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Subscribe to RSSUpdate 5 p.m. ET: NBC News' Richard Engel reports on Twitter:
But supporters of President Hosni Mubarak have managed to take the high ground on October Bridge. With both sides using metal "shields" to "advance like Roman legions," he says, "it is a running battle."
Protesters worry that pro-Mubarak forces, now in retreat, will bring in reinforcements.
Update 3:30 p.m. ET: NBC News' Brian Williams reports from Cairo that the situation in Tahrir Square is "clearly deteriorating." He says he just heard a volley of weapons fire.
Update 3:23 p.m. ET: NBC News' Yuka Tachibana and Paul Nassar report from Cairo that they can hear gunfire from the back of the building they are in.
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NBC News' Richard Engel reports from Cairo that pro-Mubarak supporters have taken positions in all four corners, trapping protesters in the middle:
NBC's Richard Engel reports the latest on the clashes in Egypt from Cairo.
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This all seems too sensible -- have the guy leave and all will be well. Two weeks ago, things were calm, now the entire goernment is being pressured by the USA to go away? The whole thing began as a small band of "organizers"...., only in Cairo, then spread as news swept....
Smacks of a typical CIA-sparked conspiracy to "change the rgime".
Uh, no. It started in Alexandria and Suez and the US has nothing to gain from this and a lot to lose. There is no way the CIA is behind this.
The Mubarak "supporters" who suddenly showed up out of nowhere and started attacking people certainly seem fishy though. I wouldn't be shocked if the protesters are not far off base in excusing them to be paid cronies or plain clothes police. Violence gives Mubarak an excuse to use force to disperse the protests.
The US has had a strong ally in Mubarek....he is who has brokered the Peace deal between Israel and Palestine. They are a factor in stabling in the area. Granted, Mubarek has been for all purposes, a dictator, and many Egyptians have died under his order, but the US did not want to even become involved in this in the beginning. It was a wait and see as this was a very delicate issue, one that the US really didn't want to have to make clear their views. No one in the US is pressuring him to leave, they are emphasizing that Mubareks ouster is what the people of Egypt want, and are asking that whatever happens, that it be done peacefully.
doe's not make sense to feed one negative with another,pretty soon egypt will have terrorist try to take over!!
One shot in the head to Mubarak will solve all the world's problems.
Knock knock knock...Bawa thats the police at your door. You have a unique MAC address on your computer. They know where you live. Say more!
The whole thing smells..Mubarak just needed time to muster the troops and he is playing the military to stay on the sidelines
Mubarak knows that the longer the demonstrations remain peaceful, the more support the protesters are going to receive worldwide. So he sends in some people to create some chaos (mostly plain clothes police) to make the rally look like a bunch of violent crazy people that are setting fire to the country. Not a dumb move, but one completely devoid of morals or a care for the people, which is why they want him out anyway.
It still baffles me that he doesn't just leave and spend his last days on a beach somewhere. Doesn't being a dictator for 30 years deserve a vacation?
The last throes of a dictator. He could have gone cleanly, but this means he's gonna get lynched. Far better if he had fled. Now he'll be killed, if the people get their way, for killing so many protestors. The US has pulled the plug on him, not clear why he hasn't gotten the message. I wonder what country will give him asylum, assuming he makes it out alive? I hope not the US.
You gotta cornhole the man.
The US has a history of supporting the wrong guy. Power in these crazy countries is going to ebb and flow between factions over the decades no matter what we do. We're better off keeping our "support" to ourselves.
Also, there's no way those pro-Mubarak supporters are genuine, especially considering as how they seem to be organized. Not even the army was attacked before by the angry crowds, but now that another faction has shown up out of nowhere to support the benevolent Mubarak, there's a call to arms? If I were in Egypt, I'd be even more angry now.
Three IMPORTANT Things to NOTE:
1) Type in "Egyptian Police Thugs" on You Tube and two videos appear shot by an American tourist. Both clearly show riot police allowing two-dozen 'thugs' in plains clothes to enter the chaos from their side with clubs and beat down protestors, then (in video two) they are causualy let back behind the lines again. All in broad daylight and all the while they are unaware they are being filmed from above.
Its the clearest proof any news agency would need; yet has not been broadcast widely..
2) The Telegraph has a picture in one of its Photo Gallery's online that shows a senior military officer and two soldiers filming with high-def video equiptment - the battle between the anti and pro Mubarak groups in a clearly coreagraphed struggle beneath the building they're in. This video I doubt will be used for entertainment and instead used to identify the anti's and imprisoning thousands in the coming days.
3) A photograph being used to suggest a tank was engulfed in flames by anti Mubarak protesters was in fact set by Pro Mubarak using petrol bomb (unintentionally) as the young man simply misjudged his abilities and it burst into flames after hitting the turret only meters in front of him; instead of actually going over the vehicle as intended.
The photos are all over the media, 'however they never appear in the actual sequence they were taken' which is deceiving. Once placed next to one another the event unfolds as the journalist shot it (from above) and they are clearlly of the same incident and being mis-used by both sides of media because of it.