Blackouts and protests in Cairo

Egypt plagued by massive blackouts

Blackouts, together with water cuts, have enraged Egyptians, sending many to the streets to protest.

Haaretz,

9 August, 2012

A massive blackout hit many parts of the Egyptian capital on Thursday, briefly halting traffic on much of its crowded subway and delaying the start of trading on the stock exchange.

Egypt has been beset by frequent power outages across the country since the hot summer months began. The blackouts, together with water cuts, have enraged Egyptians, sending many to the streets to protest.

The decline in basic services have also led to criticism of the country's new President Mohammed Morsi, who is facing a slew of festering economic and social problems and a crippling budget deficit.

Morsi had promised to tackle during his first days in office problems affecting daily life, such as fuel shortages, lack of security and heaps of garbage that are piling up. Many of his critics say he has failed to deliver after 40 days as president.

Authorities have been hard pressed to explain the rising number of power outages, which have been particularly hard since the July 20 start of the holy month of Ramadan when devout Muslims fast dawn-to-dusk while coping with soaring temperatures.

Two of Cairo's three-line subway service stopped for over an hour because of a power outage during peak hours in the morning. Passengers stuck in trains forced the automatic doors open, and walked out on the rail tracks. The halt in the metro service used by millions caused traffic bottlenecks around the city of 18 million.

Ali Hussein, a senior official for the subway system told the state news agency that the power feeding the system from the local plant was cut. He said emergency power lines were opened, allowing the service to resume after a little over an hour.

Residents of different parts of Cairo reported power outages that lasted several hours on Thursday, a day when temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit(.

Authorities have given various reasons for the power outages, further confusing and angering the public and fuelling suspicion that the cuts were unnecessary or caused largely by incompetence and corruption that plagued governments under the rule of deposed President Hosni Mubarak.

During Mubarak's last year in power, blackouts were frequent but not as recurrent as in this summer. A popular uprising forced Mubarak from office in February of last year.

Some government officials have said that excessive consumption due to this summer's heat coinciding with the fasting season is leading authorities to selectively shut down power to ease the load on the grid. They also said networks were failing under increased demand.

Mahmoud Balbaa, the new electricity minister sworn in on Aug.2, told the daily newspaper of the Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday that thieves have also been stealing high voltage cables coming from the Aswan Dam, further aggravating the electricity shortage. He urged security forces to protect the strategic cables.

The power outages and water cuts have also impacted hospitals and businesses. Some hospitals which were unprepared for the outages have reported medicines going bad in storage. Pharmacies have been reluctant to stock up on diabetic drugs for instance. Shop owners are also complaining that perishables are rotting in fridges and private generators have become a necessity.

The power outage in Cairo, which appears to be following a rolling scheme, has also extended beyond the capital. Earlier this month, much of Egypt's south plunged into total darkness for a least one day after a main power plant broke down and the boiler in another blew up, affecting 40 percent of the electricity to central and southern Egypt.

Angry residents blocked traffic and burned tree trunks in protests, and in one instance in Cairo, stormed a local government office.

In response, activists launched a campaign called "We won't pay," urging consumers not to pay electricity or garbage collection bills until they receive a detailed government explanation and a schedule of plans for rolling outages ahead of time.

Amr Abotawila, a member of the Socialist Popular Alliance party, said the initiative is an effort to direct popular anger away from blocking roads and storming offices towards exerting pressure on the new government to be transparent.

"We want to know why it is recurrent and how they plan to solve it," Abotawila said. "We need to have a schedule of planned outages first to know if the burden is distributed equally among all Egyptians, or if only poor people suffer. This is our first elected government and they need to respond to the people."

Egypt- demonstrations in Tahrir Square

Egypt: Protesters are regrouping in central Cairo after day of clashes with security forces

al- Jazeera,
20 November, 2011

A stalemate has settled over the Egyptian capital's Tahrir Square following a day of deadly clashes between security forces and protesters.

The square, which has been the scene of street battles between riot police and activists demanding an end to Egypt's military leadership, was relatively calm on Sunday night after protesters regained control of the area and began calling for reinforcements.

Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros, reporting from Cairo, said all police and security forces had retreated from the square to side streets in the surrounding the area.

Tadros estimated as many as 3,000 protesters had returned to the square just hours after being dispersed earlier in the day by riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

Al Jazeera's security team in Cairo reported that sources in the city's morgue said they had received the bodies of 11 people killed when military and police forces made their assault on Tahrir Square. 

Protesters regroup

Despite the harsh crackdown, demonstrators were regrouping in the square as the night continued. Many were seen clutching gas masks, apparently anticipating further clashes with security forces in the hours, or days, to come.

"It is clear [the protesters] won't leave and they are very much trying to keep police from re-entering the square," Tadros said.

She continued: "There is concern that the military government has hijacked their revolution and [the country] has swapped one regime for another regime, and they want an end to that."

Meanwhile, witnesses said skirmishes continued to erupt in the alleyways and side streets of Tahrir under the dense fog of tear gas.

The lull in violence in the main square came after police armed with batons and shields charged into the front lines of protesters who had been blockading the entrances to the square since Saturday.

Police fired rubber bullets and forcibly cleared the area in an assault that sparked panic among the estimated 5,000 protesters.

A short time after the offensive, a surge of protesters returned to the square, overwhelming security forces and retaking the area.

Escalating violence

"This is what the Egyptian army calls protecting the revolution," Salma Said, a democracy activist, told Al Jazeera. "We’ve lost so many people in the last nine months. We want [interim military leader] Field Marshall Tantawi gone. We’re going to keep fighting; we don’t have any other options."

Before the protesters regrouped in the plaza, military police torched tents in the middle of the square, and witnesses reported security forces burning protesters' motorcycles and other belongings.

As the events in Tahrir continued to unfold, Egypt’s Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and members of his government met the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. The meeting followed crisis talks between Sharaf and his cabinet ministers.

Sunday's violence followed a day of clashes in downtown Cairo and other major cities, with thousands of rock-throwing protesters demanding that the ruling military announce a date to hand over power to an elected government. At least two people were killed and hundreds wounded across the country on Saturday.

As our correspondent pointed out, the escalating violence comes just eight days before the country's first national elections since Hosni Mubarak, the former president, was forced from power in February.

Even so, she said: "People here are not thinking about elections they are thinking about their revolution and how to finish it."