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US Decries Use of 'Thugs' Against Egyptian Protesters

   David Gollust | State Department  February 02, 2011
   Anti-government    demonstrators,    wounded   during   clashes   with
   pro-government protesters

Photo: AP

   Anti-government    demonstrators,    wounded   during   clashes   with
   pro-government  protesters,  wait to be treated at a makeshift medical
   triage  station,  near  Tahrir  square,  the center of anti-government
   demonstrations, in Cairo, Egypt, February 2, 2011

   The  United  States  Wednesday  condemned  what it says was the use of
   "thugs"  against  democracy  demonstrators  in central Cairo. A senior
   official said President Hosni Mubarak has little time left to prove he
   can preside over the reform process he has promised.
   The  Obama  administration  has refrained thus far from flatly calling
   for President Mubarak to step down.
   But  officials here are expressing outrage over Wednesdayâs attacks on
   protesters  by what they term "thugs" supporting the besieged Egyptian
   leader.
   One  senior  official  said while President Mubarak wants to remain in
   office  pending  elections  for a successor, he now only has a "narrow
   amount of time" to prove that he can lead a credible reform process.
   Echoing  earlier  comments  from  the  White House calling Wednesdayâs
   violence  "outrageous and deplorable", State Department Spokesman P.J.
   Crowley  said  the  appearance  on  the  streets of pro-Mubarak forces
   attacking  demonstrators "changed the dynamic" of an already difficult
   situation.
   "Let  me  differentiate  between  those  who  can  bring forward their
   perspective  on current events, as opposed to the thugs that we saw on
   the  streets  today, who are clearly trying to intimidate those people
   who  have been peacefully protesting and expressing their strong views
   about  a  different  kind of future for Egypt, "said P.J. Crowley. "We
   donât  know  who  unleashed  these  people.  But  there should be full
   accountability."
   Crowley  said  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Mr. Mubarakâs
   newly  appointed  Vice  president Omar Suleiman to call for an inquiry
   into the Wednesday violence.
   The spokesman also said that retired senior U.S. diplomat Frank Wisner
   left  Cairo  Wednesday  after  meeting President Mubarak and Suleiman,
   Egyptâs former intelligence chief.
   Wisner,  a  former U.S. ambassador to Egypt, is said to have delivered
   in  person  the  message President Obama and other U.S. officials have
   stressed  publicly  in  recent  days,  that a process of transition in
   Egypt must begin immediately.
   The  senior official who spoke to reporters here, asked why Wisner had
   been  recalled so quickly, said only that his mission "had gone as far
   as it could."
   The official said there is sentiment at the highest level of the Cairo
   government  that  they  can outlast the demonstrators, but said in the
   U.S. view that is a "flawed assumption".

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