"Egypt unrest: Alert as mass protests loom". And Egypt apparently 'going dark'!

[sabrina 1]

You can follow developments regarding the protests on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23egypt here. It's hard to tell where everyone is posting from but in earlier tweets today people were posting instructions on ways to get around the government's block.

Several commenters are saying now that the Internet is being blocked ~ but the twitter feed is still going and it's not clear where they tweets are coming from.

Al Jazeera reporter apparently confirming that the Internet has been blocked in several cities:

@Dima_Khatib
Dima Khatib أنا ديمة
Al Jazeera correspondent is confirming that internet is down in Cairo and other cities of #Egypt #Jan25

Some tweets are expressing concerns that Government troops are going to become violent against the protestors and are asking for help from other countries to dissuade the Government from doing so.

More and more people saying that the Egypt is cutting off all access to the Internet.

Video posted in this tweet which is apparently graphic, shows the police shooting a protestor. I have not watched it.

@habibh
Habib Haddad
Egypt gets its Tiananmen square moment. Man bravely stands in front of armored vehicle! Must watch! http://mar.gy/DGJh #Jan25

Egypt unrest: Alert as mass protests loom

The protest organisers have urged people to come out in force, stressing that the religion of protesters is not relevant.

Late on Thursday, the Facebook and Twitter social websites had been disrupted along with mobile phone messaging, followed by loss of many internet services.

One internet user in Cairo, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the BBC the 3G was not working and SMS messages were not being received.

He said: "Tomorrow's protest may exceed Tuesday's numbers, and I think tension will be high. People are trying to stay safe and are moving around in groups."

These protests are expected to be the biggest yet, the article says. Elbarazei is in Egypt and has asked the Government to refrain from any violence against the protestors.

History is being made right now. Many people fear that Egypt may be repeat what happened in Tiananmen Square.

Now more people expressing fear that there will be a massacre with Egypt cut off from the world:

uruknet uruknet
by bishoyh
RT @Alshaheeed I am not exagerating:A massacre in #Egypt is about to take place if the world doesn't interfere #Jan25 http://apne.ws/eEC1I5

It would be very foolish of Mubarak to do such a thing. I can't imagine what could be gained from it.

This is reminding me of what happened in Mianmar/Burma. When the government cut off all communication with the outside world. We are talking about a dictatorship, so anything is possible, sadly.

PleasureNtsime Pleasure Ntsime
RT @Ghonim: Pray for #Egypt. Very worried as it seems that government is planning a war crime tomorrow against (cont) http://tl.gd/8ebqbg

Editing to add this Face Book plea which I saw earlier tweeted by the blogger. The FB post seems to be from two days ago, but the blogger tweeted it again today:

Egypt Gone Silent

Jan 25 Live

EGYPT has gone silent. And there is a credible threat by government thugs. We could wake up to a massacre. PLEASE urge the State Department to take action now. PLEASE FORWARD The government is asleep, and there's no way to get a hold of the white house, no switch board to leave a voice mail. HOWEVER, the state department has an operator that picks up, and I just asked to leave a voice mail regarding an international emergency. # just ask to leave a voice mail [phone] Here's some suggested text if you'd like Dear Secretary Clinton, The Egyptian government has cut off internet and short messaging services in efforts to isolate the people, which makes it very likely that violence of massive proportions will take place in tomorrow’s protests. We strongly call on you to unequivocally condemn the actions of the Egyptian government. Failing to condemn the actions of the government and to pressure them to return internet and phone service is not a matter of supporting U.S national security, but is a matter of being a potential accomplice to crimes against humanity.