Chaos engulfs Cairo; Mubarak points to succession

[Akoto]

Source: Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) -- Egyptians woke up to a dawn of uncertainty Sunday with several key buildings still smoldering in the capital and thousands of anti-regime protesters remaining camped out at the city's main square in defiance of an extended nighttime curfew.

President Hosni Mubarak, clinging to power with promises of reform and a new government, had named his intelligence chief as his first-ever vice president on Saturday, setting the stage for a successor as chaos engulfed Cairo. Soldiers stood by - a few even joining the demonstrators - and the death toll from five days of anti-government fury rose sharply to 74.

Overnight and as police melted away, residents set up self-styled checkpoints and barricades at street corners and intersections of their neighborhoods, armed mostly with clubs and sticks to protect their homes. By dawn, the city was eerily quiet, with armored military vehicles encircling main government buildings in the downtown.

-snip-

"This is all nonsense. They will not fool us anymore. We want the head of the snake," he said in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. "If he is appointed by Mubarak, then he is just one more member of the gang. We are not speaking about a branch in a tree, we are talking about the roots."

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_EGYPT_PROTEST?SITE=ORBAK&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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It's the start of the work week in Egypt, but as the article notes, many facilities will remain closed. Seems the situation will continue.