January 2011: Activists in Egypt call for an
uprising in their own country, to protest against poverty, unemployment,
government corruption and the rule of president Hosni Mubarak, who has been in
power for three decades
January 25:
On a national holiday to commemorate the police
forces, Egyptians take to the streets in large numbers, calling it a "day
of rage".
Thousands march in downtown Cairo, heading
towards the offices of the ruling National Democratic Party, as well as the
foreign ministry and the state television. Similar protests are reported in
other towns across the country.
After a few hours of relative calm, police and
demonstrators clash; police fire tear gas and use water cannons against
demonstrators crying out "Down with Mubarak'' in Cairo's main Tahrir
Square.
Protests break out in the Mediterranean city of
Alexandria, the Nile Delta cities of Mansura and Tanta and in the southern
cities of Aswan and Assiut, witnesses say.
Hours after the countrywide protests begin, the
interior ministry issues a statement blaming the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's
technically banned but largest opposition party, for fomenting the unrest - a
claim that the Muslim Brotherhood denies.
Protest organisers heavily relied on social
media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter.
The interior minister says three protesters and
a police officer have been killed during the anti-government demonstrations.
January 26: A protester and a police officer
are killed in central Cairo as anti-government demonstrators pelt security
forces with rocks and firebombs for a second day, according to witnesses
Tahrir Square in central Cairo became
the focal point of the protests [AFP]
Police use tear gas, water cannons and batons
to disperse protesters in Cairo. Witnesses say that live ammunition is also
fired into the air.
In Suez, the scene of bloody clashes the
previous day, police and protesters clash again.
Medical personnel in Suez say 55 protesters and
15 police officers have been injured.
Robert Gibbs, a spokesman for Barack Obama, the
US president, tells reporters that the government should "demonstrate its
responsiveness to the people of Egypt" by recognising their
"universal rights".
Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab
League, says he believes "the Arab citizen is angry, is frustrated".
January 27: Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head
of the UN nuclear watchdog turned democracy advocate, arrives in Egypt to join
the protests.
ElBaradei says he is ready to "lead the
transition" in Egypt if asked.
Meanwhile, protests continue across several
cities. Hundreds have been arrested, but the protesters say they will not give
up until their demand is met.
Protesters clash with police in Cairo
neighbourhoods. Violence also erupts in the city of Suez again, while in the
northern Sinai area of Sheikh Zuweid, several hundred bedouins and police
exchange live gunfire, killing a 17-year-old man.
In Ismailia, hundreds of protesters clash with
police.
Lawyers stage protests in the Mediterranean
port city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta town of Toukh, north of Cairo.
Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry Messenger
services are disrupted.
January 28: Internet and mobile phone text
message users in Egypt report major disruption to services as the country
prepares for a new wave of protests after Friday prayers.
The Associated Press news agency says an elite
special counterterrorism force has been deployed at strategic points around
Cairo in the hours before the planned protests.
Egypt's interior ministry also warns of
"decisive measures".
Meanwhile, a lawyer for the opposition Muslim
Brotherhood says that 20 members of the officially banned group have been
detained overnight.
Egypt remains on edge, as police and protesters
clash throughout the country.
Eleven civilians are killed in Suez and 170
injured. No deaths are reported in Cairo. At least 1,030 people get injured
countrywide.
Troops are ordered onto the streets in Cairo,
Suez and Alexandria, but does not interfere in the confrontations between
police and protesters.
The riots continue throughout the night, even
as Mubarak announces that he dismisses his government
January 29: In a speech delivered shortly after
midnight, Mubarak announces that he has sacked the cabinet, but he himself
refuses to step down. His whereabouts are unknown.
Egyptian soldiers secure Cairo's famed
antiquities museum, protecting thousands of priceless artifacts, including the
gold mask of King Tutankhamun, from looters, but some lo.
People cheered and welcomed troops when the
army was deployed on January 28
The greatest threat to the Egyptian Museum,
which draws millions of tourists a year, appears to come from the fire
engulfing the ruling party headquarters next door the night before, set ablaze
by anti-government protesters.
Thousands of anti-government protesters in
Cairo's Tahrir Square stand their ground, despite troops firing into the air in
a bid to disperse them.
Mubarak appoints a vice-president for the first
time during his three decades in power. The man now second-in-command is Omar
Suleiman, the country's former spy chief, who has been working closely with
Mubarak during most of his reign.
Al Jazeera's sources indicate that the military
has now also been deployed to the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Al Jazeera's correspondent in the city of Suez
says the city jad witnessed a "completely chaotic night", but that
the streets were quiet as day broke.
In a statement released in Berlin, the leaders
of Britain, France and Germany say they are "deeply worried about the
events in Egypt".
The Gulf Co-operation Council, a loose economic
and political bloc of states in the Gulf, says it wants a "stable Egypt".
The US embassy in Cairo has advised all
Americans currently in Egypt to consider leaving as soon as possible, given the
unrest. The UK authorities have advised against all but essential travel to the
country for its citizens.
January 30: Thousands of protesters remain in
Cairo's Tahrir Square.
The crowds are cheering when ElBaradei
addresses protesters in the square, saying "What we started can never be
pushed back".
Turkey has announces that it is sending
aircraft to evacuate its citizens, after the US embassy in Cairo has advised
all Americans currently in Egypt to consider leaving as soon as possible.
January 31: Mubarak still refuses to step down,
amid growing calls for his resignation. Protesters continue to defy the
military-imposed curfew. About 250,000 people gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square
and hundreds march through Alexandria.
Internet access across Egypt is still shoddy
according to most reports.
Egypt's new vice-president promises dialogue
with opposition parties in order to push through constitutional reforms.
Protesters remain camped out in Tahrir Square
from a variety of political and demographic groups.
The White House says the Egyptian government
must engage with its people to resolve current unrest. Obama's spokesperson,
Robert Gibbs, says the crisis in Egypt "is not about appointments, it's
about actions ... They have to address freedoms that the people of Egypt seek".
Opposition groups continue to call for a
"million man march" and a general strike on Tuesday to commemorate
one week since the protests began. Meanwhile, the military reiterates that it
will not attempt to hurt protesters.
The EU calls for free and fair elections in
Egypt.
Worldwide investors continue withdrawing
significant capital from Egypt amid rising unrest.
Mubarak names his new cabinet on state
television, among them, Mahmoud Wagdi, sworn in as the new interior minister.
Egypt releases the six Al Jazeera journalists
who were arrested in Cairo.
Egyptian film star Omar Sharif, known for his
role in Lawrence of Arabia, has added his voice to those calling for Hosni
Mubarak to step down, Reuters reports.
Former US president Jimmy Carter calls the
unrest in Egypt an "earth-shaking event", and says he guesses Hosni
Mubarak "will have to leave", the US Ledger-Enquirer reports.
Israel urges the world to tone down Mubarak
criticism amid Egypt unrest to preserve stability in the region, the Haaretz
newspaper reports, citing senior Israeli officials.
President Mubarak tells his new prime minister,
Ahmad Shafiq, to keep government subsidies and cut prices.
Al Jazeera says its broadcast signal across the
Arab region is facing interference on a scale it has not experienced before.
February 1: Hosni Mubarak announces in a
televised address that he will not run for re-election but refuses to step down
from office - the central demand of the protesters.
Mubarak promises reforms to the constitution,
particularly Article 76, which makes it virtually impossible for independent
candidates to run for office. He says his government will focus on improving
the economy and providing jobs.
The official unemployment rate in Egypt is
about 10%
but the real rate is believed to be much higher
[Reuters]
Mohamed ElBaradei, the Egyptian opposition
figure who returned to Cairo to take part in the protests, says Mubarak's
pledge not to stand again for the presidency was an act of deception.
Abdelhalim Kandil, leader of Egypt's Kifaya
(Enough) opposition movement, says Mubarak's offer not to serve a sixth term as
Head of State is not enough.
US President Barack Obama praises the Egyptian
military for their patriotism and for allowing peaceful demonstrations. He says
only the Egyptian people can determine their leaders.
Shortly after his speech, clashes break out
between pro-Mubarak and anti-government protesters in the Mediterranean city of
Alexandria, Al Jazeera's correspondent reports.
Khalid Abdel Nasser, son of the former Egyptian
president Gamal Abdel Nasser, joins the protest in Tahrir Square.
Motaz Salah Al Deen, spokesman for Egypt's
opposition Al Wafd Party, says a self-described "new national coalition
for change" has been formed.
Number of protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square
are revised to more than a million people. Thousands more take to the streets
throughout Egypt, including in Alexandria and Suez.
February 2: Preparations begin for another day
of demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak's regime. The army is still
deployed with tanks throughout different positions in and around Tahrir Square.
Google improves its speak2tweet technology for
the people in Egypt.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the Boston
entrepreneur Hadid Habbab has called for volunteers to help find his missing
friend, Google executive Wael Ghonim, who went missing during the protests of
the past week.
Clashes between anti-government and pro-Mubarak
protesters break out in Alexandria.
Internet services are at least partially
restored in Cairo after a five-day blackout aimed at stymieing protests.
Egypt's newly appointed vice-president says
anti-government protests must stop before dialogue can begin with opposition
groups.
Violent clashes rage for much of the day around
Tahrir Square in central Cairo. Up to 1,500 people are injured, some of them
seriously, and by the day's end at least three deaths are reported by the
Reuters news agency quoting officials.
Pro-democracy protesters say the military allowed
thousands of pro-Mubarak supporters, armed with sticks and knives, to enter the
square.
February 3: Bursts of heavy gunfire early aimed
at anti-government demonstrators in Tahrir [Liberation] Square, leave at least
five people dead and several more wounded, according to reports from Cairo.
Sustained bursts of automatic weapons fire and
powerful single shots begin at around around 4am local time (02:00GMT) and
continue for more than an hour.
February 4: Hundreds of thousands of
anti-government protesters gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square for what they have
termed the "Day of Departure".
Scores were injured in clashes between Mubarak
supporters and pro-democracy protesters [Reuters]
Chants urging Hosni Mubarak to leave
reverberate across the square, as the country enters its eleventh day of unrest
and mass demonstrations.
February 5: Thousands who remain inside Tahrir
Square fear an approaching attempt by the military to evacuate the square.
Differing reports of how many have died in the
last 11 days of protests and clashes surface.
The Egyptian health minister says 11 people
have died, while the United Nations says 300 people may have been killed across
the country since protests began. News agencies have counted more than 150 dead
in morgues in Alexandria, Suez and Cairo.
Reuters quotes Egyptian state TV as saying
"terrorists" have targeted an Israel-Egypt gas pipeline in northern
Sinai.
The leadership of Egypt's ruling National Democratic
Party resigns, including Gamal Mubarak, the son of Hosni Mubarak. The new
secretary-general of the party is Hossam Badrawi, seen as a member of the
liberal wing of the party.
February 6: The Muslim Brotherhood says in a
statement that it "has decided to participate in a dialogue round in order
to understand how serious the officials are in dealing with the demands of the
people".
Banks officially re-open for 3.5 hours, and
traffic police are back on the streets in Cairo, in attempts to get the capital
to start returning to normal.
Al Jazeera correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin is
detained by the Egyptian military. He is released seven hours later, following
a concerted appeal by the network and Mohyeldin's supporters.
Protests continue in Tahrir Square; there are
reports of gunshots fired by the army into the air near the cordon set up
inside the barricades, near the Egyptian museum.
Leaked US diplomatic cables suggest Omar
Suleiman, the vice-president, long sought to demonise the opposition Muslim Brotherhood
in his contacts with skeptical US officials.
Reports say Hillary Clinton, the US secretary
of state, spoke with Egyptian prime minister Ahmed Shafiq (on February 5),
emphasising the need to ensure the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people
are met, also stressing that incidents of harassment and detention of activists
and journalists must stop.
February 7: Thousands are camping out in Tahrir
Square, refusing to budge. While banks have reopened, schools and the stock
exhange remain closed.
A symbolic funeral procession is held for
journalist Ahmed Mahmoud, shot as he filmed the clashes between protesters and
riot police from his Cairo office. Protesters are demanding an investigation
into the cause of his death.
Egypt's government approve a 15 per cent raise
in salaries and pensions in a bid to appease the angry masses.
Wael Ghonim, a Google executive and political
activist arrested by state authorities, is released; some see him as a
potential figurehead for the pro-democracy camp.
February 8: Protesters continue to gather at
Tahrir Square, which now resembles a tented camp. Protesters in the capital
also gather to protest outside parliament.
The city sees possibly the biggest crowd of
demonstrators, including Egyptians who have returned from abroad and other
newcomers mobilised by the release of activist Wael Ghonim.
Omar Suleiman, the vice-president, warns that
his government "can't put up with continued protests" for a long time.
Separately, Suleiman also announces a slew of
constitutional and legislative reforms, to be undertaken by yet to be formed
committees.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN chief, says genuine
dialogue is needed to end the current crisis, adding that a peaceful transition
is crucial.
February 9: Labour unions join protesters in
the street, with some of them calling for Mubarak to step down while others
simply call for better pay. Masssive strikes start rolling throughout the
country.
Famous Arab pop star Tamer Hosni visits Tahrir
Square, but protesters are unimpressed and angered. Hosni previously made
statements telling the demonstrators to leave the square, saying that Mubarak
had offered them concessions.
Thirty-four political prisoners, including
members of the Muslim Brotherhood, were released on Tuesday, according to
Egyptian state television.
Human Rights Watch says that 302 people have
been killed since the start of Egypt's pro-democracy uprising. Based on visits
to a number of hospitals in Egypt, the organization says that records show the
death toll has reached 232 in Cairo, 52 in Alexandria and 18 in Suez.
Attributing the information to Egyptian
security officials, Reuters reports that several protesters suffered gunshot
wounds and one was killed when 3,000 protesters took to the streets in Wadi
al-Jadid, where clashes from the previous nights carried over to the early
hours.
Citing medics, AFP news agency reports five
were dead and 100 are wounded in the clashes that have been going on for two
days.
Ahmed Aboul Ghiet, Egypt's foreign minister,
tells al-Arabiya network on Wednesday that the Egyptian army could step in to
"protect the country from an attempt by some adventurers to take power".
And in an interview with American public
broadcaster PBS, Aboul Ghiet says that he is "infuriated" by the US's
initial response to the unrest in the country, and that he finds the Obama
administration's advice on political transition "not at all" helpful."
February 10: The newly appointed Culture
Minister, Gaber Asfour, quits. His
family says it's due to health reasons but Egypt's main daily newspaper
al-Ahram says Asfour, who is also a writer, was criticised by his literary
colleagues for taking the post. He was the only new face in the new cabinet.
Protesters in Tahrir Square waved their shoes
in dismay as Mubarak said he was staying in power [Reuters]
The Egyptian prime minister forms a committee
that will gather evidence on "the illegitimate practices" that
resulted from the events of recent weeks. The committee will receive reports
from citizens and civil society organisations and then present a report to the
public prosecutor.
The criminal court in Egypt has endorsed the
decision of banning three former ministers from leaving the country and the
government has also frozen their assets.
The security chief for the Egyptian city of
Wadi al-Jadid (New Valley) is sacked and the police captain who ordered police
to shoot at protesters is arrested and will be tried.
Amid rumours that he will be stepping down
tonight, Mubarak gives a televised speech which he says is "from the
heart". He repeats his promise to not run in the next presidential
elections and to "continue to shoulder" his responsibilties in the
"peaceful transition" that he says will take place in September.
Protesters in Tahrir Square react with fury
when Mubarak says he's remaining in power until September. Protesters wave
their shoes in the air, and demand the army join them in revolt.
February 11:
After tens of thousands people take to the streets across Egypt in angry
protests, Hosni Mubarak resigns as president and hands over power to the army.
The announcement is made by Omar Suleiman, the
vice-president, just after 16:00 GMT.
Earlier in the day, masses of protesters had
descended on the state television building in Cairo and the presidential palace
in Heliopolis, as well as in Tahrir Square.
February 12: People celebrate in Tahrir Square
until early morning. Pro-democracy protesters start to clean the square.
The country's new military rulers promise to
hand power to an elected, civilian government and pledged that Egypt will
remain committed to all international treaties - in an apparent nod to its 1979
peace treaty with Israel.
State television says travel bans are being
imposed on several of the country's former ministers, including the former
prime minister Ahmed Nazif, who was sacked by Mubarak before he stepped down.
February 13: Soldiers try to remove the
remaining protesters in Tahrir Square and their tents are dismantled. Traffic
flows through the square for the first time since the protests began.
The cabinet spokesman says the cabinet,
appointed when Mubarak was still in office, will not undergo a major reshuffle
and will stay to oversee a political transformation in the coming months.
About 2,000 policemen hold a protest outside
the interior ministry, demanding better wages and trying to clear the bad
reputation they have.
Some other public sector workers and bank
employees are also protesting in Alexandria and other cities.
February 14: Protesters leave Tahrir Square in
the morning but a few thousands return later, most of them protesting against
the police.
Police, ambulance drivers and other workers are
holding separate demonstrations.
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