Residents bid to guard property from looters

Cairo residents boarded up homes and set up neighbourhood watches armed with guns, clubs and knives today as looting engulfed the Egyptian capital, despite the deployment of army troops to restore order.

Residents reported gangs of youths, some on motorbikes, roaming the streets, looting supermarkets, shopping malls and shops.

Some of the gangs made it to affluent residential areas in the suburbs, breaking into luxury homes and apartments.

The crack of gunfire could be heard in the city centre as well as outlying districts.

The situation had spiralled far enough out of control by dusk that the army was deploying reinforcements across the city to restore order and prevent looting, state TV said.

The looting, which has spread despite a 4pm to 8am curfew, has prompted residents in some neighbourhoods, including the upmarket Zamalek district in central Cairo, to set up vigilante groups to protect private property. Outside some apartment blocks, guards armed with machine guns had taken up posts.

In the well-heeled Maadi neighbourhood in south Cairo, mosques called over loudspeakers for young men to come down to the entrances of building and homes to ward off looters.

Naglaa Mahmoud, a 37-year-old Maadi resident, said thugs were attacking cars and threatening to get into homes. She said even ambulance crews in the neighbourhood had abandoned their offices and accused the regime of planning the chaos by pulling out all of its police forces.

“All this seems to be prearranged. They are punishing us for asking for this change,” she said.

“What a shame he (President Hosni Mubarak) doesn’t care for the people or anything. This is a corrupt regime.”

The Defence Ministry appealed to young Egyptians to stand up to looters. Spokesman Ismail Othman added that the armed forces would deal with them, and was committed to safeguarding Egypt.

He also warned against violating the curfew, saying the military would deal firmly with those caught breaking it.