Dozens of protesters calling for the ouster of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh clashed on Jan. 29 with the regime's supporters in Sana'a, the capital. Plainclothes police also apparently attacked the demonstrators, who marched to the Egyptian embassy in solidarity with the protesters in Cairo, chanting "Ali, leave leave."

The WikiLeaks revelations on Egypt's Hosni Mubarak regime provide an interesting political Rorschach test—viewed either as evidence that the US backs unsavory dictators or as vindicating paranoia about neocon conspiracies behind the current wave of unrest in the Arab world. In the words of The Telegraph's incredibly distorted lead Jan. 28: "Even as they were officially supporting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, American officials were secretly helping dissidents interested in using social media to overthrow his regime, a secret dispatch from the US embassy in Cairo has revealed." In fact, the Dec. 30, 2008 cable (on the Wikileaks website) only "reveals" that the US embassy helped a young activist attend an "Alliance of Youth Movements Summit" in New York, while keeping his identity secret from the Egyptian security services.

Thousands of people took to the streets in Egypt in a fifth day of protests Jan. 29, despite President Hosni Mubarak appearing on TV to announce he is sacking his government. In Cairo, after police used rubber bullets and tear gas to break up a protest at the Interior Ministry on Tahrir Square, they resorted to real bullets—leaving some ten protesters dead. Clashes with police are also reported from Ismailiya and Alexandria, where several police stations were torched. At least six are reported dead in Alexandra, including one police officer. Police finally retreated in Alexandra, leaving the city in the hands of protesters. Opposition activist Mohamed ElBaradei, who arrived in the country three days earlier, called for Mubarak to step down, saying "the Egyptian people have revolted against 58 years of repression." (NYT, Jan. 29; BBC News, AlMasry AlYoum, AlMasry AlYoum, Reuters, Jan. 28)

A US company apparently sold Egypt technology to monitor Internet and mobile phone traffic—now being used by the regime to crack down on communications as protests erupt across the country. Boeing-owned, California-based Narus sold Telecom Egypt, the state-run Internet service provider, "real-time traffic intelligence" equipment, more commonly known as Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology. DPI is content-filtering technology that allows network managers to inspect, track and target content from Internet users and mobile phones as it passes through Web routers.

More than 1,000 protesters have been detained in Egypt as demonstrations against the 30-year reign of President Hosni Mubarak entered their third day on Jan. 27. Protests were held Cairo, as well as the port city of Suez, and are reportedly spreading across the country. In Suez, police resorted the use of rubber-coated bullets, water cannons and teargas, after protesters burnt down a police post. On Jan. 25, Egypt's Ministry of Interior announced it would no longer tolerate the protests, which have resulted in several deaths. Meanwhile, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei has expressed his willingness to lead a transitional government. Elbaradei, who previously led the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said he is planning to return to Egypt to join the protests.

Thousands again took to the streets of Sana'a Jan. 27, calling for the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. "It's over Saleh, your time is up!" chanted a crowd of students, rattling the gates of Sana'a University. The protests are organized by an opposition coalition, including the Islamist party Islah, as well as the Socialist and Nasserite parties. Emphasizing a commitment to nonviolence, the protesters have adopted pink as their color, but warned that they will escalate to "red" to press their demands if necessary. (The Guardian, The Lede, Jan. 27)

Egyptian police and protesters clashed in Cairo's city center and in the port city of Suez on Jan. 26, the second day of anti-government rallies. The Interior Ministry had banned all protests, and security officials said at least 500 were arrested around the country. In the capital, where demonstrators declared a "day of anger" to demand the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, police used tear gas and protesters responded with hurled stones. One protester and one police officer are reported killed in Cairo street fighting. In Suez, three protesters were reported killed in a police baton charge the previous day. (Middle East Online, YNet, Jan. 26)

In his State of the Union address Jan. 25, Barack Obama said the US will support those struggling for freedom around the world, and made special note of the recent revolutionary upsurge in Tunisia:

We saw that same desire to be free in Tunisia, where the will of the people proved more powerful than the writ of a dictator. And tonight, let us be clear: the United States of America stands with the people of Tunisia and supports the democratic aspirations of all people.