Video - 'Arab Spring Meltdown' - Eric Trager on how all the experts got it wrong on Egypt's Arab Spring.

HT: SunNewsNetwork.

Video - Charles Adler: "Egypt emergencies."

Charles Adler asks if the Arab Spring changed anything in Egypt.HT: SunNewsNetwork.

"Egypt Revolution II" - Egypt protesters come to aid of ransacked Semiramis Intercontinental hotel off Tahrir Square.

"Egypt Revolution II" - Egypt protesters come to aid of ransacked Semiramis Intercontinental hotel off Tahrir Square.(AO).Dozens of armed assailants raided and looted the InterContinental Semiramis hotel on Cairo's Nile Corniche, while staff desperately called for help via their official Twitter account, in the early hours of Tuesday morning amid fierce clashes between protesters and security forces.
Anti-government demonstrators secured the besieged hotel and helped hotel guests flee until they were safely in taxis to the airport, as the police and the army failed to come to their aid.
The protesters also helped the security forces in arresting 12 people who were attempting to loot the downtown Cairo hotel.
" EMERGENCY! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! SEVERAL THUGS HAVE ENTERED THE SEMIRAMIS! SEND HELP," employees pleaded via the official hotel account on the micro-blogging site, "SOS If anyone knows anyone in #Military #Police #Government, please send help! Thugs in Lobby."
The inside of the hotel reception has been gutted, broken glass and rocks are strewn across the floor and outside the main gates.
Two large tables have been pushed up against the main entrance, staff have boarded up the smashed windows with wooden slats.
Security guard Hesham Abdel-Wahab, who was on duty through the night, described the terrifying scene to Ahram Online.
"Groups had already come to the hotel earlier to warn us that thugs were on their way so we called the police and requested they send forces, "Abdel-Wahab explains. "But when I spoke to the police, they just continued to ask me for my name, they were very hesitant. I kept saying to them that my name doesn't matter we were under attack."
Ahmed Ibrahim, another InterContinental guard described 40 men armed with birdshot guns, knives and a semi-automatic weapon, approach the hotel around 2.30am.
They succeeded in breaking through the hotel's fortified shutters. Ahram Online reporter saw electrical wire tied to the metal gates, clearly used to force the doors open.
"One had a semi-automatic gun and started shooting inside the building, I was inside trying to hide and call the police, it was terrifying," Abdel-Wahab continues.
Some guests trapped in the hotel, locked themselves in their rooms to avoid the tear gas and bullets, as employees desperately struggled to evacuate the building
After the police failed to appear, Abdel-Wahab says, hotel staff phoned the army. "However they didn't arrive, they left us."
"It was terrible - I was scared to death," recalls Nabila Samak, Director of Marketing and Communications, who made the desperate calls for help from the hotel Twitter account. Samak added that Semiramis staff had even resorted to calling Egyptian TV talk shows to draw attention to their plight.
The armed groups reportedly looted the building, stealing "everything they could get their hands on." "We ran to the crisis meeting point on the 4th floor and barricaded ourselves in," Samak describes, "it unfolded so quickly we followed all our security measures, but no guards of hotels in Egypt are armed. We had to secure guests and colleagues."
Meanwhile revolutionaries outside the hotel attempted to prevent the thugs from entering the building, reports Ahram Online journalist Karim Hafez who was at the scene.
"When they realised these groups were trying to loot the hotel, protesters shot fire crackers at them as they attacked the building and tried to push them away from the area but these groups were armed with birdshot bullets," says Hafez.
The assailants also attempted to steal the ATM in front of the hotel.
Journalist Mohammed Mare, who witnessed the event, recounted on his Twitter account that four people arrived in a Lancer car with no licence plate behind the protesters and fired the shots to scare protesters away, before storming the hotel.
The attackers shot at employees and continued to destroy the building for approximately three hours before security forces arrived.
So far there have been no confirmed injuries.
"We are the frontline, I'm still a bit shaky, and the situation is still not resolved. Clashes are starting again," Samak says, who thanked the revolutionaries that "stood by us last night," via the hotel's Twitter account, adding "you are awesome."
The hotel manager declined to comment.
"I blame President Mohamed Morsi's administration because there is no security here in Egypt under his rule," concludes Abdel-Wahab, "they just let the people fight each other."Read the full story here.

Live Updates: Clashes as tens of thousands flood Tahrir Square to mark Egypt's revolution.

Live Updates: Clashes as tens of thousands flood Tahrir Square to mark Egypt's revolution.(AO).

16:40 Prominent Egyptian author Ahdaf Soueif chats to Ahram Online's Sarah El-Rashidi on Tahrir Square.

“I am here to keep the pressure on and for social justice for the Egyptian people,” she says.

16:35 Meanwhile moving north to Alexandria, Ahram Online’s Yasmine Fathi says hundreds of protesters are marching towards Sidi Gaber district, another popular place in the coastal city for protests.

16:30 In response to news the Shubra march was attacked under the building of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Ikhwan Online, the Islamist group say it was in fact a “third attempt to raid their offices”.

Rather than the Brotherhood being responsible for throwing rocks and glass at the protesters heading for Tahrir, they say a battle is currently ensuing between residents of Tawfiqya and a masked group. Both groups, the Islamist group added, are firing birdshot and molotov cocktails at each other.

Ahram Online journalist Mostafa Ali at the scene says he can hear heavy gunfire and can see 100s of protesters from the Shubra march surrounding the Brotherhood building, they appear to be under fire from unknown assailants.

The rest of the Shubra march continued on to Tahrir Square.

16:15 The police have been ordered to deal with protesters "firmly" as they have recieved reports that groups will try to storm the court building, Head of Alexandria's Investigative Police Nasser El-Abd told Ahram Online’s Ahmed Eleiba. He added that the police have orders to stand their ground against any attempts to enter or damage state buildings.

Clashes continue in Egypt's coastal city between the security forces and protesters outside of the Alexandrian governorate building.

16:10 Assailants armed with stones and glass attacked the Shubra march from the roof of Each Way hotel at Al-Tawfikya market near the High court, says Ahram Online reporter Hossam El-Hamalawy from the rally.

“We can hear shots, we don’t know if its bird shot or live ammunition,” El-Hamalawy confirmed.

Eyewitnesses accuse the Muslim Brotherhood of initiating the violence, however others suggest it is part of a vendors fight.

Ahram Online’s El-Hamalawy says the attack originated from the bureau of the Muslim Brotherhood’s official website Ikhwan Online, right next to the Tawfikya market, when they started throwing stones at protesters. Ikhwan Online’s office was allegedly attacked last night.

16:00 The Ministry of Interior has issued a warning to protesters engaging the police, on its official Facebook page:

“Dear revolutionaries, you have the right to protest, express your opinion as much as you want. There will be no hostility between you and us as long as you refrain from any sabotage or attacks on police establishments"

15:55 Passing by state-owned Al-Gomhorya newspaper, protesters in the Shubra march chant against "the misleading media" as they reach Ramsis Street on their journey to Cairo's Tahrir.

15:50 Meanwhile back in Tahrir, Ahram Online’s Ekram Ibrahim catchs up with activist and co-founder of the No To Military Trials For Civilians campaign Mona Seif.

"I think the turnout of protesters is good. I am here mainly because our social justice demands have yet to be fulfilled - the government is instead adopting the line of not caring."

15:45 Violence spreads across the country as clashes erupt in Suez between hundreds of protesters and security forces at the governorate headquarters.

Medhat Eissa of the Suez Revolutionary Bloc told Ahram Online security forces started firing tear gas as the march approached the government building. Several injuries have been reported, he confirmed.

15:25 Al-Ahram Arabic reports that protesters at in front of Al-Manshia police station have been attacked by a number of people armed with bladed weapons.

According to Alexandrian authorities at least thirty have been injured in the clashes taking place in the coastal city.

Meanwhile, Ahram Online’s Yasmine Fathi is at the governorate’s headquarters, where tear gas is being fired at protesters. She reports that the canisters being used bear no labels or details about where they were manufactured, and describes the effect of the gas as “much worse” than gas used in previous clashes.

15:20 Moving to the seaport city of Suez, three marches have started marching to the iconic Al-Arabeen square. Protesters are chanting: "Our demands is still the same - bread, dignity and social justice" and "Down with the [Muslim Brotherhood's] Supreme Guide."

15:15 Several small demonstrations are take place in governorates around Egypt, including Damanhour, Sharqiya, Minya, Menoufiya, Luxor and Dakhiliyah.

The chants are mostly protesting deteriorating living conditions, demanding justice for slain protesters, and pressing for the revolution’s unmet goals. Many chants are against the Muslim Brotherhood using the slogan: “Down with the rule of the Supreme Guide.”Follow the live updates here at Ahram., more here.

‘No to the Brotherhood’ protest expected in Egypt’s Tahrir Square.

‘No to the Brotherhood’ protest expected in Egypt’s Tahrir Square.(AA).Egyptian activists are planning to take to Cairo’s central Tahrir Square on Friday to protest against the Muslim Brotherhood, in a planned million-man demonstration titled “No to the Brotherhood.” 
The protests have been reportedly planned by the Maspero Youth Union, a revolutionary Coptic group, and a number of military supporters. The armed forces, which had transitionally ruled the country since Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak was overthrown last year, handed over power to President Mohammed Mursi, who came from the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood last week.
The groups taking part in Friday’s protest are asking for Mursi to leave power, according to reports from Al Arabiya TV. Last Friday, Mursi joined tens of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square on Friday to celebrate his victory and keep pressure on the nation’s ruling generals to restore the parliament and hand power over to a civilian government. “There is no power above people power,” Mursi declared to wild cheers from the crowd. Mursi, who won a run-off election earlier this month against Mubarak’s last premier, was received with applause by the tens of thousands of people gathered in the square. He paid tribute to “the square of the revolution, the square of freedom,” addressing “the free world, Arabs, Muslims... the people of Egypt, brothers and sisters... Muslims of Egypt, Christians of Egypt.”
This Friday, Tahrir will also be accommodating the protests of another group: Egyptian women protesting against the rising sexual violence in the country. A page on Facebook, titled “Safe Tahrir for Women,” has called on both men and women to join forces to demonstrate against violence directed toward women in the iconic square under the theme.
 “We want strong people to act as guards to protect women from thugs who have been abusing them in the square. We want to catch these criminals who are destroying the reputation of the revolution, expose and shame them, and bring them to justice,” the statement on the Facebook page read. The campaign has been launched after dozens of violent attacks against women in Tahrir last month. Female protesters and journalists say the assaults are becoming commonplace in the Square, with groups of men attacking a women’s march against sexual harassment in an incident in June. “We want to say, ‘Enough, No!’ to the terrible assaults against women which have been happening in Tahrir. We believe them to have been carried out by state-sponsored paid thugs: let’s catch them, and prove that the people of Tahrir are amongst the noblest in the world,” their statement added. Hmmmm.....can't wait to hear the Obama admin condemn the protests.Read the full story here.