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Mubarak Leaves Cairo, Protests Escalate

احدث اجدد واروع واجمل واشيك Mubarak Leaves Cairo, Protests Escalate

CAIRO – As millions of Egyptians took to the streets to oust President Hosni Mubarak on Friday, February 11, the aging leader reportedly left Cairo.

"Mubarak has left Cairo with all his family," a source close to the government told Agence France Presse (AFP), but his destination was not immediately clear.

The source refused to say whether the president had left the country or headed to his residence in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Similar rumors were circulated late Thursday before airing Mubarak's recorded statement.

"While Egypt's state TV reported that Mubarak will deliver a statement live from his palace, earlier Egyptian media reports suggested that Mubarak had already departed to the Sinai resort of Sharm El-Sheikh onboard a military airplane and was accompanied by chief of staff of the armed forces, Lt. Gen. Sami Annan," the Dubai based Al-Arabiya satellite channel reported.

"Other local reports indicated that Mubarak has flown to an "unknown" destination."

The US-based Al-Hurra TV late on Thursday reported that Mubarak was flying toward the United Arab Emirates and was expected in Dubai in an hour.

Conflicting reports were also reported early on Friday by the Egyptian Youm7 newspaper.

The newspaper quoted anonymous officials who confirmed that Mubarak left for Sharm El-Sheikh before airing his recorded message to the Egyptians by three hours.

Other officials told the paper that he left for Sharm only on Friday morning.

A third source, from the national TV, told Youm7 that the president's plane took off from Almaza airport with his family towards the United Arab Emirates.

The Egyptian leader has scrambled to save his regime, naming a vice-president, appointing a new government and agreed to amend the constitutions.

His moves, however, failed to satisfy the protestors, who insist on his immediate ouster.

Massive Protests

Provoked by his refusal to step down, millions of Egyptian took to the streets nationwide, surrounding some governmental buildings.

According to the Rassd News Network (RNN), hundreds of thousands of protesters moved towards Qasr Et-tin presidential palace in Alexandria to surround it.

Nearly 50 thousand protesters in Beni Suief were also reported to be surrounding the governorate building.

Tens of thousands of protesters were also moving to consolidate the protesters sit-in at Orouba presidential palace in Heliopolis in Cairo.

In Delta, hundreds of thousands of protesters were reported to be surrounding the governorate buildings in Sharqia, Monofeya and Mansoura governorates.

The situation in Upper Egypt was not much different.

In Assuit, Al-Jazeera and RNN reported that thousands broke into the building of the ruling National Democratic Party.

Other 50,000 protested in Menya streets calling for toppling the regime.
Other protesters in Suez city occupied the governorate building, Suez district building and Al-Arbeen buildings.

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