Egypt: What is Happening in Suez?

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.

The cry from the seaport town of Suez, 129km east of the capital Cairo, is loud and clear, as demonstrations across Egypt enter their third day.

Sketchy details are emerging of clashes with security forces, and the situation is all the more difficult to assess as telephone lines are jammed by the authorities, and scores of journalists and activists who are keeping the world informed of developments in Egypt have been arrested.

Abdelrahman Hassan tweets:

International media, is THE Egyptian ! The people are being massacred by police RIGHT NOW, we need coverage!

Mohamed Selim adds:

is under siege! Egyptian Army takes over from the Police Forces!

And Ammar Abdulhamid updates:

still under curfew. Trade Minister not in Davos. Bourse shut down. ElBaradei back. Obama shifts support. Yeah it's not

The question on the minds of those following the developments in Egypt is: What is happening in Suez?

Sarah Naguib tweets:

Anyone who knows anyone in Suez please try to get us information about the situation over there :S

Abdulhamid adds:

#Suez: mobile networks down, but not regular phone lines, so city not completely isolated. If u know ppl there, pls call, share info #jan25

And journalist Ian Lee is off to Suez to find out for himself what is happening there:

On my way to report on the events in Suez. Hopefully I won't be turned around at a police checkpoint.

Meanwhile, Hadeel Al-Shalchi, the correspondent for the Associated Press Middle East bureau, in Cairo, was in Suez yesterday, where she tweeted her experience.

In a series of tweets, she describes the situation there:

Suez is on fire

I'm in a house of screaming women suez tear gas molotov cocktails bullets being fired

@ i know. from what i gather, suez was worse than cairo today in terms of violence. eyes still killing me from the gas!

@ spent the day in suez and it turned super nasty at night. was gassed really badly, my head is throbbing. home in cairo now

The following video, from YouTube user superknight1100, shows a part of the demonstration in Suez from last night:

And this Facebook page (Ar), by Ruham Aldakkak, has a list of tweets, photographs and links on the developments in Suez.

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.

3 comments

  • Anonymous

    From what I have snapped up in the last hours…

    Several dead, many dozen injured in Suez, but protesters holding their own. Communications at least intermittently active (we are getting tweets from Suez). Curfew/cordon imposed on Suez, but not thoroughly enforced/enforceable. Still, detentions, police attacks etc. occur, but also desertions/mutiny of police forces, which are confronted everywhere the people can. Army leadership mostly pro harsh crackdown, cannot rely on troops however. Use http://goo.gl/E5gUC to help in breaking censorship (tweet and retweet the link).

    Please please please stop retweeting last nights news and 18-hours old “recent video” on #Suez. Spread fresh and confirmed info, keep up the spirit of resistance, be alert for disinfo. The people in Suez are heroes for last night , we cannot allow this to be quashed now by spreading false rumours. Also stay tuned on #Cairo and #Egypt.

    All relevant tweets from Egypt tell of how people’s spirits are elated, everybody is willing to stick this through. The though of nonsubmission to dictatorship is present everywhere.

    It seems impossible that this will resolve without the old order going down, or a massive bloodbath and the old order going down a bit later. Hope it’ll be the first.

    Next 36 hours will be decisive, if tonight wasn’t already.

    Western media and governments totally screwed it up BTW. What you get today in the papers is basically the news of yesterday afternoon…

  • Thank you Anonymous for your input. If you have fresh links for videos in particular, please let me know. You can email me directly by clicking on my profile.
    All the best,
    Amira

  • […] (Photo of rubber-bullet wounds via Amira Al Hussaini, who is collecting Twitter reports from Egypt. Rumblings in the Suez began last night.) […]

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