Firing in Tahrir Square Leaves Five Dead and Scores Injured

EARLY morning fire in Tahrir Square, Cairo, has left scores of casualties, as rioting and protesting in the capital reaches its 9^th day.  Anti-Mubarak, and Pro-Mubarak protesters clashed for the first time in Tahrir Square yesterday, pelting each other with stones, and other bits of debris. Yesterday saw the use of petrol bombs, one of which to hit the Squares Egyptian Museum, putting at risk many valuable artefacts.

According to official UN figures, the number of casualties from the shootings and rioting since yesterday stands at 836, of which 86 are still hospitalised and 5 have died. This brings the total death toll since the beginning of riots up to 300 nationwide.

President Mubarak has since come out to ABC news and has stated that he would like to step down, but fears for the safety of the country, and also claims that this is what he had said in a phone call to President Obama. He also made clear to ABC news that he was “fed up” and simply wanted “to go”. Meanwhile, his vice-president, Omar Suleiman, has announced that government reforms need to introduced, but will only progress if the protesters cease clashing.

The increase in violence and civil disobedience in Cairo has led to the US now urging it’s nationals to leave the country immediately. 

Saleh Follows Suit in Yemen as Egyptian President is Urged Down

President Saleh has been in office for 32 years, ruling both the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) and Republic of Yemen (North and South Yemen)

PRESIDENT Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen has announced that he will not contest the general election, due to be held in Yemen in 2013. He has also made clear that there are no plans for his son, Ahmed Ali Saleh, to succeed him, despite earlier speculation that he had been grooming his son for the Presidency. Also in this announcement has come the news of postponement of the Parliamentary elections, due to be held later this year in April. 


President Saleh said "I make this compromise today for the sake of the country, Yemen's interest come before personal interests." 


The speech comes following unrest in the Yemeni Parliament, with the opposition coalition, the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), calling for fellow adversaries of the Saleh regime to take to the streets in a nationwide protest, scheduled to take place tomorrow. The protest is expected to gather one million people nationwide. Thousands of security forces kept control on the country's capital, Sanaa, today, to ensure safety and peace during the Presidents speech earlier today. 


It can be believed that this comes following the incredibly high level of unrest just over the Red Sea in neighbouring Egypt, where protesters, Anti-Mubarak and more recently, Pro Mubarak, have been aggregating on the streets of Cairo, and most importantly, Tahrir Square, in order to represent their views. President Mubarak was forced by looming threat of the protesters to declare that he would not contest the Egyptian elections to be held this September, and also was forced to confirm that his son, Gamal Mubarak, would not "inherit" the Presidency. 


Perhaps President Saleh has taken this as a step of precaution, and is trying to minimise the threat of an uprising within Yemeni society against his regime, and rather than acting "for the sake of the country", is instead acting to save himself from the humiliation and hate, which Hossni Mubarak has recently become subject to? Only Saleh will know that answer to that question, but one thing is for sure: If the planned protest goes ahead tomorrow, Saleh may find himself in a situation akin to Mubarak, and will perhaps find himself ending his regime a little earlier than expected. 

A Short Introduction....

Hello and welcome to View from the Valley. I'm Isis, current affairs and entertainment correspondent, and writing with me will be Osiris, joint current affairs and sports correspondent.

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