CAIRO — An array of new developments turned against President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday as Egypt moved closer to a full rupture between its autocratic government and a growing popular rebellion.
In Cairo, masses of demonstrators succeeded in blockading the parliament building, spilling over for the first time from Tahrir Square. Elsewhere, labor unrest spread, as thousands of textile, steel and hospital workers staged strikes. In a further break with the government, state-run television and newspapers changed their tone virtually overnight and began reporting favorably about the demonstrations.
For its part, the government adopted a harder line in its rhetoric, issuing dark warnings and an ultimatum. Vice President Omar Suleiman, in remarks carried by the official Middle East News Agency, said protesters had a choice — either commit to “dialogue” with the government or face the likelihood of a “coup.”
The Mubarak government also had harsh words Wednesday for the United States, a longtime ally. In an interview with “PBS NewsHour,” Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said he was “often angry” and “infuriated” with the White House for its criticism of how Egypt had responded to the early days of the crisis.
He also said Mubarak would not budge on his refusal to resign before his term ends in September.
“He thinks it would entail chaos, and it would entail violence,” Gheit said.
Opposition leaders met with Suleiman on Sunday, but they have refused to join in further talks, despite a pledge by the vice president to set up committees to study possible constitutional changes. The negotiations will go nowhere, the opposition leaders say, unless Mubarak quits or acts more decisively to meet their demands.
The size of the crowd in Tahrir Square on Wednesday was modest compared with the unprecedented numbers that packed the city center the day before, but organizers were calling for another huge turnout Friday, the start of the Muslim weekend.
Among those joining in the labor unrest were 2,500 textile and steel workers who staged a strike in Suez, following 6,000 workers in the canal zone who walked out the day before. In towns across the Nile Delta, about 1,500 nurses held a sit-in at a hospital, 800 workers went on strike at a bottling plant and 2,000 more stopped work at steel factories, according to state media reports.
