FOREIGN OFFICE WARNS AGAINST TRAVEL TO EGYPTIAN CITIES AS STREETS EXPLODE INTO VIOLENCE KILLING 13 AND INJURING 1,000

By David Williams and Ray Massey
Last updated at 2:07 AM on 29th January 2011

* More than 1,000 people injured in day of clashes in Egyptian capital
* Mubarak asks cabinet to resign - but won't go himself
* State TV announces 6pm to 7am curfew in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez
* Total blackout on internet access and text messaging services disrupted

The Foreign Office warned British citizens against all but essential travel to Egyptian cities last night as the African nation descended into bloody violence between armed forces and political protesters.

The move came as President Hosni Mubarak spoke on state television to defend the actions of security forces and said he had asked his cabinet to resign and would form a new government today.

He added: 'I'm very sorry that it resulted in many victims and casualties from both demonstrators and police.

However, the hardline president, who has ruled for 30 years, stopped short of meeting protesters' demands that all he also resign.

British tourists were trapped under armed guard at Cairo airport after being flown into Egypt despite anarchy on the streets that has left 13 dead and 1,030 hurt.


Chaos: An Egyptian protester walks past burning vehicles inside the premises of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) headquarters in Cairo


Riots: Anti-government protesters roam next to burning buildings and a police truck on fire in Corniche, downtown Cairo

The BMI passengers say they had been assured at check-in yesterday that there was ‘no problem’.

They arrived from Heathrow in a city resembling a war zone, with thousands of demonstrators defying a curfew and clashing with police and army troops.

The tourists angrily questioned why they had been flown into the Egyptian capital where an estimated 100,000 people traded bricks and rocks with riot police who responded with water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas.


Counter-attack: A riot officer fires tear gas into the crowds in Cairo

Last night the army was called on to the streets as the protests spiralled out of control.

In North Sinai, protester Ahmed Atef, a 22-year-old student, was apparently shot dead as he tried to throw a rock at riot police.

Chartered accountant Alison Rawling and her husband Peter travelled with 100 other passengers on the BMI flight.

She texted her mother in Brighton to say: ‘We’ve got to sleep in the airport overnight. There are armed guards on the doors.’

Mrs Rawling, a partner in leading accountancy firm Spofforths, and her chartered surveyor husband from Ditchling, near Brighton, left their two teenage children with her mother while they flew out with friends and neighbours Lyn and Clive Bush, also a chartered surveyor, to celebrate a landmark birthday.

Mrs Rawling’s mother Enid Jones, 71, a retired IT executive with Reuters who has worked in Egypt, said: ‘They are very cross with the airline.

‘You don’t expect to be flown into a load of aggravation like this. She landed safely but is stuck in the airport. They are not allowed to leave.

'When they checked in they asked if there were any problems and were told it was absolutely fine. They said don’t worry.

‘I spoke to the Foreign Office at midday and they too said it was absolutely fine and perfectly all right to travel.


'Im sorry': President Hosni Mubarak addresses the nation on Egyptian state TV and says his cabinet will resign

‘Later I gave them hell and said they were incompetent for giving advice that it was OK to travel.

‘One wonders why the UK government was not capable of realising that, in a Muslim country, the weekend starts on a Friday and that given what was happening all hell would likely break loose after prayers.’

The Foreign Office also advised Britons heading to Egypt last night was to ‘avoid political gatherings and demonstrations’.


Mayhem: Smoke and tear gas hangs in the air during anti-government protests yesterday

BMI and British Airways each have one flight a day to Cairo. Other operators to Egypt include easyJet and a host of charter operators.

BA suspended yesterday’s flight and said it was keeping the situation in Cairo under review.

BMI said last night it would take a decision today on whether to continue flights to the city.

The airline added that yesterday’s flight landed in Cairo at 4.35pm with bags through at 4.45, before the curfew at 6pm.


Mohamed Atef (circled, left) ducks as police begin to open fire and then runs to the other side of the road before tumbling to the ground after being shot in the head


The 22-year-old Bedouin lies on the deserted road before a friend pulls him up to drag him to safety


More of his friends rush to help and carry him away to get medical help. But it was too late, he was dead

A spokesman said: ‘We understood passengers had cleared the airport before the curfew. We are looking into it.’

In Cairo cars, police stations and several buildings were set ablaze as the country's president called on the army for assistance.

In Suez, witnesses said protesters had died at the hamds of security forces.

At least 13 people have been killed and more than 1,030 injured, some with bullet wounds, in the biggest protests so far against strongman Mubarak, 82, who has ruled Egypt with an iron fist for 30 years.


A riot policeman runs forward to fire tear gas at protesters in front of the l-Istiqama Mosque in Giza


Protesters are blasted with water cannon in the centre of the Egyptian capital




Demonstrators perform the Friday noon prayer in front of riot police. Shortly afterwards the confrontations began


Water cannons were used against pro-democracy leader Mohamed ElBaradei (pictured yesterday) and his supporters as they joined the latest wave of protests after noon prayers.

The internet appeared to remain cut off in Cairo but was restored in some smaller cities.

Mobile-phone text and Blackberry Messenger services were all cut or operating sporadically in what appeared to be a move by authorities to disrupt the organisation of demonstrations.

Egyptians outside the country were posting updates on Twitter after getting information in voice calls from people inside the country. Many urged their friends to keep up the flow of information over the phones.

A Facebook page run by protesters listed their demands.


Riot police force protesters back across the Kasr Al Nile Bridge yesterday afternoon as they attempt to get into Tahrir Square in the centre of the city


Police carry an injured colleague back across bridge after clashing with protesters

They want Mubarak to declare that neither he nor his son will stand for next presidential elections; dissolve the parliament and hold new elections; end to emergency laws giving police extensive powers of arrest and detention; release all prisoners including protesters and those who have been in jail for years without charge or trial; and immediately fire the interior minister.

There were smaller protests in Assiut south of Cairo and al-Arish in the Sinai peninsula. Regional television stations were reporting clashes between thousands of demonstrators and police in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria and Minya south of Cairo.

At the upmarket Mohandiseen district, at least 10,000 of people were marching toward the city centre chanting 'down, down with Mubarak.'


A female protester pours water on a tear gas canister while another kicks a canister away


Clouds of tear gas rise up as protesters back away after being charged by riot police


The crowd later swelled to about 20,000 as they made their way through residential areas. Residents looking on from apartment block windows waved at them and whistled in support. Others waved the red, white and black Egyptian flags.

At Ramsis square in the heart of the city, thousands of protesters clashed with police as they left the al-Nur mosque after prayers.

Police used tear gas and rubber bullets and some of the tear gas was fired inside the mosque where women were taking refuge.

Clusters of riot police with helmets and shields were stationed around the city, at the entrances to bridges across the Nile and other key intersections.


An anti-riot vehicle knocks a protester out of its path in Cairo


Opposition: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak talks with President Barack Obama. The protesters are also angry about the government's intolerance of dissent



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1351581/Egypt-protests-Foreign-Office-warns-essential-travel.html