Egypt Security Unit Revolt Spreads; 15 Reported Slain

The Egyptian government imposed a round-the-clock curfew in Cairo on Wednesday as a revolt by security forces spread from the Pyramids to parts of the Egyptian capital and at least three provincial cities.

By late afternoon, calm appeared to have been restored in the two worst-hit areas of the city, Giza and Maadi, after more than 17 hours of rioting and fighting between the mutinous security forces and regular army troops that were mobilized Tuesday night.

But then, as dusk fell, clashes erupted anew in the residential quarter of Mohandiseen, and scattered bursts of gunfire continued to echo through other sections of the city, including the downtown area and the residential island of Zamalek.

President Hosni Mubarak called an emergency Cabinet meeting and then said in a statement that the rioters killed some guards in their attacks on hotels, shops and nightclubs. He did not say how many were killed, but the Associated Press, citing police sources, said there have been 15 fatalities.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Bernard Kalb said there were no indications that the riots were motivated by “anti-U.S. or anti-Western” attitudes. He said there were no reports of injuries to Americans.

“We have full confidence in President Mubarak’s government and its ability to handle the situation,” Kalb said.

Another State Department official said later: “There have been riots in Egypt in the past. This riot is more ominous because this time the rioters had guns.”

But the official, who declined to be identified by name, said the United States is confident that the Mubarak government could weather the crisis because “Egypt is a very stable society.”

Mubarak, appearing on television Wednesday evening, admitted that the clashes, which he blamed on a “deviationist minority” in the 120,000-member Central Security Forces, have also spread to the Suez Canal port of Ismailia and to the southern cities of Sohag and Asyut, where Muslim fundamentalists have clashed with the police in the past.

The rioting, which also showed signs of spreading from the security forces to the civilian sector, was the worst here in nine years and raised serious questions about the stability of the Mubarak government. Despite attempts at political liberalization and fiscal reform, the government is widely perceived as having failed to solve Egypt’s mounting economic difficulties.

“There is a tremendous amount of frustration among the poor now, and there is a real risk that something like this may set if off,” an Egyptian political analyst said.

The opportunity to vent that frustration apparently incited mobs of Egyptian teen-agers in poor quarters of the city. They roamed the streets, looting stores, attacking cars and buses and setting fire to dozens of them.

Cairo International Airport, closed for several hours in the morning because of clashes nearby, was reopened in the afternoon to allow the departure of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou of Greece. They were on official visits when the fighting erupted.

After a night of running gun battles in Giza, where mutinous security forces and civilian rioters sacked and burned three large tourist hotels and several nightclubs, the fighting moved into the city as rebellious security units stormed a prison south of Maadi. According to witnesses, they freed some inmates and then set fire to the prison.

Troops skirmished for two hours with the security forces in Maadi, an exclusive area of Cairo where many U.S. Embassy personnel live.

“There was gunfire all around us and helicopters overhead,” the wife of an American diplomat said by telephone from her home.

Heavy fighting also flared in the eastern outskirts of the city, where army tanks surrounded and shelled a security forces base, sources said.

Accurate casualty figures were not available, but one Giza hospital reported treating 40 people injured overnight, including three French tourists. They appeared to be the only foreign casualties.

U.S. Embassy officials said they have received no reports of Americans being injured, although several Americans were said to be stranded in Giza, at the Hotel Mena House Oberoi, which came under small-arms fire Tuesday night. Edward Bernier, a spokesman for the embassy, told the AP that about 120 Americans were in the area when the rioting broke out. Bernier said several were “stunned, shaken and fearful.”

An attempt was made Wednesday morning to evacuate the Americans there, but it failed because an embassy vehicle was not able to get into the area, officials said.

One American, Keith Heck of Chicago, managing director of the U.S. Investment Promotion Office here, narrowly escaped injury when a group of stone-throwing youths attacked his car and smashed its windshield as he was driving home to Maadi.

“I’m OK,” he told a reporter, “but this is going to make my job a little more difficult.”

As troops in trucks and personnel carriers took up positions at key installations in the capital, the government imposed an indefinite curfew banning unauthorized movement throughout Cairo until further notice. Only medical personnel, firemen, bakers and journalists are not affected.

Scenes of Near-Panic

The announcement, spread through the streets by police cars equipped with loudspeakers, provoked scenes of near-panic in this city of 14 million people as office workers, shoppers and others sought to board buses, fought for taxis and got into heated arguments.

According to the government, the disturbances, the worst since bread riots claimed scores of lives in 1977, were triggered when a “false rumor” circulated through the security forces that their term of conscription was being extended from three to four years.

The issue had economic overtones, for the conscripts, who are among the lowest-paid people in Egypt, move to a higher pay scale if they choose to remain in the security forces after completing their initial tour of duty.

Swiss Hotel Burned

Breaking out of their barracks near the Great Pyramids shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday, about 2,000 of the conscripts attacked three Giza hotels--Mena House, the Holiday Inn and the Swiss-owned Jolie Ville. The Jolie Ville was burned to the ground.

The violence quickly turned into an anti-government protest reminiscent of the 1977 riots as mobs of civilians from poor areas around the Pyramids joined in, attacking and sacking several nightclubs frequented by wealthy Arabs from the Persian Gulf region, witnesses said.

“It’s not the police any more but the people,” a resident of the area who asked not be identified said. “There were mobs in the streets.”

The 1977 riots, triggered by an attempt to raise food prices, reflected what was seen at the time as widespread resentment over deteriorating living conditions--and in the nine years since living conditions for the poor have not improved significantly.

Prices Slowly Rising

There is no clear cause-and-effect connection, but the government in recent months has again been slowly raising the prices of basic commodities in an attempt to ease the burden of state subsidies in an economy suffering from the collapse of oil prices, a $1.3-billion trade deficit and a $1-billion arrearage in foreign debt payments.

One disquieting difference between 1977 and the present troubles is that this time the rioting was started by security forces that are responsible for riot control and for guarding government installations and foreign embassies.