleiman as Vice President, former air force commander Ahmed Shafik as Prime Minister and Defence Minister Tantawi, an army field marshal, to Deputy Prime Minister on 31 January.

The obvious question arises: why no intervention if the heads of the army and air force are now in Mubarak’s Cabinet?

Comparisons to the rise of Nasser

Col. Kemp said the suggested schism within the ranks was reminiscent of the conditions which allowed one of Mubarak’s presidential predecessors, Gamal Abdel Nasser, to stage a military coup and overthrow the government in the 1952 revolution.

Nasser, himself a lower-level officer (Lieutenant-Colonel) in the Egyptian Army and supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, overthrew King Farouk amid mass anti-British protests in Cairo.

Col. Kemp said the symmetry of circumstances between the internecine clashes in Tahrir Square currently and the popular uprising then point to a “strong possibility” of a pro-Muslim Brotherhood seizure of power by lower-ranking members of the army.

An eventuality, he added, which would have dire consequences.

“Such a move, which looks increasingly possible, could see the Muslim Brotherhood come to power, which would raise the prospect of Egypt fostering international terrorism. It would also have a knock-on effect for Gaza; without the support of the Egyptian Army there, the Israelis would feel compelled to re-enter Gaza.”

US scrutiny

There is also the not-so-small matter of the $1.3 billion the military receives from the United States every year -- roughly a third of its annual budget -- which it will be intent on retaining.

However, plans could already be underfoot within the army to look at alternative sources of sponsorship if the Americans become unhappy with how the military is reacting to the uprising, especially now that Washington has publically called an immediate end to the violence.

“The American money is very important to them; they’re very conscious about how their actions will determine if that money stream continues” Col. Kemp said.

“But it shouldn’t be forgotten that there will be other offers of funding floating about: China, Iran, the usual suspects.”

So who is pulling the strings of the world’s 11th largest army: Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sami Hafez Enan or Suleiman?

“Well, that’s the point. I suspect within the military there are different agendas: it will be very interesting to see what happens now, but a coup d’état is a very real possibility.”