Tanks and riot police swept into Tahrir Square, tearing down tents and chasing away protesters in a dramatic ending to a three-week sit-in by demonstrators who had disrupted traffic in downtown Cairo and exasperated the nation's ruling military council.

The storming of the square Monday afternoon, the first day of the holy month of Ramadan, started when 10 tanks broke through barb-wired fences held up by protesters at each of the square's entrances. The tanks were followed by hundreds of military police officers, who scattered several hundred protesters camping in the square’s central garden.

Protesters briefly resisted by hurling stones at police officers, but their last stand was short-lived as they were outnumbered by officers, who used electric prods and fired blank ammunition. Military forces cleared away all banners and stages and Tahrir was opened to traffic for the first time since July 8.

A number of protesters were detained. The interim government said in a statement that a “number of thugs were captured” without specifying any figures. No injuries were reported.

The eviction came one day after 26 political parties and activist groups decided to suspend their sit-in during Ramadan. The core of protesters left on Monday were relatives of martyrs killed during the 18-day uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak on Feb.11.

Protesters in Tahrir were calling on the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces to “fulfill the remainder of the revolution’s goals,” including swift trials for members of Mubarak’s toppled regime, higher minimum wages, purging ministries of officials who served under Mubarak and ending military trials for civilians arrested since Feb. 11.

Prime Minister Essam Sharaf had earlier responded to the sit-in by reshuffling his Cabinet, appointing new governors and firing more than 600 police officers. Sharaf similarly announced that the trials of Mubarak and his former ministers would be broadcast on state television on Wednesday.

While Mubarak is facing charges of financial corruption and ordering the shooting of protesters during the Jan. 25 revolution, many Egyptians fear the 83-year-old former leader's medical condition might be used as a ploy to avoid a court appearance. Since suffering a heart problem during interrogations in April, Mubarak has been held in custody at a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh, where he is reported to suffer from depression.

Sunday hospital officials said Mubarak was still in stable condition and should be able to attend his hearing.

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-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Military police advance on Tahrir Square to disperse protesters. Credit: Associated Press

Two weeks into Israel's housing protest, demonstrations are sweeping the country. More than 150,000 people took part in protests nationwide calling for socioeconomic change and demanding "social justice." And what started with the odd tent has become the summer of Israeli discontent.

Young Israelis feel they are victims of the country's strong economy and decades of security-heavy priorities. The Israeli economy boomed, but its young middle class has bombed, caving under price hikes, taxation and increasingly privatized public services such as health, education and child care. The leadership admits there are problems but say protesters' complaints are exaggerated.

The economic trend was no accident, protesters say, but a calculated economic ideology coupled with conservative politics. Decentralizing Israel's economy was necessary but privatization has run amok, critics say, with the government outsourcing its commitments to the majority of its citizens, who now demand government reaffirm its vows to the greater public.

"Re-vo-lu-tion!" cries bounced off walls in Tel-Aviv, Beersheva, Haifa and other towns Saturday night. 

So here's a Revolution 101, an incomplete dictionary to the cousin of the Arab Spring: the Israeli Summer. Naturally, there are millions of possible definitions.

A is for Arabs. It took some time, but Arab citizens of Israel joined the protests. Chronic under-budgeting has left many in the lower rungs of the country's socioeconomic ladder with more than half below the poverty line and a shortage of 60,000 housing units in the sector comprising 20% of Israeli society. A rare opportunity to join a social cause striving to be inclusive, not exclusive.

B is for Babies. Baby products and child care are too expensive, keeping women from professional development and young families in constant debt. Thousands marched with strollers and baby carriages last week, demanding, among other things, work schedules that are better synchronized with child-care calendars so parents can actually work.

C is for Competition. There is none, protesters say, that's why prices are high. 80% of the nation's economy is controlled by a few dozen powerful family empires who prevent real competition.

Protesters camping in Cairo’s Tahrir Square for the 12th day remain unconvinced by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf’s overtures to placate them through a major Cabinet reshuffle.

“A minister comes, a minister goes and we’re yet to feel any change,” shouted scores of demonstrators in the square. Over the last few days, Sharaf has made sweeping changes to the Cabinet, appointing 12 new officials, including new foreign and finance ministers. Protesters are not impressed.

"These changes are no more than an intrigue. Sharaf is trying to gain more time in order to destroy what’s left of the Jan. 25 revolution’s gains," Ayman Shalaby, a 49-year-old lawyer told The Times. "What they’re doing in the cabinet is no more than just flipping the same cards. The new ministers will be as bad as their predecessors and this is not what we called for."

Thousands of demonstrators continued their weeklong sit-in across Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday as more than 28 protest movements called for a “final warning” against the nation's ruling military council to make sweeping reforms and bring members of former President Hosni Mubarak's regime to justice.  

The square, where hundreds of thousands of Egyptians camped for 18 days in January and February as part of a push to topple Mubarak, has again become the epicenter of the struggle over the country's future. In recent days, however, the protests have revealed divisions among activists over what exactly would mark a success in rallies against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and its appointed interim government.

“We are here until a new cabinet with revolutionary ministers is appointed,” said Khaled Sayed, a member of the Jan. 25 revolution youth coalition, standing amid tents and banners near the square's central garden.

 
Cairo’s Tahrir Square is beginning to look and feel like it did last winter when hundreds of thousands of Egyptians protested, camped and fought for 18 days to topple President Hosni Mubarak. Activists have returned to the now-fabled square with banners and anthems in hopes of reigniting the passions of a revolution that stunned the Arab world.

A march on Friday started with tens of thousands filling the square and ended with several thousand holding a sit-in that has stretched into a fourth day in a provocative challenge to the ruling military council. Protesters are demanding speedier trials for members of Mubarak’s regime who have been charged with corruption and the murders of hundreds of protesters during the revolution.

Several other demands include an end to military trials set up for civilians detained in various incidents over the last few months, the firing of all former regime officials still holding public office and the setting of a minimum wage. An televised address to the nation on Saturday by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf promising meet some demands did little to calm the furor.

The protests in Tahrir are smaller than they were in January and February. Most of those joining the sit-in fear that the revolution is slipping away from them, and that the promises by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces and the interim government cannot be trusted.

“Many people are here to fulfill the remainder of the revolution’s goals, but I say that none of the revolution's main aims have been achieved,” Mohamed Fawzy, an 18-year-old aviation engineering student, told The Times from his tent in the square’s middle garden.

For the first time since the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11, a large-scale sit-in with tents and banners is hunkered in Tahrir Square as protesters and activists demand that the revolution's ideals are not swept aside by the ruling military council.   

Angered by the adjournment of trials for police officers charged with killing protesters between Jan. 25 and Feb. 11, as well as corruption trials involving Mubarak, his two sons and ex-ministers who served during his reign, tens of thousands marched in Tahrir on Friday. Many of them were still there Sunday.

Unlike many past Fridays, when demonstrations in Cairo's main square ended at nightfall, as many as 2,000 protesters, activists and families of those killed and injured during the revolution have decided not to leave the square before all demands of the revolution are met by both the interim government and the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF).

Tens of thousands of demonstrators returned to Tahrir Square in Cairo on Friday to demand the prosecution of former President Hosni Mubarak and accuse the ruling Supreme Military Council of not acting quickly enough to bring corrupt members of the old regime to justice.

Frustration among millions of Egyptians has risen after a number of former ministers in the Mubarak government were arrested but have yet to be indicted on corruption and other charges. While Mubarak and his family members have had their financial assets frozen and are banned from leaving the country, the ex-president has not been charged with any crimes.

A special panel set up by the current interim government headed by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf is expected to question Mubarak’s younger son, Gamal, next week. "We want Mubarak and other corrupt officials put on trial and charged. Why does convicting a thug or a thief take a few days while indicting someone like Mubarak  -- we all witnessed his shameful acts -- takes months and maybe years?” said protester Mohamed Fawzi.

The consistent delays and adjournments of court hearings of previous ministers has increased concerns among protesters that Mubarak and his ex-officials might escape justice. Many Egyptians claim government officials enriched themselves through graft, conflicts of interest, kickbacks and other crimes while more more than 40% of the population lived on $2 a day or less. 

“Now we have a suspicion that Mubarak struck a deal with the military before they toppled him. We fear that the military council asked him to step down and assured him he won’t be put on trial in return,” said another protester, Abdel Azim Mukhtar, a 41-year-old accountant.

Once considered heroes for playing their part in ousting Mubarak, the head of the Military Council Field Marshal, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, and other military council members are now facing a crisis of trust with many Egyptians.

“Field Marshal Tantawi, you are out of credit,” read one sign carried by a protester on Friday. Another banner addressed the military by saying: “Military Forces, you have a place in our hearts, don’t lose it.”

According to Mukhtar, despair is growing among all Egyptians because of the unexplainable delay in cracking down on corruption that permeated Mubarak's government. “Those few former ministers are no more than scapegoats, but there are hundreds of former Mubarak aids and allies who remain untouched.”

A group of protesters suggested that now might be the time for the military forces to get back to their role of defending Egypt.

“We don’t want the military to do politics because they’re not good at it. We also don’t want to clash with the military, so it will be better for all of us and for Egypt to have a presidential council ruling the country until the presidential elections,” says Ismael Hosny, a 55-year-old engineer.

The Supreme Military Council announced last week that it will hold of power until a new president is elected in October or November. A new parliament is expected to be elected in September.

--Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Protesters wave Egyptian flags in Tahrir Square in Cairo on Friday. Credit: Reuters

"Statement number one / the syrian people will not be humiliated / statement number one / we sure won't stay like this / statement number one / from the Houran comes good news / statement number one / the syrian people are revolting..."

The lyrics to the latest underground anthem of the Syrian uprising are bolder than most of the chants heard so far in the streets, and could help galvanize a movement that has spread in fits and starts outside the small rural town of Deraa where it began.

"Biyan raqam wahid" or "statement number one" was released online anonymously, and for good reason. The song appears to call for outright revolution and takes on the government over corruption, sectarian fear-mongering and violent repression, accusations that could easily land the artists in jail. (Warning, there is some graphic, violent imagery in the video.)

"We live in silence/ It's been years / how long do we have to stay like this--dead / they are always promising reform and freedom / but it seems there is no will / and opinions are banned" it begins, and later: "we have never been against any sect / we are hand in hand against the fake authority."

 
Egyptians are smiling again. Theirs is a deep pride in the revolution, along with a joyous freedom to say whatever bad thing they want about the government. The biggest crowd yet filled Tahrir Square and spilled across bridges and neighborhoods in Cairo on Friday, celebrating victory and mourning 365 martyrs.

The Army tanks are fewer but still anchor the city, big brothers keeping the people safe. The Army Council text messages me daily. It seems it wants everyone to quit protesting and get back to work for the good of the nation. Google executive Wael Ghonim joined in, telling the strikers that now is not the time to ask for $100 instead of $70.   

The police are back, in fresh uniforms and trimmed moustaches, after a brief forced vacation following the Day of Anger. They too have asked for better wages, and forgiveness.

Most disturbing are the rumors, which swirl like dust storms: Thugs are throwing empty baby carriages onto roadways, and then robbing and killing drivers who stop. Impossible, say some prone to dark humor, because drivers here stop for no one. Sexual harassment is up, report some sources, while others say it has stopped. Hosni Mubarak, at his home in Sharm el Sheikh, lies in a coma; a day later, the guards report he is breakfasting on the beach.

Many are curious about the thousands of escaped prison inmates. The word on the street had them responsible for the mayhem and looting that led to vigilante groups forming across the country. It didn’t seem likely though, when a hot shower and home-cooked meal were beckoning after long years in a cell.

Indeed, more than a few political prisoners are back in their home countries. Hamas commander Ayman Nofal returned to central Gaza after serving three years in the Abu Zabaal prison, northeast of Cairo. Nofal, arrested in 2008 for planning terror attacks in Egypt, made his way home through a tunnel in Rafah. And, according to Agence France-Presse, Mohammed Yusuf Mansour -- alias Sami Shehab -- and other members of a Hezbollah cell escaped from an Egyptian prison along with members of the Palestinian group Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and thousands of others during the anti-government protests.

Videos uploaded to YouTube showed men escaping over high prison walls, others being told to leave and still others deciding to stay, so as not to risk capture and further sentencing. Dozens were reported to have died at Abu Zabaal, according to Human Rights Watch.

Masked commandos no longer guard the villas in Maadi, my neighborhood south of Cairo. The chains and locks bought in panic hang limp near open gates. Security guards have removed the trees, ladders and sundry barricades blocking the streets. But campfires still burn through the night, their sweet smoke marking change, freedom, a new Egypt. And, say the gallibayeed guards on my corner, a chance to roast potatoes. They prefer the orange ones.   

-- Clare Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Celebration in Tahrir Square. Credit: Reuters

This party may go on for a while.  

The day after Egyptians celebrated their president’s departure, Tahrir Square still looked like New Year’s Eve, a World Cup Final and the end of Ramadan all rolled into one.  Music blared from rooftops, people danced on ledges, babies showed off their painted faces, boys struck poses on top of army tanks, horse-and-buggy rides were offered, old men roasted sweet potatoes and ears of corn, others hawked tea and popcorn, and young men donned clown wigs.

Amid the surging crowds, hundreds of men and women, both young and old, took to repairing the damage that 18 days of protests had inflicted on Cairo’s most famous square. Some painted median strips; others hauled rocks and replaced the ones that had been ripped up for ammo while battling the pro-Mubarak thugs. It was fun to see the Facebook crowd in hip jeans and button-down shirts sweeping diligently into dustpans, perhaps the first time they had ever touched a broom. The attention to the trash was an inspired move for the newly free Egyptians, given that its removal never seemed high on the government’s to-do list.

 As  anti-government  protesters  in Tahrir Square erupted into rage Thursday night after President Hosni Mubarak refused to step down, many Egyptians sank further into distress.  While the fortunate may have emerged unscathed with homes and bank accounts intact, many more will have suffered as these last 17 days unfolded with loss of wages, sales and tips or baksheesh.

Wrapped in the green and orange worn by sanitation workers across Cairo, the elderly woman with bloated ankles can be found most days sitting on the curb, her broom by her side.  She makes 50 Egyptian pounds or about $8 a day and usually relies on strangers for more. Whether the revolution will bring her a cozy retirement is doubtful.

Nearby, a young boy, beautiful in face and spirit, hauls trash bags fifty times bigger than the school backpack he should be carrying. His pay keeps  his family in baladi bread.  Measly wages are not the only  trigger prompting demonstrations against  Egypt’s ruling class. But it is a unifying one.  Indeed, countless labor unions are remonstrating loudly across Egypt.  Telecom Egypt workers say they make 600 Egyptian pounds a month, a wage they say that hasn’t changed in 20 years.  Postal workers, factory workers and even professionals such as doctors and teachers report similar pay. Many Egyptians rely on tips or as in the case for teachers, private tutoring sessions, or for doctors, private patients, for their real compensation.

The policemen who fled their posts last week also earn dismal salaries:  Conscripts at the bottom take home less than 100 Egyptian dollars a month, some in management can earn tens of thousands a month.   It is a system that has fostered corruption and cronyism for several decades.  In attempts to assuage protesters last week, the government raised wages of government employees by 15%, to take effect in April. Considering the average wage, that boost will barely buy an extra 2 pounds of of beef ($12) each month. A good gauge of economic progress in Egypt will be when beggars no longer earn more than workers.

In spite of severe economic hardships, Cairenes are trying to slip back into their usual genial society. Crowds once again swell the streets, cafes are abuzz, restaurants  welcome diners and taxi drivers honk their services, hungry for any fare.

In this city of 20 million, kindness is anything but random during this troubled time. A policeman sits near my neighborhood’s edge, sewing the beginnings of a suit jacket in one hand and nursing tea with the other. He smiles a big hello and offers a glass.  Strangers whisper  "Ezzayik" to ask if everything is OK.  Nearby at a busy intersection, free packed lunches of chips and baguettes are handed through taxi windows.  "We just wanted to do something nice for them," said the  young volunteer.

— Clare Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Protests in Tahrir Square Credit: Reuters

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Protesters, enraged by President Hosni Mubarak's refusal to step down, have taken to the streets in Cairo and Alexandria, where some report rising tensions between demonstrators and the military.

The increasingly edgy atmosphere was evident in a series of tweets from Ahmed Mekkawy, a blogger who joined the crowds in Alexandria late Thursday:

Rage is extreme in alexandria

Very large protest moving from sidi gaber to the sea

I can feel the hate in the air. Very worried about what will happen