U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today urged the Egyptian government to allow peaceful protests to continue and not to block social media sites like Twitter Inc. and Facebook used by anti-government demonstrators.
“We call on all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from violence,” she told reporters in Washington. “We urge the Egyptian authorities not to prevent peaceful protests nor block communications, including on social media sites.”
Egyptian authorities banned protests and tightened security after thousands of people took to the streets of Cairo and major cities yesterday to denounce President Hosni Mubarak, inspired by the revolt that toppled Tunisia’s leader.
Twitter, which was used to help coordinate the Tunisian protests, yesterday said access to its services was blocked in Egypt.
“We believe strongly that the Egyptian government has an important opportunity at this moment in time to implement political, economic and social reforms,” Clinton said during a news conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.
The U.S. relies on Mubarak as a mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and Egypt is the second-largest recipient of American foreign aid after Israel. Relations were strained during the administration of President George W. Bush, who repeatedly called on Mubarak to allow more political freedoms.
Ynet reports that Egyptian security forces arrested eight local journalists who participated in an anti-government protest outside the Egyptian Press Association building in Cairo. Al Jazeera reported Wednesday that the security forces have reinforced their deployment throughout the capital.
Meanwhile, the European Union called on Egyptian authorities, including President Hosni Mubarak, to listen to their people, confront their problems and respect the peoples’ right to protest. So far, 860 Egyptians have been arrested in the protests.
Facebook has been a key means of communication for protesters, but Egyptians said the site was blocked on Wednesday. Twitter confirmed its site was blocked on Tuesday, although users could still access it via proxy sites. The Internet has been the main platform for some of the most vociferous criticism of Mubarak.
The complaints echo those of fellow Arabs in Tunisia: soaring food prices, a lack of jobs and authoritarian rule that usually crushes protests swiftly and with a heavy hand. It seems that the facebook call was answered as thousands headed to the streets. That was most likely the reason police forces used crowd dispersion measures, including tear gas, to deal with the rioting citizens.
A Egyptian cabinet spokesman told Reuters, that Egypt’s government denies that social media websites like Twitter and Facebook were disrupted, saying the government respected freedom of expression and sought to protect it.
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7 Responses
Clinton asks to “restrain from violence”. She still does not chap that she that is dealing with “PEREH-adam”.
But we can’t really fault her when even most Yidden still do not want to accept that fact and deal with our enemy accordingly.
In the words of Rav Meir Kahane ztzvk”l…
“One of the great problems with Americans is that – being a decent people – they assume that everyone else is equally decent.”
Ok libs, stop and think what we are asking Eygpt NOT to do & what would CHV happen here if Barry had control of the internet like he wants.
Two way street, ya think?
Careful what you say, or they might try shut down YeshivaWorld soon 🙂
The United States does not understand any mentality other than their own. They have a terrible foreign policy, and have had that for a while.
For some reason they always feel the need to press our values onto everybody.
As much as I hate Mubarak we should all pray his Government does not fall.
Chas veshalom we could really end up with a regime more radical than Iran armed with F-16s right on the border with Israel. Every jew should be worried sick about this and daven to hashem for the safety of the jews in Eretz Yisroel.
#1, Rav Meir Kahane ztzvk”l, is sorely missed and very much needed these days! Nice post!
#6 what could he do about the situation in Egypt?