Protesters remain in Tahrir Square despite government attempts to de-escalate situation
Story Transcript
KHALED FAHMY, CHAIR, HISTORY DEPT., AMER. UNIV. IN CAIRO: The square is still full of anti-Mubarak people. However, the–most of the families and women, for clear, for understandable reasons, have left. There are many, many wounded. But the spirit is still high. And it is very big. It’s not a small group. It’s a very large one. The attorney general has issued an order preventing the former ministers of interior and housing and tourism from travel and has frozen their bank assets. Omar Suleiman, the vice president, has issued a statement saying that Gamal Mubarak will not run for presidency in September. So there is an attempt to deflate the situation. But the situation is still, obviously, very tense. This is what I can tell you now. The military is–I saw pictures, but I’m sure you have seen it, but because I saw it on the screen, of moving soldiers–foot soldiers, which is good–on the no man’s land between those groups in Tahrir Square. But there has also been unconfirmed reports that military police–military police has raided the offices of some human rights groups and arrested some members, including foreign members. I mean–and this is a huge escalation, very, very serious.
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