In addition, many Muslim and Coptic leaders such as the former Mufti of Egypt, Muhammad Nasr Farid and Father Fawzi Khalil, showed up at Tahrir Square calling for unity and declaring their support to the Revolution of the Youth as one called it.
In one of the most emotional moments of the day, three army officers, two majors and a captain, showed up in uniform declaring their total support for the goals of the revolution. Maj. Ahmad Ali Shoman declared on live television that he handed his pistol over to his commanding officer earlier in order to join the nonviolent and peaceful struggle against the regime.
He called on President Hosni Mubarak, Vice President Omar Suleiman, Prime Minister Ahmad Shafiq, and Defense Minster Field Marshall Muhammad Hussein Tantawi to resign. He then called on the Army and its Chief of Staff Sami Anan to take over and depose the president on behalf of the people.
The King is checkmated but still wants to play
By early afternoon, over one million people swelled into Tahrir Square. The leaders of the revolution declared that over ten million people across Egypt would be expected to demonstrate the following day after Friday congregational prayers if their demands were not met.
Subsequently, thousands left Tahrir Square that afternoon and surrounded the government-run television and radio building, which has been running anti-revolution propaganda since the first day of the protests. Immediately, government authorities evacuated the building while the army protected it from being stormed by the people, who camped out around it.
By late afternoon, an unexpected declaration by the army was read on state television. It was dubbed Communiquà © One, a name reminiscent of the 1950s and 1960s army coups. It was read in the name of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which consists of the Minister of Defense, the Joints Chief of Staff, Chiefs of the four military branches, as well as the Commanders of the different weapon systems.
As president, Mubarak is the commander-in-chief of this council. But he was conspicuously absent, which led many people to believe his departure was imminent. The declaration by the spokesperson, Gen. Ismail Etman, gave credence to this conclusion when he declared that the SCAF was "in total support of the legitimate demands of the people." He further stated that SCAF would be meeting in continuous session in order to decide on what "course of action it should take to secure the demands and gains of the people."
Shortly thereafter, state television declared that Mubarak would address his people at 11 PM. This declaration fueled speculation that Mubarak was about to step down and resign. This expectation was also bolstered when CIA director Leon Panetta, testifying that afternoon before the House Intelligence Committee, stated that he believed Mubarak would indeed step down that evening. When President Barack Obama delivered a midday address in northern Michigan, he hinted that the Egyptian people would soon accomplish their demand as they were "witnessing history unfold."
Nevertheless, the embattled Egyptian president's third address since the inception of the revolution on Jan. 25 was true to form. The delusional president gave a pathetic address in which he reiterated all his earlier "concessions" (not running for a sixth presidential term in September and offering some constitutional reforms.)
He further claimed that the call for him to step down was a "foreign dictation" in a clear reference to Washington. With a straight face he declared that he had never given in to foreign demands and pressure and was not about to do so in this instance, totally ignoring his thirty-year history of providing services to the U.S. as a regional client state.
After pledging that he would remain president until September, he then offered to transfer some of his powers to Vice President Suleiman in order to defuse the crisis. It was a pitiful performance by a person completely oblivious to reality. Incredibly, he once more succeeded in insulting millions of Egyptians by accusing them, in effect, of being part of a conspiracy to depose him and destabilize Egypt.
Shortly thereafter, his Vice President followed Mubarak on television, arrogantly beseeching his countrymen and women to stop the protests and go home. Once more he showed fierce loyalty to Mubarak and thanked him. Perhaps as someone who has served him for 18 years as the head of the intelligence service, it was to be expected.
He stated that now, as acting president, he has taken over the duties of the president, and was ready to lead in the path of reform. However, in his address, he totally ignored the demands and the will of the people who have withdrawn the legitimacy from Mubarak and his regime.
Likely scenarios: people united will never be defeated
Upon hearing Mubarak and Suleiman back-to-back, the Egyptian people were enraged. Millions who had been in the streets for hours, were now joined by the hundreds of thousands flocking to the streets, displaying their anger, and vowing to stay in the streets until the ouster of the regime. They chanted incessantly, "The people demand the fall of the regime."
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