CRISISBOOM

Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, January 28, 2011; 4:59 AM

CAIRO – The streets of Egypt were tense Friday morning as the country braced for major protests, with the government preemptively disrupting communications networks and vowing to crack down on demonstrators.

Police in full riot gear lined major public squares and other critical intersections in this teeming capital city. Overnight, security services raided the homes of opposition leaders — including those of the Muslim Brotherhood — and arrested dozens. Meanwhile, Internet connections and mobile phone networks were down in Cairo and in other major cities.

Protest organizers have called for Egyptians to demonstrate against the rule of President Hosni Mubarak following noontime prayers on Friday, in defiance of a government ban.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition group, which has largely been absent from the protests that have roiled the nation this week, has said it will fully participate in Friday’s demonstrations, potentially drawing many more people to the streets.

The showdown Friday could be a crucial test of Mubarak’s staying power after 30 years in office. Egypt’s Internet and cellphone shutdown appeared to be the most drastic move against anti-government activists’ use of technology since the Iranian government cracked down on protests in 2009.

Cairo and other cities were girding for what activists labeled “Angry Friday,” a pivotal moment in their newly energized campaign to oust Mubarak.

Among those planning to attend was Mohamed ElBaradei, a political reform advocate and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who returned to Egypt after nightfall Thursday with the aim of leading a peaceful transition to democratic government. The former chief of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency could challenge Mubarak in the presidential election in September.

Neither Mubarak, who has ruled here for 30 years, nor his son, Gamal, a possible successor, has appeared in public since the demonstrations began Tuesday.

But Safwat el-Sharif, secretary general of Mubarak’s ruling National Democratic Party, expressed sympathy for protesters’ concerns Thursday and said the party was “ready for a dialogue” with youth activists, whom he applauded for expressing their views and described as “Egypt’s future.”

Nevertheless, Sharif discouraged demonstrators from gathering Friday. Egypt’s Interior Ministry has banned all demonstrations and arrested hundreds, defying a call by the United States to allow peaceful protests.

“The minority does not force its will on the majority,” Sharif told journalists as he spoke beneath a large photograph of Mubarak at his party’s headquarters in Cairo a short walk from Cairo’s Tahrir Square. where about 15,000 demonstrators protested Tuesday.

Egypt’s protesters have said they were inspired by Tunisia, where demonstrators ousted the country’s president this month. But Sharif said Egypt would not “imitate” other countries.

This week’s demonstrations have fed uncertainty about Mubarak’s political future and Egyptian stability and wreaked havoc on the local stock market, which was halted for a half hour on Thursday amid a steep slide in shares.

On Thursday, the streets of Cairo were largely calm. Still, riot police remained deployed throughout the city. At the lawyers’ guild earlier in the day, hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes police blockaded dozens of protesters inside the building in a tense standoff.

Demonstrators clashed with security services in the eastern city of Suez where activists reportedly set fire to a police post and threw rocks at police. In Ismailia, police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators.