It seemed too much like a setup from the start.
The morning after Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak announced to his people that he would step down after September elections, hundreds, if not thousands, of his “supporters” suddenly materialized in Tahrir Square.

By mid-day Wednesday, CNN was reporting that several of its journalists had “ heard from pro-Mubarak demonstrators that they worked for the government.”

Busloads of these supporters swarmed down on the square and what had been a mostly peaceful march for change erupted into chaos with some of the pro-Mubarak contingent on horseback and camels beating on demonstrators with sticks and batons.

Images from the square showed police forces – feared by average Egyptians for their brutality – carried on the shoulders of colleagues.

CNN said it was told that staff from the national petrochemical company had been “ordered to come and protest.”

The pro-Mubarak “protests were organized by the government and the ruling National Democratic Party," analyst Kamal Zakher told CNN. The government mustered government workers and lawmakers whose seats are threatened, he said."They were ordered to go out today. They are well organized and that is suspicious — especially the use of camels and horses. These are abnormal techniques to demonstrate."

The White House also chimed in:
"Obviously, if any of the violence is instigated by the government, it should stop immediately," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.


Read the entire story at cnn.com