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Thursday, February 3, 2011     INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING

Mubarak deploys backers against demonstrations for his immediate exit

CAIRO — President Hosni Mubarak, in what could be his last attempt to crush the opposition, has sent thousands of loyalists to battle anti-government demonstrators, opposition sources said.

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The Mubarak supporters included plainclothes security officers as well as mercenaries recruited by the ruling National Democratic Party. The sources said the supporters, some of them riding camels and horses, charged into the opposition vigil in downtown Cairo in an attack that left five people dead and more than 1,000 injured.

"We have evidence that many of these thugs were police," opposition leader Mohammed El Baradei said.


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The clash on Feb. 2 came 48 hours ahead of an opposition deadline for Mubarak to leave office, Middle East Newsline reported. Hours earlier, Mubarak vowed that he would not resign before his term ends in September.

The opposition said the pro-Mubarak force appeared to have been organized by the Interior Ministry, which on Feb. 1 returned thousands of police to the streets of Cairo. The attackers, who rushed opposition protesters in waves, hurled firebombs and stones as well as slashed their way through the crowd in Tahrir Square with knives and machetes.

At first, witnesses said, opposition organizers sought protection from the military stationed outside Tahrir Square. After several minutes, the young protesters responded with stones and concrete blocks.

"There have been arrests of criminals and trouble-makers," an opposition organizer said.

Later, the military, which has deployed U.S.-origin main battle tanks in central Cairo, warned the anti-Mubarak demonstrators to leave. They said unnamed violent groups would burn down Tahrir Square.

"You have started coming out to express your demands and you are the ones capable of returning normal life to Egypt," Egyptian military spokesman Ismail Etman said in a televised address. "Your message has arrived. Your demands have become known."

At the same time, plainclothes police began attacking alleged protest organizers in Tahrir Square. The fighting also engulfed the nearby Egyptian Museum and at one point targeted Western journalists.

"Hosni has opened the door for these thugs to attack us," another opposition organizer said.

The opposition has been bolstered by calls from the United States and Europe for Mubarak to resign immediately. President Barack Obama has appealed to Mubarak to launch an immediate transition of his regime.



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