BREAKING: Mubarak has left Cairo
Posted: February 11, 2011 Filed under: Breaking News, Egypt | Tags: 2011: days of revolt, Hosni Mubarak 43 Comments
Alexandria, Friday prayers. Click image to go to Al Jazeera Live Blog on Egypt.
[UPDATE on report below: Now confirmed by Al Jazeera sources — Mubarak has left Cairo for Sharm el-Sheikh.]
I’m seeing this unconfirmed report that Mubarak has left Cairo for Sharm el-Sheikh residence… AJE analyst saying Al Arabiya reported this and retracted it earlier (??) Not quite sure.
Ok, from the link:
Al Arabiya had initially reported Mubarak and his family had left Egypt.
So apparently they first reported that Mubarak had left Egypt, but then switched it to Cairo. Not sure if that is what the guy on AJE meant by retraction or not.
From the Al Jazeera Live Blog:
3:19pm Mubarak reported to have left Cairo with his family, the AFP news agency reports, citing a source close to the government. But it said his destination was not immediately clear.
3:31pm Senior ruling party official tells Al-arabiya station that Mubarak has delegated his authorities to the vice president last night, and he is now in-charge.
Mohamed Abdelllah, senior member of ruling party, also said that he had information that Mubarak was heading to Sharm el-Sheikh.
Denmark PM says Mubarak is toast and calls for his resignation:
3:48pm The prime minister of Denmark, Lars Rasmussen, has become the first European Union leader to call for Mubarak’s resignation… saying he is, quote, “history”.
Bostonboomer just caught this on twitter — there may be an “Urgent Statement” coming soon. The information comes from CNN Radio reporter Lisa Desjardins:
NEW #EGYPT STATEMENT COMING?: Banner on State TV just now read “urgent statement from office of the president shortly”.
This is a semi-live blog/developing thread. For more, see the Al Jazeera English LIVE feed (or AJE Live on youtube):
Vodpod videos no longer available.
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
I just saw that on Twitter too. The link I got isn’t directly from AFP though.
http://services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=20110211-319719
I added some updates from the AJE live blog…
A senior member of the ruling party seemingly confirms that Mubarak is headed to Sharm el-Sheikh.
Wael Abbas Egyptian blogger has got a live feed via a phone here, when it doesn’t fade out.
Thank WV.
WOW!
The Torture VP is still around. Until they uninstall all the ministers and party people, the structure is still the same military structure it always was.
Just saw this on Twitter:
LisaDCNN Lisa Desjardins
NEW #EGYPT STATEMENT COMING?: Banner on State TV just now read “urgent statement from office of the president shortly”.
Mubarak himself will speak shortly.
Now they’re saying it won’t be Mubarak himself.
Watching “breaking news” on cable with their truthiness is more annoying than simply reading the facts afterwards.
From FP blogger:
abuaardvark abuaardvark
RT @ashrafkhalil: Everybody calm down about reports that Mubarak has “left Cairo.” He runs country from Sharm El Shiekh half the time
jeremyscahill jeremy scahill
the way things are going, this ‘important and urgent’ statement out of Egypt will likely be amendment of parking laws
I think they’re going to try some PR management. Clearly yesterday didn’t go the way they’d expected.
Yeah, the statements so far have been a series of jokes.
There’s been a measure of that on both sides, from the dramatic February 4th “Day of Departure” when nobody departed to Wael Ghonim’s tweet yesterday, “Mission Accomplished,” and now before anything’s happened today’s being called Farewell Friday.
Mubarak’s a dictator out of time, and the Twitter protesters seem to think life is a video game where they can write the script and events will follow.
If AJ’s confirmation/sources are correct, the protesters have gotten Mubarak to run away from Cairo … I haven’t seen him been able to remove the protesters from Tahrir square yet.
What does that have to do with what I just posted?
It seems you’re comparing protesters putting pressure on Mubarak by calling for his departure or farewell to the regime’s statements. The protesters’ statements, even the “twitter” protesters, on the whole don’t seem to me to be a series of jokes. They’ve accomplished a lot in 3 weeks, imho.
I’m pointing out that both sides have said things they intended to be serious that turned out to be silly, not effecting as they expected, or to use your word a joke.
And, what I’m saying is I disagree that those statements haven’t been effective. I don’t think that just because Mubarak didn’t resign last Friday that it was a critical mistake to call it Departure Friday. In my view, these things help to mobilize people and put pressure on the regime, and I think that growing pressure has a cumulative effect that can help them reach their goals. I don’t think they’ve missed their moment. Not yet.
You miss my point, Wonk.
From protester in Cairo:
@NadiaE
Nadia El-Awady
2 helicopters just left pres palace #jan25
3 minutes ago via Mobile Web Favorite
Growing crowds outside the presidential palace.
AL JAZEERA CONFIRMS Mubarak has left the capital for Sharm el-Sheikh.
That’s where he usually goes on weekends, so no big deal so far.
I thought this was significant–or at least interesting: CBS says Mubarak left yesterday during or right after his speech.
I wonder who the two helicopters were for then?
Hey, just a note to everyone. If you have had trouble with the live feed on the Al Jazeera English site, try the YouTube live feed. It seems to work a hell of a lot better!
I can’t get the AJE feed to work on it’s site, but on the Youtube it comes in very well. I don’t know why, but I am very glad that YouTube, and by extension, Google has put this live feed up.
http://www.youtube.com/aljazeeraenglish
I haven’t had trouble with the AJE site.
There’s a known problem with the Al Jazeera feed for Macbook Air and Macbook Pro. I have to use the AJE on youtube site.
Thanks for the link. The You Tube link is much better on the audio for me–no echoy feedback. I did hear that many of the tanks have turned their turrets away from the crowds. Good sign. Everyone’s waiting now for a military communique. Reports indicate that high-level military command has entered the State TV HQ. Sounds as if an official statement will be forthcoming.
See, I had problems with it on the AJE site, and youtube always takes so long to buffer on my computer. But today I tried the live feed on the AJE Youtube channel and it works perfectly. I am so damn excited about it.
the youtube feed has been a lifesaver. The AJE site feed crashes my browser almost instantly.
That’s good.
The speeches by Mubarak and Suleiman reminded me of Baghdad’s Bob’s press releases during the invasion of Iraq.
Anyway here is a video on Mubarek lined to my facebook page. It is in Arabic but it is funny
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=189526547735804
MUBARAK HAS WAIVED THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY
Suleiman just gave the statement.
Just saw it on twitter. Yay! Now Obama has to get his head out of his a$$ long enough to dump Suleiman or there will be more protests.
I put up a new thread.
WATCH LIVE – Wild cheers erupt in Tahrir Square after news from Egypt’s VP that Mubarak has stepped down. http://bit.ly/cVJHLI #Egypt
The VP just read a statement that said he resigned so he couldn’t weasel around like he did last night.
I posted a new thread for this.
http://wp.me/pgqML-36x
Interesting the VP just said that he was transferring authority to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to “run the affairs of the country.”
How is Egypt ‘free’ if the Army is running the affair???
The Egyptians would rather have the military in control for the transition than Suleiman the torturer as president–and that was the only other likely alternative.
This was suppose to all happen yesterday, now it is done, and the people can get back to work, and deal with the economy, and get the transition going in their favor.