Egyptian Army Is Now Single

According to reports, protesters went into Tahrir Square on Friday to demand the removal of PM Al Shafiq. The "Revolutionary Youth" are seriously adverse to his continuation as they see him as nothing more than an extension of the Mubarek Regime. They aren't very fond of several others that retain their positions including the advancement of the last Interior Minister's underling. The Interior Ministry being the director of the CS (Central Security) responsible for many "disappearances" of anyone that the regime considered an "enemy".

Unfortunately, the army (or some parts of it), were not very patient with the continuing protests and tried to disburse them after curfew set in. The military police apparently used cattle prods and batons to drive the protesters away (say hello to the new guy, same as the old guy).

Sarah Carr from Inanities, blogs about her experience.

She also goes on to report a short conversation with an Egyptian soldier and suggest this is an "insight" into the Army's view of the situation:

he thinks that sleeping on Egypt’s streets and directing traffic is beneath the Egyptian army. He wants to go back to his barracks, rather than sleep on the pavement. He regards Mubarak as the leader of the armed forces rather than president and was therefore sad when he went. He was nonetheless extremely happy to see the Egyptian people “so joyful” on February 11^th.

The Egyptian people’s demands were legitimate on February 11^th because they were backed by a million Tahrir protestors, he said. A few hundred protestors calling for Shafiq’s resignation is not the same. He doesn’t understand why people cannot have faith that remaining demands will be met, nor the opposition to Shafiq. Several time he suggested that “elements” want to use the opportunity of the “turbulence” in the country to “destroy” it. He also thought that it was extremely disrespectful that teenagers are demanding that senior citizens like Shafiq leave.

The Army's apology suggests there is some form of communication break down from the top to bottom about handling people's new found right for self expression and demands for self-determination. Then again, the Egyptian military has a culture all to its own. A form of nationalism that is extremely paranoid about its own citizen's intent.

Sarah goes on to suggest that the Army's new found use of Facebook and it's strange apology sounds like the angst of a teenager over a lover's spat:

Entitled “apology” it then said that the “encounters” between the military police and the great Egyptian people were “unintentional” (“OMG I didn’t mean to hurt you babe!!!! Luv u 4ever xoxoxoxo)

Facebook relationship status: single