More than 200 Qatari students stranded at the international airport in Cairo, where anti-government protests are raging, have been brought here by two special flights. The first batch of 110 students arrived on Saturday in a special Qatar Airways’ flight, while the second group of 99 students was flown in yesterday. According to Qatar News Agency (QNA), the special flights were organised by the Foreign Ministry in coordination with Qatar Airways. QNA said the Qatari embassy in Cairo set up a control room two days ago which is operating round-the-clock to help Qatari students and citizens stranded in Egypt. The Foreign Ministry recently urged Qatari citizens, including students in Egypt, to leave the country for their safety and security. Meanwhile, people commenting on local social networking sites have been claiming that some Qatari citizens are still stranded in Egypt. A commentator said that according to a Twitter message, some fellow citizens remain stranded in Cairo and requested that a special plane be sent to bring them back. Another commentator urged fellow nationals in Egypt to board flights bound for any GCC country. According to Al Sharq, noted Doha-based Islamic cleric, Dr Yusuf Al Qaradawi, reached Egypt on Saturday from Turkey and in a televised speech yesterday evening asked anti-government protesters to calm down and have faith in the regime of President Mohammed Mursi. He urged the Egyptian people not to fight among themselves and resolve their political differences in an amicable way. “Give Mursi more time. He has completed just one year as President. He needs more time to put things right in a country that remained for decades under corrupt rule,” the cleric said. Deluge of protesters Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians flooded into the streets on the first anniversary of Mursi’s inauguration yesterday to demand that he resign in the biggest challenge so far to rule by his Muslim Brotherhood. Waving national flags and chanting “Get out!”, a crowd of more than 200,000 massed on Cairo’s central Tahrir Square. It was the largest demonstration since the 2011 uprising that overthrew Mursi’s predecessor, Hosni Mubarak. Despite the peaceful atmosphere of the day, as night fell, isolated acts of violence left two people dead. “The people want the fall of the regime!” they shouted, echoing the Arab Spring rallying cry that brought down Mubarak — this time yelling not against an ageing dictator but against the first elected leader in Egypt’s 5,000-year recorded history. Thirty-one people were injured in fighting in the town of Beni Suef, south of Cairo, and dozens suffered gunshot wounds during an attack on a Muslim Brotherhood office in Housh Eissa, in the northern Nile Delta. The Brotherhood’s national headquarters in a Cairo suburb also came under attack from militants hurling petrol bombs and rocks and firing shotguns. The liberal opposition National Salvation Front coalition declared victory in what it styled “Revolutionary Communique No 1” saying the masses had “confirmed the downfall of the regime of Mohammed Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood”. Organisers called on demonstrators to continue to occupy central squares in every city until Mursi quits. The Tahrir Square crowd roared with approval as an army helicopter hovering overhead dropped Egyptian flags on the protesters. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar/243455-qatari-students-stuck-in-cairo-flown-home.html

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