communications in Egypt

There are now reports that both the internet and text messaging have been shut off in Egypt.

Our university website appears to be down, as does that of the al-Ahram Weekly newspaper, along with Vodafone Egypt, CityStars Mall in Cairo, and in fact any website I try that has a “.eg” suffix. So, I assume that report about the internet being shut down is true.

I didn’t bring my mobile phone on the trip and so can’t test the point about text messaging, but it’s probably true.

It is now 10:00 AM in Bombay, and the last email I received from Cairo is stamped 3:09 AM (i.e. 11:30 PM last night, Cairo time), which tells us little because people aren’t normally emailing me in the middle of the night in Egypt anyway. India is 3.5 hours ahead of Egypt, so it’s now 6:30 in the morning in Cairo. Riot police will already be setting up for what is possibly going to be the longest and most eventful day in recent Egyptian history.

I don’t know what will happen today. But I do think that if live ammunition is used, that will spell the end, and that if anything happens to ElBaradei it will also spell the end. Clashes with fists and bricks and a handful of deaths can go on for long periods of time, but opening fire on any crowds (which could happen even through accidental panic somewhere) would be a game changer. (Total number of deaths so far= 6. I believe one was a Cairo police officer and the other 5 were protestors outside of Cairo, mostly in Suez. There are reports that video exists of one protestor being shot after picking up a stone to throw.)

Assuming airports aren’t closed too, I’ll be arriving there myself on Sunday towards noon. It’s strange to be sitting here with Egypt in such a situation, given that it was in an utterly usual state when I left, just 16 days ago. It’s all about Tunisia.