Bangladesh life: The home-made "helmets" worn in the Middle East street war

Daily Mail, Thursday 3rd February 2011
Images: AP/Reuters/EPA/AFP/Getty Images

THE MANY WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR HEAD IN A FIGHT WITH STONES

Desperate times call for desperate measures. The anti-Mubarak protesters in Tahrir Square have resorted to a variety of headgear - at times comical - to protect themselves in the pitched battle against President Mubarak's thugs.

Stones are the preferred weapon in this Old Testament-style fight within the Egyptian capital and the protesters have made use of whatever lies closest to hand.

There's the man with a saucepan on his head, another with what looks like a latticed litter basket - so he can still see where the rocks are coming from - and another with a piece of styrofoam tied with a scarf to the top of his head.

In Yemen, one protester was even more inventive - he created a makeshift helmet with two baguettes, a chapatti and clingfilm.

Pro-Mubarak thugs targeting 'anti-government' news organisations
Foreign journalists detained by Egypt's military
Government spokesman denies it is trying to intimidate reporters
U.N. says transition of power 'should begin now'
Cameron and other European leaders step up pressure on Mubarak

Throughout last night there were what appeared to be a planned series of assaults on the demonstrators. Activists said police snipers used the cover of darkness to shoot at them, killing at least three people.

About 300 people are believed to have died since the Egyptian uprising began. But after several days of peaceful rallies the situation drastically changed within the last 24 hours. The president’s supporters charged into the square on horses and camels, lashing people with whips, while others rained firebombs and rocks from rooftops.

Demonstrators calling for an immediate end to Mr Mubarak’s 30-year-rule accused the state of organising the violence to crush their protest or to create a pretence for the military to intervene to restore order.

The protesters showed police ID badges they said were taken from their attackers, while some government workers said their employers ordered them into the streets.

Dr Rafik Bedair, of the Egyptians United group based in the UK, helped organise a group of six British doctors who flew out to Cairo from London last night to provide medical treatment to protesters. He told the Standard: 'There is no question this is state-organised violence. People are being massacred in the square. The big question is when the army will intervene and whose side they will take.

'The government has used these tactics before at election times of paid thugs and secret police to create unrest. They may then call on the army to keep order. But more anti-government protesters have been arriving in the square this morning to increase our numbers. People are willing to fight.'

The U.S. is condemning the notion the state may have co-ordinated violence against protesters.

A doctor at the scene of this morning's gunfire told Al Arabiya TV that supporters of President Mubarak had opened fire on the anti-government protesters.

In the overnight fighting, machinegun fire echoed for more than an hour across the central square where protesters are unsatisfied by Mubarak's pledge to step down only in September.

By daylight there was a lull. Troops with tanks continued to look on. But in mid-morning groups of pro-Mubarak supporters were seen moving again toward the square with knives and sticks.

'One way or another we will bring Mubarak down,' some protesters chanted in the early morning. 'We will not give up, we will not sell out,' others shouted.

In a statement on Al Jazeera, the Brotherhood said: 'We demand that this regime is overthrown and we demand the formation of a national unity government for all the factions.'

Yesterday, pro-government attackers on horseback and camels charged into Tahrir Square while others rained firebombs from rooftops.

The organisers of a protest against Egypt's government said they had detained 120 people carrying identities associating them with either the police or the ruling party, most of them caught while attacking the demonstrators.

Kamal Ismail, an official in a committee organising the protests, showed a Reuters journalist two identity cards confiscated today from men he said had tried to infiltrate the protest camp. One of them belonged to a police officer.

He said most of those detained had been overpowered by the protesters during confrontations that began yesterday afternoon when supporters of President Hosni Mubarak tried to force anti-Mubarak demonstrators from a central Cairo square.

The anti-Mubarak protesters have been handing their detainees over to the army, he said.

Following yesterday's violent clashes between supporters of the beleaguered president and demonstrators demanding change, the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain said the right to peaceful protest must be respected.

'We are watching with utmost concern the deteriorating situation in Egypt,' they said in their statement.

'The Egyptian people must be able to exercise freely their right to peaceful assembly, and enjoy the full protection of the security forces. Attacks against journalists are completely unacceptable.

'We condemn all those who use or encourage violence, which will only aggravate the political crisis in Egypt.

'Only a quick and orderly transition to a broad-based government will make it possible to overcome the challenges Egypt is now facing. That transition process must start now.'

Their statement echoed calls by the White House which has been demanding that America's old ally - who has said he will not stand for election again in September - should begin the process of political transition immediately.

David Cameron's official spokesman said: 'We will continue to use all channels to bring pressure to bear on the regime.'

As the U.N. moved to evacuate its staff, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for s swuift transition of power.

'Many people are now asking the government should take reform,' he told a London news conference.

'There have been calls for transition, very orderly peaceful transition. If a transition needs to be taken, the sooner the better.

Asked about reports of attacks on reporters, Ban said: 'The freedom of speech, whether peaceful demonstrators or journalists, should be fully guaranteed and protected.

'The government should listen very attentively to the wishes of the people.'

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs also warned: 'If any of the violence is instigated by the government, it should stop immediately.'

The U.N. was sending in two chartered aircraft to take 350 staff and their families to Cyprus, said Rolando Gomez, a spokesman for its peacekeeping mission on the Mediterranean island. Each aircraft was to make two roundtrips to Cyprus.

‘The staff will be temporarily relocated due to the security situation in Egypt,"’Gomez told The Associated Press, adding that arrangements had been made to accommodate up to 600 staff and their families at hotels in Cyprus. It was unclear whether they would remain on the island or head to other destinations.

Gomez said some U.N. staff will remain in Egypt to carry out ‘essential functions’.

The United States said more than 1,900 Americans had been evacuated in three days of flights, and additional flights were planned for Thursday.

The State Department said that even citizens whose passports had expired within the past decade could go directly to the airport, reflecting the urgency of evacuating people even if their travel documents were not in order.

About 160 Americans were at the airport early Thursday. In total, about 5,000 passengers of various nationalities were there, waiting for commercial or government-chartered flights.

A Foreign Office charter flight will leave Cairo for London's Gatwick Airport later with more than 200 passengers expected on board.

Those taking the flight will be charged £300 a seat, although arrangements are being made for those who cannot afford the upfront cost.

Downing Street has stressed the ticket price would not cover the cost of chartering the flight 'by any means'.

Mr Cameron's spokesman said the Government did not want to undermine commercial airlines operating flights in and out of Egypt by offering free tickets.
'It's very important that we maintain commercial flights in and out of Egypt, so we don't want to be in a position where we are providing flights at no cost, because that would undercut commercial airlines,' he said.
The Foreign Office confirmed today it had chartered a second plane - which will depart Cairo on Saturday - because of the 'fluidity and unpredictability' of the situation.

A spokesman renewed the advice to all Britons without a "pressing reason" to stay in the Egyptian capital to leave the city.
Staff not immediately involved in dealing with the crisis have also been temporarily withdrawn, he said.

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