Anti-government marchers and Egyptian soldiers recognize themselves in each other during a demonstration against the Mubarak dictatorship, Tahrir Square, Cairo.  (Chris Hondros / Getty Images / January 29, 2011)  [Thanks to Mark Shapiro, Military Resistance Organization, who sent this in.]

“Asked By The Star What His Orders Were, A Young Soldier Sitting Atop A Tank Said:

‘We Took To The Streets To Protect The People And Important Buildings’”

“Below His Feet, Scrawled On The Side Of His Tank By A Protester, Were The Words ‘Down With Mubarak’”

“Similar Anti-Regime Graffiti Covered Almost All Military Vehicles”

“When Four Armoured Vehicles Roared Out Of The Square As Darkness Fell, They Were Covered With People Standing On Them Chanting Anti-Mubarak Slogans”

Egyptian anti-government protesters stand atop an Egyptian army tank during a protest in Tahrir square in Cairo.  Lefteris Pitarakis/AP [Thanks to Mark Shapiro, Military Resistance Organization, who sent this in.]

Jan 29 2011 Sandro Contenta, The Star
 
CAIRO—In this chaotic, respectful silence returns when they take out the dead.
 
Protesters laying siege to the hated Ministry of the Interior fell quiet Saturday when two soldiers appeared in the no man’s land behind armoured vehicles, carrying, in a blanket, the lifeless body of a young man, apparently shot by snipers on the ministry roof.
 
The crowd parted, eyes fixed on their dead comrade, as the soldiers walked by.
 
As darkness fell, gunfire also echoed in central Cairo’s residential neighbourhoods — the work of armed thugs looting homes in defiance of a curfew.
 
Some people claimed the looters were prisoners released and armed by authorities so that the lawlessness can be blamed on the protesters.
 
On Friday, 17 police stations throughout Cairo were torched, and protesters took guns and freed some prisoners. They also burned dozens of police trucks in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez.
 
On Saturday, protesters besieged a police station in the suburb of Giza, looting and pulling down Egyptian flags.
 
They then burned the building to the ground.
 
Unlike Friday, the hated police force was nowhere to be seen Saturday.
 
Residents are increasingly taking security into their own hands, forming ragtag militias and patrolling their streets with pipes, sticks and machetes.
 
On Friday, after tens of thousands fought off riot police and took over Cairo’s streets, Mubarak sacked his whole cabinet. 
 
On Saturday, he appointed intelligence chief and longtime confidant Omar Suleiman, 74, as vice-president.
 
Protesters in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez treated the news of the appointments with scorn.
 
Their chants all had the same uncompromising theme: Mubarak must go.
 
“Nothing less will do.  We are fed up.  We have no more patience,” said Aziz Amin, 33, a computer technician.
 
Mubarak, a longtime ally of Washington, is running out of political moves to save his presidency.
 
A bloodbath is a possibility if he orders the military to crush the revolt.
 
But the military has so far shown no sign of having the stomach for it.
 
The soldiers did not even enforce the 4 p.m. curfew.
 
Asked by the Star what his orders were, a young soldier sitting atop a tank said: “We took to the streets to protect the people and important buildings.  We want peaceful protests.  We don’t want vandalism.”
 
Below his feet, scrawled on the side of his tank by a protester, were the words: “Down with Mubarak.”
 
Similar anti-regime graffiti covered almost all military vehicles.
 
One group of protesters chanting, “the people and the army are hand in hand,” marched to a row of tanks and armoured vehicles and shook hands with the soldiers and posed with them for photos.
 
When four armoured vehicles roared out of the square as darkness fell, they were covered with people standing on them chanting anti-Mubarak slogans.
 
Youssef Farag, 56, put it this way: “The people of Egypt are like the Nile. They are soft, but when they become angry, the flood takes everything.”
 
“The fear is gone,” said Mohammed Abdel Latif, 52.
 
“I’m not poor. I own a business. On Thursday I was saying: ‘Let me be safe. I won’t go out on the street to protest.’ Today, here I am.  I thank the young people for waking up my generation.”
 
Latif had a message for Western governments, which for decades have backed a president who outlawed opposition parties and manipulated elections: “If you want true friends in the Middle East, befriend the people, not the rulers.  If the United States, Europe and Canada decide that Mubarak is no longer their man, he is finished.”  [And a warning folded into that message.]
 
One of many flyers circulating among protesters in Tahrir Square called for a general strike Sunday.
 
The 18 million residents of this sprawling city awoke Saturday to find not a police officer in sight.
 
Some had shed their uniforms and left them abandoned the street where protesters picked them and waved them gleefully on sticks.
 
All day crowds gathered across from the complex that houses the offices of Mubarak’s political party.
 
The massive building, looted Friday, burned out of control for a second day.
 
Now and then chunks of charred concrete came crashing down from its façade.
 
“They use water (cannons) against the people but they let the buildings burn. Where is the reason in that?” said Ihab El Sheemy, 38, who works at a bank.
 
Source: Military Resistance (Submitted to Axis of Logic via correspondence)