Live Updates January 28 – February 15

Shops have reopened, and the dust and din are back to choking, deafening levels. Motorcyclists have returned to their dangerous habit of speeding along pavements to avoid the epic traffic jams.

On Saturday I was able to sip tea peacefully at the recently revamped Hurriya (Freedom) Café in Bab El-Louk, where just a week before protesters were fighting pitched battles with the hired thugs of the ruling Hizb al-Watani (National Democratic Party).

The atmosphere retains the hope of the revolutionary moment. The departure of President Hosni Mubarak on Friday evening, greeted by rapturous and noisy celebrations that continue days later, have filled Egyptians with rediscovered dignity and hope for a better future.

But under the surface things are far from normal. The victory of the protesters has also left a political vacuum and much uncertainty and apprehension about the future.

The military stated yesterday that it will not be a substitute for the will of the people and the outpouring of joy in Egypt last night suggests that Egyptians believe them. There is good reason to hope that the military will help to give birth to democracy in Egypt. The people of Egypt have won a great victory and if their demands and aspirations for freedom and respect for fundamental rights are not realised they will be back on the streets. At the same time there is a huge amount of work to do to achieve this and to clean up the appalling legacy of the Mubarak government. We will start by pushing hard for the immediate and complete eradication of torture, for accountability for the abuses of the Mubarak era, including those of the past dramatic weeks and for the release of political prisoners.

One of the people I bumped into last night was the uncle of Khaled Said, the young man whose brutal murder by the police last year was a trigger for the protest movement. Asked whether he thought that Khaled himself had contributed to the fall of Mubarak he pointed to the crowd and said: “There are 80 million Khaled Saids and 80 million presidents of the republic".

On Tahrir Square today I heard the relatives of detainees demanding the release of their sons and brothers or for information about those who are missing and declaring that they would not leave the square until they had answers.

Earlier this afternoon the rally began in response to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's decision to step down. Independent Yemeni activists in the capital city of Sanaa called for a candle-light vigil to celebrate the events and by 8:30 in the evening, hundreds of Yemeni students, academics, activists and citizens gathered in front of the new university. Their numbers grew to the thousands. People chanted in support of Egypt.

Chants included:

These soon became chants focusing on the Yemeni regime such as:

People marched for an hour from the new university to the Egyptian embassy and their numbers grew to the thousands. They marched past neighborhoods and were cheered by onlookers. They were eventually met by soldiers guarding the Yemeni embassy and they turned around and gathered in Sanaa's Tahrir (Liberation) Square. By about 10:30 pm several trucks full of heavily armed soldiers began to arrive although until then the demonstration had been peaceful.

Tahrir Square, February 11, 2011.
© 2011 Human Rights Watch

A week into the demonstrations in Egypt, Hosni Mubarak's once unshakeable power structure was in full panic mode. What was once unimaginable had become reality: Egyptians seemed on the verge of overthrowing their government. Last week, hundreds of thousands marched through the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, and other Egyptian cities, shouting again and again their Tunisia-inspired mantra: "The people demand the downfall of the regime!"

As one protester told me and my colleague after viewing some of the dead at one of Alexandria's morgues, "We want to uproot this tree all the way down to its roots, and then plant a new tree" -- terrifying words for the entrenched Egyptian autocracy.

Now, however, on day 16 of the protests, Mubarak and his cronies seemed to have turned a corner. Instead of running scared, the regime is fighting back with both words and violence to quash its opponents, portraying the opposition as a foreign-backed, un-Egyptian group of conspirators. Sadly, its propaganda campaign appears to be as crude as its actual physical crackdown has been.

Today was a day of remembrance in the square – large blown-up pictures of those who died during the protest line the Kasr El Nil Entrance and I spoke to some of their relatives who were holding up posters of them in the square. One man told me his brother had been in the Tahrir protest on Friday January 28 in the evening: he was on Kasr Aini Street reaching for a tear gas canister to throw it away from the protesters when he was shot in the side twice. His friends spent three hours trying to get him to a hospital because they didn’t trust the public hospital nearby which was known to have security on the premises, but by the time they got to one he had died. Another told me of how his 10-year - old nephew had been playing in his neighborhood near the Rafah police station and was shot in the back three times as he ran away. The pictures and the speeches show just how raw the scars of the past protests are.

List of confirmed dead in Alexandria

University Hospital Morgue:

1. Mohamed Saiid Rabie
2. Al Sayed Mohamed Raid Abdel Hakim (soldier)
3. Mostafa Mahmoud Ismail
4. Khaled Mohamed Abdel Ader
5. Karim Mohamed Ali Al Banna
6. Ahmed Amer Mahmoud
7. Mostafa Ibrahim Mostafa
8. Hassanein Khallaf Allah
9. Nour Ali Nour El Din
10. Mohamed Hashem Ali
11. Mostafa Omar Mohamed
12. Mohamed Abdel Fattah
13. Mohamed Othman Abd Raboh
14. Ahmed Ibrahim Mohamed
15. Mohamed Hussein Rihan
16. Ibrahim Mohamed Abdel Sattar
17. Hassanein Ibrahim Hassanein
18. Unidentified body

Kom El Dekka Morgue:

1. Ahmed Mostafa Thabet- 18 years old
2. Ibrahim Mostafa Ibrahim – 20 years old
3. Islam Mohamed El Said Abdel Sallam – 25 years old
4. Mohamed Ibrahim Darofeeq – 30 years old
5. Hossam [xxx] Mohamed – 18 year old
6. Mohamed Abdel Rahim [xx] Ibrahim – 22-years old (soldier)
7. Ahmed Fawzy [xx] Ali – 28 years old
8. Ibrahim Sobhy Abdel Samad- 14 years old
9. Ayman Adel Hassanein – 20 years old
10. Islam Refaat Mahmoud – 35 years old
11. Mohamed Hassanein Anwar Mohamed – 20 years old
12. Karim Mohamed Mohamed El Fikki – 15 years old
13. Saber Fahmy Abol Ma’aty – 35 years old
14. Ahmed Salem Mahmoud Abdel Mayssar – 17 years old
15. Ahmed Samir Ibrahim Hamad – 26 years old
16. Mahmoud Ismail Abdel Karim- 19 years old
17. Ahmed Magdy Hassanein – 20 years old
18. Mahmoud Mohamed Mohamed Abdel Karim – 37 years old
19. Abdel Sattar Abdel Samia Abdel Sattar – 42 years old
20. Essam Mohamed Mahmoud Mohamed Khallaf – 38 years old
21. Mohamed Mostafa Abdo Ali El Sayed – 20 years old
22. Rami Gamal Abozeed – 19 years old
23. Mohamed Saber El Sayed Hamada – 35 years old
24. Adel Youssef Hussein – 52 years old
25. Mohamed Sayed Mohamed El Sakka – 17 years old
26. Omar Sayid Ali Mohamed – 20 years old
27. Amira Samir [xx] Shehata – 17 years old
28. Mamdouh Saber Abdo Seddiq – 26 years old
29. Ahmed Abdel Latif Ahmed – 22 years old
30. Hussein Taha Hussein – 19 years old
31. Mahmoud Nasr Mohamed Ahmed – 26 years old
32. Hamdy Adel Aty Abdel Magid Kassem – 26 years old
33. Unidentified body – around 16 years old
34. Tawfiq Mohamed Tawfiq – 70 years old (asphyxiation from tear gas)

After a hectic two weeks of protests, the detention and release of one of our Human Rights Watch researchers, and an overwhelming workload, things were a bit calmer in Cairo today. Traffic jams returned for the first time, which somehow seemed reassuring. At Tahrir Square, a moving prayer service conducted by Muslims and Christians together took place to commemorate the hundreds of protesters who have died in the the past two weeks, a reminder of just how much blood has been shed.

The focus of our research has shifted from the protests themselves to the ongoing detentions and harassment of local and international journalists, bloggers, democracy activists, and human rights lawyers by the military intelligence and military police. This is a new development in Egypt, as in the past it was mostly the police forces and security services of the Ministry of the Interior who conducted such arrests and abuse, not the army. Many activists are very worried about this new wave of army arrests, afraid that the number of such incidents will increase sharply in the coming days.

On Saturday night, several local journalists were detained, and today, al-Jazeera journalist Ayman Mohyeldin was detained by the military police at Tahrir square, while his colleague Sherine Tadros was briefly detained and questioned by the military police before being released.

We also are using the power of social media to help us document abuses in Egypt--a new approach for us, so we'll have to see if it helps. We've asked our fellow tweeters to send us any information they have about human rights abuses (tweet to @bouckap or @tweet4justice). Of course, we'll have to go confirm the information sent to us, but we've already received many names of missing persons, video clips of deadly shooting incidents, and information about incitement to violence on Egyptian state television.

It has been a difficult work environment for all of us in Egypt, with a heavy work load and constant threats to our security. We really appreciate all of the messages of support we've received from you all! Thanks so much.

UAE Authorities yesterday arrested Hassan Mohammed on Friday following a speech he gave supporting the Egyptian demonstrators following Friday prayers in Khour Fakkan, in the Emirate of Sharjah. He remains in detention.

The military is becoming more restrictive in allowing access to Tahrir square and seems to be preparing to pressure the protesters to end their occupation. A new army checkpoint has been put up on the Gezira side of the Qasr al-Nil bridge, and a second military checkpoint at the entrance to Tahrir square. Because of these checkpoints it is taking longer for people to get into the square. Long lines are backing up.
We met with the organizing committee of the protesters, to discuss their security concerns, as well as their obligations under human rights principles. One of the organizers said they had some informal discussions with the army that morning, and had been told that the army wanted the protesters to leave the square. He said that for the first time, the army was actively encouraging protesters to leave and had asked the organizers to help them end the protests.

The organizing committee are informally coordinating security in the square and their informal security volunteers intervene when suspected troublemakers are ‘caught'. We stressed it was important for them not to mistreat detained persons, and to hand them over to the army as soon as possible. The person we talked to said that it had been difficult to prevent suspected infiltrators from being attacked by the crowds, as many people were very angry after the violent attacks they had undergone. But he said that they tried to surround suspected infiltrators and trouble-makers as soon as possible and bundle them off to a cordoned-off area of the square, before handing them over to the army. We noticed that they had solid security in the square and the cordoned-off area: our IDs and passports were carefully checked before we were allowed access, and we were patted down repeatedly.
Establishment figures continue to arrive at the square to show their support for the protesters, or to simply take a look around. While we were talking to the organizing committee, a hush went up through the crowd as a Supreme Court justice, Tahani el-Gebali, arrived. She's seen as a close confidante of President Mubarak's wife Susan, so it was a surprise for many to see her there. However, she was treated with respect and escorted to the cordoned-off VIP area. ‘Anyone is welcome to come and visit the square and come and meet us,' one of the members of the organizing committee explained. ‘That's the freedom our movement is all about.'

Soon after we left, around 3:30 p.m., an even more important visitor arrived at the square: Army General Hassan el-Rawini, Commander of the Central Region. He tried to tell the protesters they should leave, but had to leave in a hurry when the protesters began shouting 'we won't leave, he must leave,' referring to Mubarak. These are momentous and unprecedented days for Egypt, and every day brings new surprises.

Ahmed Seif al-Islam, former director of the center, was the last to leave the military camp where they were all held because he was insisting on the return of all the equipment and documents the military took from the center.

We are so relieved to have our colleagues back safely. Now we can get back to our work of monitoring and reporting on the human rights situation here.

(Cairo, February 4, 2011) - Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director
This is a partial list of people detained on February 3 during a raid on the Hisham Mubarak Law Center in Cairo. More than 24 hours later they remain in detention and we have no information about their whereabouts, though we suspect they may be held by the military police at Camp 75, a military camp located in Manshiyet el-Bakri, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Cairo.

When lawyers went to Camp 75 and requested access to their detained colleagues, the army officials refused to confirm that they had any of the missing in detention. Those detained include:

1. Dan Williams, US citizen, Human Rights Watch emergency researcher
2. Ahmed Seif al-Islam, Egyptian citizen, former director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center (HMLC)
3. Sofia Amara, French citizen, journalist with French agency Magneto Presse
4. Pedro da Fonseka, Portuguese citizen, journalist with French agency Magneto Presse
5. Mohsen Beshir, Egyptian national, lawyer at Hisham Mubarak Law Center
6. Mona el-Masri, Egyptian national, volunteer with Front to Defend Egypt's Protesters (FDEP)
7. Mostafa al-Hassan, Egyptian national, lawyer for HMLC office in Aswan, also defense committee of Front to Defend Egypt's Protesters (FDEP)
8. Ahmed Tahir, Egyptian national
9. Fatima Abed, Egyptian national, volunteer with the Front to Defend Egypt's Protesters (FDEP)
10. Shahenda Abushadi, Egyptian national, volunteer with Front to Defend Egypt's Protesters (FDEP)
11. Nadine Abushadi, Egyptian national, volunteer with Front to Defend Egypt's Protesters (FDEP)
12. Nadia (Nadine Abushadi's mother), Egyptian national
13. Mohammed (Ahmed?) Hamdi Mahmood, Egyptian national, student
14. Said Haddadi, French-Moroccan dual citizen, Amnesty International researcher
15. Al Sayed Feky (HMLC Lawyer)
16. A second Amnesty International researcher (name withheld)

(Cairo, February 4, 2011) - Heba Morayef, Egypt researcher
Hundreds of people are still streaming across Kasr El Nil bridge into Tahrir Square and the sun is shining. The square is already almost as crowded as it was on Tuesday, the Day of Rage, and the atmosphere is back to what it was on that day - festive, family-friendly and diverse. There is no violence and the sense of security is back. I visited the informal organizing committee set up on one side of the square. The make-shift field hospital is ready to receive more patients and they say they are now well stocked for supplies because people were finally able to bring some medical supplies in. They told us three people had died during the day on February 3 and around 260 people were injured but since evening things have been calm.

The square is almost surreally calm after the violence of the past two days. Reports of arrests by the military of journalists, especially targeting foreign journalists, and the raid on the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre and arrest of human rights activists, have been greeted with concern by some. But what the calm seems to show is that whoever ordered the thugs out into the streets can also order them to stop. The prime minister's apology and promise to investigate is important but is not enough. What the government has to do is to protect peaceful protesters and stop trying to de-legitimize them through the state media.

Friday prayers in Tahrir Square, February 4, 2011.
© 2011 Human Rights Watch

(Cairo, February 4, 2011) - Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director
What is striking today is that there is no violence. With the police and National Democratic Party-backed thugs gone, things are peaceful. This is yet another reason to doubt government claims that the violence and abuses of the last two days were not directly organised by the authorities. Pretty amazing that the pro-Mubarak gangs just disappeared, apparently called off by their masters.

(New York, February 3, 2011) - Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director, Middle East North Africa

Sarah Leah Whitson in New York received this email tonight from a trusted source in Cairo:

Coming home from Tahrir Square to Maadi tonight by car took almost two and a half hours even though the streets were virtually empty, because all the Nile bridges were closed by army checkpoints.

First, Tahrir Square was very full when we left around 6:30 pm. My nephew, who has been there every day since this started, says this was the next biggest crowd after Tuesday. The mood was good, better than I expected after the violent events of yesterday and there was plenty of singing and chanting.

We heard occasional gunshots from what sounded like the other side of the square and there was some tension and rock-throwing at a couple of the entrances we tried initially but once inside the square things felt pretty safe.
We saw lots of anti government crowds walking into the square as we were leaving. After we left, we heard from several people that the square continued to fill up even more.

Kasr El Nil Bridge was closed so we walked all the way to Giza to meet relatives for the drive to Maadi. Crossing Gezeira, we passed two more army checkpoints and were treated with good humor by the soldiers and civilians. We tried to cross back to the east bank of Cairo by car, but all the bridges were closed. We ended up driving south through Giza, crossing back on Kobry Marazeek way south of Giza, and then back up to Helwan then Maadi.
The roads outside Cairo were dark and empty everywhere we went. Almost all stores were closed but the further you went from Tahrir, the more normal things seemed. We even saw a wedding tent and a full-on party, with loud music and guests. It was only 8:30 pm. Perhaps they scheduled it early for the curfew.

We must have crossed 15 or more army checkpoints and twice as many civilian ones by the time we got to Maadi. The army guys were unfailingly courteous and good humored, even when turning us away. So were the civilians and the neighborhood watch folks in Maadi.

We learned that tomorrow the army plans to keep the curfew at 5:00pm but will be closing roads and setting up checkpoints immediately after prayers. We got this information from a sympathetic officer at an army checkpoint south of Helwan, and confirmed it twice in other checkpoints as we traveled north. Basically, the army advised that anyone trying to get into downtown should get there before Friday prayers.
There is a growing sense among people I listened to that yesterday's offensive in Tahrir Square was most likely manufactured by some element of the civilian leadership (NDP, Interior Ministry, Shorta, etc.) but that the army was likely not in the loop and hence caught off guard. Perhaps that's true, or perhaps it's just wishful thinking by people who desperately want to believe that the army will side with them in the coming showdown with the regime.

At times it did feel like the army was trying to make it up to civilians today. We heard from a doctor in Tahrir Square that they are now getting all the medical supplies they need through the army checkpoints and have been assured by the army that this will continue.

That said, we have also had unverified word that the foreign journalist detentions and the arrests at the Hisham Mubarak Law Center were done by army police, not the general security forces or other police. So either the right hand of the army doesn't know what the left hand is doing, or it's some kind of crafty divide and conquer strategy.

My sense is that the civilian side of government is probably in disarray. Let's face it, it wasn't that organized even when it had the field to itself. But now we have some members of the cabinet playing hardball with the crowds, others are apologizing for the violence, some longstanding members of the previous cabinet are getting hung out to dry and others circling the wagons. I would bet that they don't know where they are going with this backlash project. It cannot help their morale that some of their colleagues are already having their assets frozen and being put under house arrest by the 'new' government. The edifice built on mutual loyalty and profit is crumbling.

This disarray may be true of the army too, but is harder to see. Definitely there is a disconnect between the tough way they are treating activists and foreign journalists on the one hand, and relatively tender approach to the folks in the square.

Egypt is pretty calm tonight all things considered. I think that the crowds tomorrow will be very large.

Marshaling Friday prayers from atop a traffic light in Tahrir Square, February 4, 2011.
© 2011 Human Rights Watch

(Cairo, February 3, 2011) - Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director
Human Rights Watch researcher Daniel Williams was detained by Egyptian security forces in Cairo today. Williams was one of several international and Egyptian human rights activists picked up in a raid on the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, including a researcher for Amnesty International. Human Rights Watch is endeavoring to contact Williams in custody and secure his release.

Williams' detention is part of a clear campaign against independent eyewitnesses of the violence in Egypt, including journalists and civil society activists. Human Rights Watch condemned the crackdown and called on the Egyptian government to release those detained immediately.

The offices of the law center were raided by police and army personnel. The human rights monitors were interrogated in the office before being taken away in a microbus. As they were taken away they were insulted by a group, apparently government supporters, who had gathered in the street.

Human Rights Watch is currently unaware of the whereabouts of those who were detained.

Egyptian authorities should immediately and safely release our colleague and the other human rights monitors detained today. The authorities should immediately halt the arrest and harassment of independent witnesses to the orchestrated attacks on peaceful demonstrators in Egypt.

(Munich, February 3, 2011) - Christoph Wilcke, senior researcher, Middle East and North Africa Division
On the eve of what the opposition promised would be the largest demonstration yet against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, security forces sealed off Liberation Square in San'a, the capital, erecting tents they claimed were for "mass weddings" the next day, a source in San'a told Human Rights Watch. When demonstration organizers discovered armed men in the tents, they moved the protest to San'a university, where thousands protested peacefully on Thursday morning, a participant told Human Rights Watch. He said it was the biggest protest yet, attended by international and local media, and took place without incident and in the absence of security forces. Security forces had briefly detained a number of members of opposition parties the night before who were distributing leaflets and putting up posters for the protest. Several days ago, security forces beat protesters and journalists who were expressing solidarity with Egyptian demonstrators in front of the Egyptian embassy in San'a.

(Munich, February 3, 2011) - Christoph Wilcke, senior researcher, Middle East and North Africa Division
Media and individual sources reported that on Friday, January 28, Saudi security forces arrested between 30 and 50 demonstrators in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after noon prayers. They had reportedly demonstrated against the chaos caused by the recent heavy rains, causing flooding in the city that led to deaths and cuts to electricity. A Saudi dissident in London, Dr. Sa'd al-Faqih, reportedly called for the demonstrations via his satellite program. Police arrested demonstrators as soon as they gathered, with dozens of others scattering. It remained unclear whether they were still being held. In 2003, Dr. al-Faqih had also called for demonstrations in Riyadh and Jeddah, and the security forces arrested scores of peaceful demonstrators, holding some for long periods. Saudi Arabia prohibits all public demonstrations as a matter of policy. On December 21, interior ministry officials summoned Saudi citizens who had planned a peaceful sit-in for December 23 to demand better jobs, health care, education, and urge reform, including an end to corruption, telling them to call it off, which they did.

(Cairo, February 3, 2011) - Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director
For the last hour, starting at 4am local time, the gunfire from around Tahrir Square has intensified. We are now hearing regular bursts of automatic fire every few minutes, as well as some heavier rounds from the mounted guns on the army's armored cars. It is now just after 5, and for the last 10 minutes shots have rang out almost continuously.

The army, which had been controlling access to Tahrir Square very tightly, with tanks at all the main entrances to the square, checking identification cards and searching bags, allowed pro-Mubarak protesters into the square, including men riding horses and camels and brandishing whips. Soldiers mostly stood by and did not act to protect peaceful demonstrators or try to stop the attacks on them. The Egyptian Health Ministry said three people were killed in the violence and more than 600 injured.

It boggles the imagination that armed pro-Mubarak demonstrators on camels and horseback could have assembled themselves and passed through army checkpoints without government complicity and coordination.

The Egyptian Army has acknowledged the protesters' right to peaceful protest and assembly, and they should remember that the role of the security forces is to uphold those rights. Maintaining security means showing restraint in the use of force, but also in taking appropriate action against those who are using violence. Restraint does not mean failing to protect when there are violent attacks against peaceful protestors - or allowing in men on horses and camels .

Sources in Damascus told me that at around 8:30pm, Syrian security forces violently dispersed a candlelight vigil held for Egyptian protestors. The vigil was held in the Bab Touma neighborhood in old Damascus. The police beat those gathered and took some of them, including known activist Suheir Atassi, to the Bab Touma police station. Suheir has been released and is doing fine.

Egyptian authorities should investigate claims from escaped Palestinian prisoners that prison guards used unnecessary lethal force during a prison break, killing and wounding prisoners.We interviewed one escaped prisoner, Omar Shaath, who described heavy shooting during an escape from Abu Zabaal prison, near the Libyan border, and shared with us the short videos that he and other prisoners made with their mobile phones during the prison break, showing wounded men, prison officials firing, and a fire on the prison roof.

(The first video shows two wounded men hiding in a narrow space inside the prison; as gunfire is heard in the background, one of the men is dazed and is bleeding from his ear, and is unable to stand. The second shows a man in a suit holding an AK-47-style assault rifle directing officials dressed in olive-drab sweaters, pants and berets, and several prison guards preventing prisoners from leaving a building. The third shows a burning storage cylinder on the roof of the prison.)

Shaath, a resident of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, told us that Egyptian authorities detained him in January 2010 when he tried to enter the Rafah border crossing into the Gaza Strip. He was held without charge for more than a year under Egypt’s emergency law on suspicion of being affiliated with the “Army of Islam” in Egypt. On the afternoon of January 28, 2011, Shaath said, prisoners in the criminal wing of the Abu Zabaal prison began burning food supplies and attempting to escape.Shaath described a chaotic scene as prison guards in a watchtower opened fire on him and other detainees on the third floor of a separate section of the prison as they tried to break through the iron bars and metal mesh on their windows.

“Other prisoners were already out of their cells in the prison yard, and when I waved to get their attention, a guard shot at me,” Shaath said. “The guards kept firing when the other prisoners saw us trying to get out and began helping us tear down the windows.”

Prison guards used large amounts of teargas as well, according to Shaath, but it is not clear if they first resorted to less lethal means of controlling the prisoners before opening fire with live ammunition.

The situation at the Northern HQ of the army in Alexandria is very tense. The army has used the HQ as a detention center for all of the suspected looters and other troublemakers handed over to them by the neighborhood security committees since Friday. This is an unfamiliar role for the army, and they are clearly at a loss as to what to do. Many of the detainees are probably innocent, just caught in the wrong neighborhood without identification.

About 150 angry relatives are gathered outside the army HQ, desperate for information about their missing relatives. The army has not produced any lists of those they have detained, and have not allowed anyone into the base to visit the detainees. We tried to gain access, but were refused. One old woman told me she had been there since Saturday, looking for her son, and had no news. The relatives are very concerned about the treatment the detainees are receiving.

As we were there, a group of female relatives of the detained started a protest, shouting 'We want our children, give us back our children!'

The army is in a difficult position, as it has no evidence of wrongdoing by most of the detainees and no judicial system to process or release them. But they are the only functioning security institution.

At the very least, the army should publish a complete list of the detainees and allow lawyers to visit them and ensure they are properly treated. And they should release the innocent as soon as possible.

People don't have mass-produced posters, they're all home-made. The sense of people finally getting their voice is astounding, especially when you compare that with the near-total silence from the government - their response has been little or nothing to say, it's as if they don't know how to respond. I suspect it also reflects divisions within ruling circles about how to respond - how else can you explain that it took Mubarak six hours to speak after the announcement on Friday that he would address the nation? I think that also explains the confusion about the security services - they pulled police off the streets and although we heard that police were ordered back on the streets yesterday we don't see many in Cairo today. I didn't see any police around Tahrir Square or anywhere downtown.

There's a very strong sense of civic-mindedness that comes through in the demand for free elections, the slogans, the security. People spontaneously coming out and picking up trash - I've never seen that before in Cairo. The tanks are set up to allow very narrow passages to Tahrir Square and at each one there are young men, self-appointed protest security guards, who check your ID and your bag, almost in single file, two or three people at a time, as the soldiers watch. The idea is not to let in infiltrators, people who might cause trouble. Many prominent people were spotted at the demo today in the crowd (there's no stage, but there are places where someone has a megaphone or has jerry-rigged a loudspeaker on a lamp-post).Many prominent people were seen at the protest: judges, Sheiks from al Azhar university, politicians, actors, and people of all classes - a real cross-section of society. There are more men than women, a few in suits and ties, but there were many women, veiled and unveiled.

The march swells in Alexandria. February 1, 2011.
© 2011 Human Rights Watch

(Alexandria, February 1, 2011) - Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director
The protest march in Alexandria has now exploded into a massive crowd. We stood here for ten minutes watching solid crowds stream by.

And now a second large crowd has come down. Very impressive numbers! This is the front of the crowd. People shouting Freedom and We have had enough.

(Cairo, February 1, 2011) - Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director
Army closed main roads between Cairo and Alexandria to prevent protesters from reaching mass protests today. Train services also closed.

Just passed another army roadblock on the Agricultural Road between Cairo and Alexandria. Tank blocking the road in direction of Cairo and officer standing on top of tank with handgun drawn. Lots of angry people and massive traffic jam.

Food and other prices have risen at least 20% in most shops since last week, and shortages are starting to show up. Bread, milk, cheese and other main foods are hard to find as shops can't replenish. Most ATMs are not functioning, so it is very difficult for people to find cash.Many shops and restaurants have stayed closed since last Friday out of security concerns. This is leading to increasing frustration as people want life to return to 'normal'.

Hundreds of people are streaming into the main square 10s of 1000s already there (easily 60,000+) and it's only midday.

People are checking IDs an searching bags, the woman who searched my bag told me they were making sure no one smuggled in knives /not to cause violence. I can see the Qasr El-Nil bridges across the Nile with hundreds of people on it coming towards the square. On the square the mood is still very festive.

In one corner a loud speaker is blasting popular nationalist songs. In other corners, people have brought loud speakers and are chanting slogans. There is a group of Sheikhs from the university of Al-Azhar. In another corner are a group of senior judges with a banner which read: "The Judges and the People are one Hand together" A senior judge made a speech from a loud speaker in which he called for the Minister of the Interior and others to be held accountable and for an end to state of emergency (loud cheer) and for free elections under full judicial supervision. I saw people I know who work for the government who have joined the protest. One sign read: "Christian or Muslim, We are all Egyptian!"

Start of a March in Alexandria. February 1, 2011.
© 2011 Human Rights Watch

(Cairo, January 31, 2011) - Heba Morayef, Egypt researcher:
At midnight I heard people on the west bank of the Nile chanting in favor of Mubarak chants - "With our blood, with our soul, we serve you Mubarak." The local neighborhood patrol in Zamalek told me they also heard chants in support of Gamal Mubarak, the president's son.

It's very hard to estimate how many people, but it was very loud, sounded like at least a few dozen. I'm not sure what it means, some protesters have told me they're afraid that pro-Mubarak demos will come and pick a fight with protesters in Tahrir Square: classic elections tactics. At election time the use of renta-crowds to support the ruling National Democratic Party is very common and what's worrying is that these are the ruling party supporters who tend to turn violent at election time.

I was in Zamalek on the Western side and I could hear the chants coming from the west bank of the Nile, maybe in the direction of Imbaba, a working-class neighborhood about a 15-minute drive from Tahrir Square.

Meanwhile, friends of friends who work at phone companies say they believe the phones will be cut tonight or tomorrow morning. Last time they heard that it turned out to be true

(Jerusalem, January 31, 2011) - Bill van Esveld, Human Rights Watch researcher in Jerusalem
Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip prevented Gazans from demonstrating in solidarity with protesters in Egypt, according to witnesses we talked to. Police arbitrarily arrested six women and threatened to arrest another 20 people who responded to a call on Facebook for a demonstration at the park of the Unknown Soldier in Gaza City. “The Hamas authorities should stop arbitrarily interfering with peaceful demonstrations about Egypt or anything else,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Police committing unlawful arrests and abusing demonstrators should be held to account.”

An eyewitness told Human Rights Watch that shortly after 2 p.m. on January 31, plainclothes detectives forced three women demonstrators into a civilian car and drove them away. Others who walked away from the planned demonstration were followed by a police detective on a motorcycle, who demanded that they turn over their ID cards and mobile phones. When they handed over their IDs but refused to surrender their phones, the detective called for support to arrest them, and the demonstrators fled, the witness said.

One of the women detained told Human Rights Watch that police women apprehended her and took her for questioning at the Gaza City police station, where she saw five other women being held pending interrogation after attending the planned demonstration. Police women told the detainees to sign pledges that they would not participate in demonstrations without first obtaining police permission and would respond to police summons at any time. Women police officers insulted demonstrators who were not wearing headscarves and questioned whether they were really Muslims, and slapped one demonstrator and pulled her hair, witnesses said. The women were later released.

Under international human rights law, no restrictions may be placed on the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are strictly necessary and proportionate for national security, public safety, or public order.

Egyptians deserve a clean break from the incredibly entrenched practice of torture. The Egyptian government's foul record on this issue is a huge part of what is still bringing crowds onto the streets today.

Prosecuting torture and ending the emergency laws that enable a culture of impunity for the security forces should be a priority for the new Egyptian government.

An international journalist who was there on Sunday described watching police or army shooting at unarmed prisoners huddling on the roof of a prison building. Obviously shooting unarmed prisoners is a crime.

@hebamorayef: Military officers at entrance to square tell me they are checking IDs to keep out police and escaped criminals.

We asked him to shoulder his historic responsibility and help in bring about a swift and orderly transition to a democratic order in which rights are respected.

Under international law, the Egyptian military must respect the rights of the Egyptian people to freedom of assembly and peaceful protest against a repressive government. And to the extent that the Armed Forces are engaged in protecting public security, they may use reasonable and proportionate force to prevent crimes, but firearms should only be used in situations of grave and imminent threats of death or serious injury. A failure to abide by these international standards would open individual soldiers, officers and their superiors to investigation and prosecution.

People were also very angry to hear that the Interior Ministry is ordering police back on to the streets - though the Army still has control in Tahrir Square. Yesterday they were calling for the minister's resignation, so they're very upset about that. It's been much more organized today, people going around with loudhailers urging people not to leave.

The square has emptied out since the afternoon but it's still a great atmosphere, a sense of solidarity, and very well-behaved – people are sitting around bonfires, or walking around picking up rubbish. Crowds who find occasional looters drag them over to the soldiers and hand them over. And no sexual harassment – which is not the norm downtown, especially when there are big groups gathering! We're happy to be eating koshary – thank goodness vendors are still selling street food because we're starving.

Palestinian Authority security forces shut down a demonstration on January 30, 2011, in front of the Egyptian embassy in Ramallah, after calling in one of the organizers for questioning multiple times on January 29 and ordering him to cancel the event notice that he had created on Facebook. Human Rights Watch monitored the demonstration and spoke with participants.

At around 4 p.m., the first of roughly 40 to 50 Palestinian demonstrators began to gather in front of the embassy to show solidarity for ongoing protests in Egypt, but were met by 20 armed police who immediately tried to confiscate cameras and ordered a journalist to turn off her microphone and recorder. Security agents wearing masks drove up in a Palestinian Preventive Security service jeep – which was driving very fast, apparently to intimidate protesters – and were soon joined by officers in two other jeeps and three police cars, and a van of the kind the PA uses for arrests and prisoner transport.

Demonstrators said they had expected a higher turnout, but that Palestinian security agencies had called in one of the organizers of the protest for questioning three times in the last 24 hours and told him to cancel the event because "there were orders that no event related to Tunisia or Egypt was allowed at this time." Members of the Facebook page calling for the demonstration received Facebook messages late last night saying that it was canceled.

Security forces pushed the demonstrators around 300 meters away from the Egyptian embassy. At that point, a man who identified himself as a police commander said the demonstrators were in a "security area" and would have to disperse. Several women demonstrators told the police that Palestinian law required the demonstrators to notify the authorities 48 hours in advance and that they had done so. Women also convinced three policemen to release a demonstrator they had seized and dragged away when he shouted, "Long live Egypt!" The police dispersed the protest after one hour.

Human Rights Watch called on the Palestinian Authority to stop security forces' arbitrary interference with peaceful demonstrations

Shutting down Al Jazeera is a sign of just how desperate the government has become to cut Egyptians off from news, information, and communication.

The atmosphere in Suez is tense, the big complaint is the absence of security. A lot of rubble in the streets from stone-throwing, street battles etc. The army is out in force, tanks are stationed on the streets and the area around the main government buildings is completely blocked off. A major police station that on Thursday was surrounded by security and said to be holding many detainees picked up at protests was torched and is now gutted.

Police and government officials have pulled out so there are no government services - the governor's been gone since Tuesday so there's a power vacuum. People formed impromptu block committees to provide local security, armed (they say) with only sticks and kitchen knives. The locals say the only people with weapons are police who've taken off their uniforms and are responsible for most of the looting and crime.

People are holding up signs all over the square, some hand-made, some printed, all saying more or less the same thing - Down with Mubarak, the people and the Army against the enemy, stop police vandalism or police are terrorizing people. These last refer to widespread reports that some looting was carried out by police. They haven't been seen on the streets of Cairo since 6pm on Friday.

It's the first day of the working week but most shops and offices are closed. Only a few food stores are open.

The Cairo-Alexandria desert road is blocked because of a prison outbreak at Wadi Natroun - several thousand prisoners released. The army is deployed. Residents of local villages say the prison had 8,000 inmates.

The old Cairo-Alexandria "agricultural road" is open and traffic is running smoothly.

People in Menoufeyya say criminals stopping cars at night demanding money. But day travel is safe.

(Alexandria, January 29, 2011) - Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director:
The most touching moment today was when one of the youth leaders in Alexandria asked us to help him send an observer team to elections in Tunis: "We will pay for ourselves, but we want to see how a real election happens."

• Every street has men armed with sticks and knives to procte their shops and homes. they told us to stay out of poorer neighborhoods because security is very bad, lots of looting. Egyptians keep telling us they want to determine their own future, not one imposed by other countries, very much like Tunisia.
• Reports that large numbers of criminals escaped or were released in alex during unrest, adding to looting and criminality.
• Just got a call from a Popular Committee member in Sidi Basr neighborhood of Alexandria to say looting is going down because of Popular Committee members defending neighborhoods.a
• We hear men armed with knives are looting empty homes in Bokkla. Locals are forming neighborhood committees to protect their homes. We were talking to the army when one group asked for help but the soldiers said they were overstretched and couldn't do anything today. Later we heard the army has asked people to coordinate the Popular Committee for Protection of Property and said reinforcements are coming tomorrow. Many people stuck in Alexandria far from their homes without transport home.

(Alexandria, January 29, 2011) - Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director:
I went to the Morgue at the Alexandria General Hospital, where I saw 13 bodies of dead people - all men, young and old, but mostly young. Also visited the hospital's emergency room and saw many people who had been shot and were still waiting to get treatment. Live bullets seem to have been used by police yesterday evening when protesters went to attach police stations, but also by security services against people even in their homes. One man who told me that thugs (whom he referred to as "mukhabarat," the Egyptian security services) showed up at his apartment, accused him of throwing things on police from his windows, and shot him.

The Egyptian government has got to rein in its security forces on the streets of Egypt's cities today.

Things are very tense in Alexandria. Large protests are ongoing. The police stations appear to have all been burned. Yesterday, demonstrators tried to burn down the building of intelligence services, but seem not to have succeeded. The army is not intervening -- so far.

Egypt: Demonstrators Defy Riot Police, Censorship
(Cairo, January 28, 2011) - Thousands of protesters in Cairo and Alexandria defied a heavy deployment of riot police and other security forces and government warnings not to participate in demonstrations

Egypt: Nationwide Internet Blackout Endangers Rights
(Cairo, January 28, 2011) - ­The Egyptian government's unprecedented blackout of the nation's internet and most cell phone networks poses a major threat to basic human rights, and should be reversed immediately.

(Alexandria, January 28, 2011) - Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director:
The army has deployed in Alexandria but atmosphere is calm. Soldiers are talking to protestors. Confirmed that Alexandria governorate and many police stations burned down. The people are trying to welcome the army, lots of APCs arriving, were blocked for about 20 mins as they spoke to crowd, people say the army is with them. Still thousands on the street here.

Soldiers talk to protesters in Alexandria, on January 28, 2011. © 2011 Human Rights Watch

(Alexandria, January 28, 2011) - Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director:
After prayers, the protesters came out of a mosque and started shouting slogans. They were saying "peaceful, peaceful" and raising their hands. They were immediately attacked by police in an armoured car firing teargas. Fierce clashes started then, with exchanges of rock throwing. About 200 police faced about 1,000 protesters. The clashes lasted for nearly two hours. Then a much larger crowd of protesters came from another direction. They were packed in four blocks deep. Police tried to hold them back with teargas and rubber bullets, but they were finally overwhelmed.

Then the police just gave up, at about the time of afternoon prayers. Protesters gave water to police and talked to them. It was was all peaceful. Hundreds of protesters were praying in the street.

Now walking down to downtown Alexandria, the whole road is packed as far as we can see, people shouting slogans against [Hosni] Mubarak and his son Gamal. Asking others to join them. It is a very festive atmosphere. Women in veils, old men, children, I even saw a blind man being led. And there are no police anywhere.

Police cars on fire in front of Alexandria's Siddi Brahim mosque. © 2011 Human Rights Watch

Egypt: The View From Liberation Square
(Cairo) The call for the protests that began on Tuesday - the Police Day national holiday - came from a Facebook group set up in the name of Khaled Said, 28, who was beaten to death on an Alexandria street by the police.