Evacuations Underway in Egypt, Organizers Call for Larger Demonstrations as Unrest Grows

Updated 3:30 p.m. ET

Egyptian demonstrators gather in Tahrir Square, in central Cairo, on Jan. 31, 2011, on the seventh day of protests against long term President Hosni Mubarak’s regime. (Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images)

The Egyptian army announced it will not use force against demonstrators that plan to congregate on Tuesday, saying in a statement: “To the great people of Egypt, your armed forces, acknowledging the legitimate rights of the people… have not and will not use force against the Egyptian people.”

Updated 12:30 p.m. ET

Protesters hold an anti-President Hosni Mubarak sign Monday in Tahrir Square during demonstrations in central Cairo, Egypt. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

As thousands of Egyptian protesters continued demonstrating Monday despite an afternoon curfew, police and military forced reinforced barricades at demonstration sites, including the Interior Ministry and Tahrir Square. Meanwhile, protest organizers called for larger gatherings in Cairo and Alexandria on Tuesday.

Despite shuffling his cabinet, President Hosni Mubarak has not given any indication of stepping down, despite protesters calling for his ouster.

The unrest is disrupting Egyptians’ day-to-day activities: Stores were closed or emptied out. ATMs were reportedly out of cash, and basic services delayed. Homegrown checkpoints have sprouted amid the security vacuum as citizens try to protect their homes and property.

Evacuations of foreigners continue as well.

Updated Monday, 10:30 a.m. ET

A week after protesters first converged on downtown Cairo, tens of thousands continue to march and call on President Hosni Mubarak to step down after 30 years in office. Mubarak’s televised announcement after midnight Saturday did little to placate the crowds, who are out despite a curfew and strong police and military presence in Tahrir Square.

Both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have called for an “orderly transition” to a more democratic government in Egypt ahead of scheduled elections in September. The United States has provided military aid to Egypt, an ally in the region.

Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a Nobel laureate, returned to Egypt and has become a prominent figure in the protests.

The State Department has been evacuating U.S. citizens from the country, and there have been long lines at the Cairo airport filled with foreigners.

Mohamed ElBaradei addresses protesters. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Updated 3:30 p.m. ET

Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei marched with thousands of anti-government protesters in Egypt’s capital Cairo Sunday as demonstrations demanding regime change continued for a sixth day.

ElBaradei, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work as head of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, joined the voices of the opposition upon re-entering the country on Thursday.

In a series of interviews with American media outlets, he said President Obama shouldn’t be the last person to tell Mubarak, “It’s time for you to go,” and that Mubarak isn’t the one to enact democratic reforms.

“This first thing which will calm the situation is for Mubarak to leave, and leave with some dignity. Otherwise I fear that things will get bloody. And you (the United States) have to stop the life support to the dictator and root for the people,” ElBaradei said on CBS’ “Face the Nation”.

The main opposition group the Muslim Brotherhood said it regarded ElBaradei as the spokesman for the country’s opposition factions.

“What we want is what the people want; right now we should have a completely different regime. We should have freedom and free elections,” said Helmi Gazzar, the head of the Brotherhood’s district party office in northern Cairo, reported the Wall Street Journal. “We respect Mr. Baradei. He has the most potential” to achieve this.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also made the Sunday talk show rounds, saying on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “We have a very clear message: Long-term stability rests on responding to the legitimate needs of the Egyptian people, and that is what we want to see happen.”

She said Egyptians need the chance to plot their own course. “It needs to be an orderly, peaceful transition to real democracy, not faux democracy like the elections we saw in Iran two years ago, where you have one election 30 years ago and then the people just keep staying in power and become less and less responsive to their people.”

Egypt Protests Continue; U.S. Urges Citizens to Evacuate

Egyptian demonstrator at Tahrir Square in Cairo. (Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images)

The U.S. Embassy in Egypt urged Americans to leave the country as soon as possible Sunday, as protests against President Hosni Mubarak continued for a sixth day and reports of looting were on the rise.

The United States and several other countries are offering evacuation flights to their citizens. A statement released by the embassy informed “U.S. citizens in Egypt who wish to depart that the Department of State is making arrangements to provide transportation to safehaven locations in Europe.”

The streets of Cairo were filled with protesters again Sunday and bands of young men carrying knives and clubs participated in “heavy looting” overnight, reported the Washington Post, targeting homes and businesses.

There also were reports of jail breaks across Egypt, with thousands of inmates escaping, including at least one jail that housed Hamas prisoners near Cairo, Agence France-Presse reported.

The growing mood of lawlessness has packed airports as Egyptians and foreigners desperately try to book passage out of the country.

The death toll has now risen to 102, according to the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, with 80 of those deaths occurring over the weekend.

Tanks and military personnel are guarding key government buildings and archaeological sites throughout the city, and the army is threatening to use “all necessary force” to enforce a 6 p.m. curfew in the country.

The Egyptian government has moved to shut down Al Jazeera’s Cairo bureau. The network’s Arabic-language channel was off the air by the afternoon, but Al Jazeera English was still broadcasting.

“Al Jazeera sees this as an act designed to stifle and repress the freedom of reporting by the network and its journalists,” the network said in a statement. “In this time of deep turmoil and unrest in Egyptian society it is imperative that voices from all sides be heard; the closing of our bureau by the Egyptian government is aimed at censoring and silencing the voices of the Egyptian people.”

The Associated Press has scenes from the streets today:

We’ve gathered several sources for tracking the ongoing developments in Egypt online, including this wiki from Wired on how to follow developments on news sites and social media.