Nicholas Kristof: Watching Thugs With Razors and Clubs at Tahrir Sq.

The events were sometimes presented by the news media as “clashes” between rival factions, but that’s a bit misleading. This was an organized government crackdown, but it relied on armed hoodlums, not on police or army troops. [...]

It should be increasingly evident that Mr. Mubarak is not the remedy for the instability in Egypt; he is its cause. The road to stability in Egypt requires Mr. Mubarak’s departure, immediately.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/opinion/03kristof.html