Civilians Defend Against Lawlessness In Cairo

After leaving the citizens of Cairo to defend themselves against armed thugs for almost two days, police started returning to some neighbourhoods after a 4pm curfew began on Sunday.

The officers who had been patrolling the streets vanished on Saturday, a day after protesters set fire to Egypt’s ruling party headquarters and looting began, and the same day gangs of armed men raided jails and freed thousands of Muslim militants and other inmates into the streets.

Civilians picked up shovels, baseball bats and other makeshift weapons and set up barricades after looting and robberies spread throughout shopping centres and affluent areas.

And the army itself appealed to residents for help in a statement that said, “The military encourages neighborhood youth to defend their property and their honor.”

It then, in an apparent show of force, flew fighter jets over Cairo on Sunday and toward Tahrir Square where thousands of protesters have gathered for six days calling for President Hosni Mubarak to step down.

Mubarak’s government, accused of corruption and authoritarian rule, has responded by blocking mobile phone and internet access and ordering the pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera to close its Cairo station.

Ottawa was arranging charter flights on Sunday to get its citizens out of Egypt and has also warned them against all non-essential travel to the country.

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