CAIRO - There is one soldier for every statue in the garden from high railings bordering the red two-story building that houses the Egyptian Museum, the memory of this country, they were destroying. The tanks that patrol the vast Tahrir Square, the symbol of the revolt, are also in front of the museum and on the corniche, the Lungonilo.
And even armored vehicles guarding the pyramids of Giza, are closed to tourists. Still smoking wreckage of police cars make it difficult to pass on the big bridge of Lions, which connects the downtown to the island of Zamalek. The echo of gunfire bounces off a moment filled with streets deserted for a moment, while the acrid smell of fire envelops everything.
"There we go! There we go!" Screams the people on the streets venting anger against President Mubarak. In this anger some people have tried to make their way trying to get their hands on 120 thousand archaeological finds in the Museum. About forty people were arrested yesterday by the Egyptian military after they were caught in the act of vandalism smashing windows in an attempt to steal from the archaeological museum.
Two mummies have been destroyed and will certainly call something, but nobody in the chaos that reigns in Cairo is now in a position to make an inventory of theft and damage. "We are not like in Baghdad", yelled a boy in Tahrir Square, urging people to oppose the assailants, who had climbed over the railings and were about to enter the museum to steal the ancient treasures of the pharaohs.
In 2003, after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the thieves took away thousands of exhibits from the National Museum in Baghdad, while some was later recovered. Army and protesters tried to protect from theft the wealth of the museum, already threatened by the fire hanged by the protesters at the headquarters of the ruling party in a nearby building.
Shortly after vandals and thieves have entered the land surrounding the museum, climbing over the gates or climbing trees and jumping into the fence. At first they were the same people trying to prevent theft by forming a human chain at the main entrance, then came four armored vehicles that have been made to guard the structure, while other soldiers came in to protect mummies, statues , royal jewels and other artifacts from the time of the pharaohs, including the golden mask of Tutankhamun.
Treasures and relics that are priceless. Yet were vandalized, destroyed statues and shrines, broken windows and furniture in a blind fury and rage. It 'was the Egyptian director Khaled Youssef to warn that the military had to run to protect the building threatened by fire and looters. "Did I call the soldiers when I saw the building behind which is the seat of the party of Mubarak in flames," he explained yesterday, "we could not let the story end up in ashes or stolen by some gang of looters ".
The Museum houses the most comprehensive collection of archaeological finds in the world of ancient Egypt. The objects on display are 136 000 but many hundreds of thousands more are stored in warehouses. The service is an emanation of the Egyptian museum of antiquities made by the then government in 1835 in an attempt to stop the export of wild specimens and artifacts.
In 1900 the museum was moved from Giza to be moved to the neoclassical building, specially built in Tahrir Square. The most valuable pieces are from the collection of artifacts found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, discovered intact in the Valley of the Kings, Howard Carter in 1923 by British.
The arrival of tanks and army units was not just fast, it was the demonstrators who saw what was going to happen, have deployed hundreds of them - forming a human chain - to protect the museum. "I'm here and rest, we must protect our national treasure," said a disheveled 40-year-old engineer named Farid.
Ahmed Ibrahim, a university student who is standing next to screaming to overcome the chaos in the streets: "There are five thousand years of our history there and we can not lose to a bunch of bandits." Were Farid Ahmed, and hundreds of others to do the wall taking kicks, pushes, blows every way from those who wanted to climb over the railing and do raid.
Finally they arrived mid-morning the tanks from a side street and were deployed to protect the complex, while the trucks coming down in a hurry two companies of soldiers who are also entered in the rooms where they act in some forty people who him looking in the windows of antique jewelry, objects of work, someone has been taken even as he tried to take away the coffin of a mummy.
At the end of the looters were arrested in the park and lined up before being taken away on army trucks. "Thieves! Thieves!" Shouted the crowd that thronged outside the gate and the last of the captured was put down with the others after receiving a few shots with a rifle butt. 
And even armored vehicles guarding the pyramids of Giza, are closed to tourists. Still smoking wreckage of police cars make it difficult to pass on the big bridge of Lions, which connects the downtown to the island of Zamalek. The echo of gunfire bounces off a moment filled with streets deserted for a moment, while the acrid smell of fire envelops everything.
"There we go! There we go!" Screams the people on the streets venting anger against President Mubarak. In this anger some people have tried to make their way trying to get their hands on 120 thousand archaeological finds in the Museum. About forty people were arrested yesterday by the Egyptian military after they were caught in the act of vandalism smashing windows in an attempt to steal from the archaeological museum.
Two mummies have been destroyed and will certainly call something, but nobody in the chaos that reigns in Cairo is now in a position to make an inventory of theft and damage. "We are not like in Baghdad", yelled a boy in Tahrir Square, urging people to oppose the assailants, who had climbed over the railings and were about to enter the museum to steal the ancient treasures of the pharaohs.
In 2003, after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the thieves took away thousands of exhibits from the National Museum in Baghdad, while some was later recovered. Army and protesters tried to protect from theft the wealth of the museum, already threatened by the fire hanged by the protesters at the headquarters of the ruling party in a nearby building.
Shortly after vandals and thieves have entered the land surrounding the museum, climbing over the gates or climbing trees and jumping into the fence. At first they were the same people trying to prevent theft by forming a human chain at the main entrance, then came four armored vehicles that have been made to guard the structure, while other soldiers came in to protect mummies, statues , royal jewels and other artifacts from the time of the pharaohs, including the golden mask of Tutankhamun.
Treasures and relics that are priceless. Yet were vandalized, destroyed statues and shrines, broken windows and furniture in a blind fury and rage. It 'was the Egyptian director Khaled Youssef to warn that the military had to run to protect the building threatened by fire and looters. "Did I call the soldiers when I saw the building behind which is the seat of the party of Mubarak in flames," he explained yesterday, "we could not let the story end up in ashes or stolen by some gang of looters ".
The Museum houses the most comprehensive collection of archaeological finds in the world of ancient Egypt. The objects on display are 136 000 but many hundreds of thousands more are stored in warehouses. The service is an emanation of the Egyptian museum of antiquities made by the then government in 1835 in an attempt to stop the export of wild specimens and artifacts.
In 1900 the museum was moved from Giza to be moved to the neoclassical building, specially built in Tahrir Square. The most valuable pieces are from the collection of artifacts found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, discovered intact in the Valley of the Kings, Howard Carter in 1923 by British.
The arrival of tanks and army units was not just fast, it was the demonstrators who saw what was going to happen, have deployed hundreds of them - forming a human chain - to protect the museum. "I'm here and rest, we must protect our national treasure," said a disheveled 40-year-old engineer named Farid.
Ahmed Ibrahim, a university student who is standing next to screaming to overcome the chaos in the streets: "There are five thousand years of our history there and we can not lose to a bunch of bandits." Were Farid Ahmed, and hundreds of others to do the wall taking kicks, pushes, blows every way from those who wanted to climb over the railing and do raid.
Finally they arrived mid-morning the tanks from a side street and were deployed to protect the complex, while the trucks coming down in a hurry two companies of soldiers who are also entered in the rooms where they act in some forty people who him looking in the windows of antique jewelry, objects of work, someone has been taken even as he tried to take away the coffin of a mummy.
At the end of the looters were arrested in the park and lined up before being taken away on army trucks. "Thieves! Thieves!" Shouted the crowd that thronged outside the gate and the last of the captured was put down with the others after receiving a few shots with a rifle butt.
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