Rubicon: March to Presidential Palace Being Organized?

So says Richard Engel of NBCNews.

Zero Hedge helpfully provides street directions. The Heliopolis is 13 kilometers away, which he estimates will take 4-5 hours to reach on ambling, flag-waving foot. Corrected: Zero Hedge said 15 miles but the link itself (always check the link!) says 13 km, which is like, what, 8 miles? Walking quickly, the trip can be made in 30 minutes. But then, crowds don't move quickly, they amble.

Now, the military is probably going to blockade them. Because the military is trying to avoid actual violence while not picking a side. So, a blockade is non-violent.

But what happens if the crowd streams past or changes path?

At some point the military has to make a serious decision, whether to repel with force or let them go to the palace, and if they do the latter they might as well just storm the palace themselves.

Mubarak has a lot of secret police and thugs he can employ to stop them, too, of course. But at that point it's civil war, I think.

I have to think that at this point it turns violent... on both sides.

posted by Ace at 05:19 PM

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