Thirty-Three MILLION People. Egypt Rises WITH UPDATES. Morsi Has 48 Hours

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/01/1220236/-Thirty-Three-MILLION-People

MON JUL 01, 2013 AT 04:00 AM PDT
Thirty-Three MILLION People. Egypt Rises WITH UPDATES. Morsi Has 48 Hours

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You think they're upset?

That's an unofficial number, of course. But that's the unofficial number of people who are out protesting against the government of Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood today. Thirty-three million all over Egypt. The largest protest in the history of the world.

This is what a pissed off country looks like:

My question is, Why hasn't anyone been covering this? Why has there only been cursory coverage on the TeeVee? Where are the diaries? Is this not important? The Muslim Brotherhood may be on its way to being expelled from power. Muhammad Morsi is rumored to be in hiding, and yet no one is talking about this?

As I've said, everything I've heard has been unofficial. But it has come from the ground. A friend living in Dallas met a refugee and they struck a friendship. She has met more refugees, from Egypt, and from Syria, through Facebook and other social media. Here is a picture of one of her friends marching with Mohammed ElBaredai:

Marching with ElBaredai

Anyway, there is a Facebook page with news, pictures, and video from the ground.

Also follow the following Twitter feeds: @CairoScene, @TahrirBodyguard, @Ghonim,@sandmonkey, and @USEmbassyCairo Follow the hashtag #June30

And the Egypt Independent is a good news source to follow.

Here are some snippets of things that have been happening on the ground in Egypt:

First, here is video of the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters being attacked. Notice the sandbags on the windows. The citizens used what they had--rocks, fireworks, Molotov cocktails, what have you. Also notice the green lasers.

Next we have a picture of the crowd and a Military-style helicopter hovering above the crowd:

Notice the green lasers again. The protesters are using the lasers to point at the helicopter to blind the pilot. With the pilot blinded, he cannot attack or land.

Folks--this is one of the biggest stories of the year. And it may not bode well for us, either. This crowd is pissed at Morsi. And they see Obama and the United States as the ones who put him in office. And they see the United States calling for calm and talk with the Muslim Brotherhood. Witness this banner seen at the protests. The woman is US Ambassador Anne Patterson:

Diplomacy with Egypt is walking on eggs. You don't want to be seen as backing the "wrong" side, but you also don't want to be seen as waiting to see which way the wind blows. Meanwhile, you are sending money to basically pay for their military, which right now is taking a neutral stance. At any time they can always clamp down and take over themselves. Add to that the fact that Egypt has an almost forty year treaty with Israel that is holding steady. While not best friends, they are at least in a comfortable but wary detente.

The Conventional Wisdom is that Morsi is going to offer "concessions". But the protesters don't want that. We'll see. We may be seeing the overthrow of another Egyptian government.

And this time, no one's covering it in the media.

UPDATE: While the number of marchers has ranged from "millions" to 14 million, the opposition reports that their petition has received over 22,000,000 signatures (22 MILLION).

THIS JUST IN: Multiple news sources are reporting that the Egyptian Military is giving the Morsi government 48 hours to answer the demands of the protesters

It would offer its own "road map" for peace if the factions failed to reach a deal following deadly clashes, it said.

11:34 AM PT: Via Al-Arabiya: Ten Egyptian ministers have submitted their resignation after huge protests against Islamist President Mohammed Mursi, Al Arabiya correspondent reported Monday.

Earlier, Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil has rejected the resignation request of five ministers, a senior government official told AFP.

Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou, Minister of State for Environmental Affairs Khaled Abdel-Aal, Communication and Information Technology Minister Atef Helmi, Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Hatem Bagato, and Water Minister Abdel Qawy Khalifa handed their resignation letters at the same time to Qandil, the official said.