By Daniel Boffey 29th January 2011

  • Heavy army presence at Pyramids as priceless treasures become target
  • 30,000 stranded British tourists warned to stay in hotels after 4pm

The army was on guard at Egypt’s most popular tourist sites last night after two 2,000-year-old mummies in the country’s national museum were destroyed by looters attempting to steal the treasures of King Tutankhamun.

Soldiers were positioned at the Pyramids and Cairo’s Egyptian Museum – the holding place for Tutankhamun’s priceless golden mask and other artifacts – on the fifth day of anti-government demonstrations in the country’s capital.

Lockdown: As trouble continues to spread throughout Egypt, tourist sites including the Pyramids have been closed

Lockdown: As trouble continues to spread throughout Egypt, tourist sites including the Pyramids have been closed

Wary: The move to protect the ancient site comes after looters attempted to mummies and treasures

Wary: The move to protect the ancient site comes after looters attempted to mummies and treasures

The military deployment came amid an almost complete collapse of law and order, with the violence escalating outside the capital. Residents in Alexandria, north-west of Cairo, were forced to stand guard outside their homes armed with sticks as gangs rampaged through the city.

Priceless: The gold mask of ancient pharaoh king Tutankhamen seen at the Egyptian museum

Priceless: The gold mask of ancient pharaoh king Tutankhamen seen at the Egyptian museum

Meanwhile, 30,000 British tourists stranded in Egypt, mostly in the Red Sea resorts, were told by the Foreign Office to stay clear of the nationwide violence and abide by a new 4pm curfew ordered by President Hosni Mubarak yesterday.

The British Government also advised against all non-essential travel to Cairo, Luxor, Alexandria and Suez as all flights from the UK to Egypt were cancelled.

One BMI flight en route to Cairo from London was turned around at 30,000ft as the situation worsened.

British Airways chartered an extra aircraft to rescue stranded tourists from Cairo as its airport witnessed chaotic scenes, with tourists desperately trying to flee the violence.

The warnings came as the death toll was estimated to have reached 74 yesterday, with at least 48 of those being killed since Friday and 2,000 people suffering injuries.

President Mubarak also gave the first indication of a succession plan when he announced that his intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, had been appointed his deputy, a position last filled by the president himself 30 years ago.

The latest wave of violence has been most notable for the widespread looting, indicative of the scale of the breakdown in law and order.

Threat: Angry demonstrators and army tanks stand off against each other near Cairo's Egyptian Museum

Threat: Angry demonstrators and army tanks stand off against each other near Cairo's Egyptian Museum

Nine men broke into the Egyptian Museum in the early hours of yesterday, taking advantage of damage caused to the building’s security by a fire in the neighbouring headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party.

They were caught by police and a crowd of civilians while carrying out the skulls of two mummies and two statues estimated to be more than 2,000 years old.

Anarchy: Law and order has completely broken down, as this dancing youth proves

Anarchy: Law and order has completely broken down, as this dancing youth proves

Gathering: Hundreds of demonstrators climb on top of armoured vehicles in Tahrir Square. The government had shut down the internet and mobile phone system to prevent protests

Gathering: Hundreds of demonstrators climb on top of armoured vehicles in Tahrir Square. The government had shut down the internet and mobile phone system to prevent protests

Torched: The headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party was badly burned

Torched: The headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party was badly burned

One statue, believed to be of Tutankhamun, was broken into two pieces by the thieves, although officials said they hoped to be able to repair it.

Zahi Hawass, chairman of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said: ‘They tried to attack and rob from the showcases of King Tut, but they failed. These people are criminals, they are not true Egyptians. The nine men were caught carrying skulls and two statues, one of which was broken. But the army are now guarding the museum and all the museums are now safe.’

The Egyptian military closed tourist access to the Pyramids as tanks and armoured personnel carriers sealed off the site at Giza, normally packed with visitors.

Clashes have also occurred in Suez, and eight prisoners were killed during an attempted mass escape from Abu Zaabal prison, north-east of Cairo.

Mubarak
Barack Obama

Pledge: President Mubarak made a TV address in which he called for dialogue to prevent further protests. Right, U.S. President Barack Obama urged him to take steps to improve the rights of Egyptian people

Tour operators said that most British tourists in Egypt were in ‘peaceful’ areas of the country, such as the resort of Sharm-el-Sheik.

However, at Cairo airport a group of holidaymakers who had booked through Thomas Cook told of their anger after being stranded when they landed yesterday.

They said that when they boarded their flight they had followed the advice of the Foreign Office that travel to Egypt was safe but had been amazed to discover the state of the country on arrival.

Mass unrest: Protests have broken out in Suez, Cairo, Port Said and Alexandria and in 11 states in Egypt

Mass unrest: Protests have broken out in Suez, Cairo, Port Said and Alexandria and in 11 states in Egypt

Damage: A burnt out car stands in front of a torched police station in Garden City, Cairo

Damage: A burnt out car stands in front of a torched police station in Garden City, Cairo

Lesley Scyan, from Crawley, West Sussex, who had travelled to Cairo with two friends to celebrate her 60th birthday, said: ‘I am stamping with rage. There was no information for us when we landed. We followed Foreign Office advice which said it was safe to travel, and then we get here and because of the curfew no one is around to help. We don’t know what to do.’

A Foreign Office spokesman said the advice given to passengers had been correct when it was issued.

A Thomas Cook spokesman said that their customers would be returned home this morning.

British Airways said it had rearranged flights in order to avoid take-offs during the curfew.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said: ‘President Mubarak spoke last night of his commitment to take new steps towards greater democracy. We call on him to listen urgently to the aspirations expressed by the Egyptian people.’

President Mubarak has fired his cabinet in response to the violence but has refused to stand down.

‘Pharaoh’ and his half-Welsh wife are worth £25 billion

Big bucks: President Hosni Mubarak with his wife Suzanne, who is half-Welsh and has a British passport

Big bucks: President Hosni Mubarak with his wife Suzanne, who is half-Welsh and has a British passport

Dubbed ‘the Pharaoh’ for his 30-year iron rule, President Hosni Mubarak is said to have amassed a fortune of £25 billion for his family.

Mubarak, 82, his half-Welsh wife Suzanne and sons Gamal and Alaa are seen in Egypt as symbols of nepotism and corruption with properties and business interests worldwide, including London.

The First Lady keeps a firm grip on Egypt’s leading social circles and is often pictured at diplomatic and charity events in stylish outfits alongside dignitaries’ wives including Carla Bruni.

Her charity donations total millions of pounds a year, though rumours have swirled that some of this money has found its way into her bank accounts. As her profile in the state-controlled media has soared, critics have likened her to French Queen Marie-Antoinette.

Critics say the closest their sons have got to ordinary Egyptians was when they were driven past them in limousines. Both sons have been linked to arms-dealing.

Mubarak has survived at least six assassination attempts and fears have also been growing that he plans to groom the more political Gamal to inherit the throne.

Will first family flee to London (and Selfridges)?

When a Cairo newspaper claimed on Tuesday that members of President Mubarak’s family had fled, speculation spread that they were on their way to Britain.

The newspaper reported that Gamal Mubarak, the president’s son and possible successor, had boarded a private jet bound for London, taking his family and 97 pieces of luggage with him.

Egyptian baggage handlers at Heathrow were also quoted as saying that they had seen President Mubarak’s wife Suzanne, who is half-Welsh and holds a British passport, at the airport.

UK links: Gamal Mubarak (left), son of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and his wife Khadiga have previously lived in west London (below)

UK links: Gamal Mubarak (left), son of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and his wife Khadiga have previously lived in west London (below)

UK links: Gamal Mubarak, son of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and his wife Khadiga have previously lived in west London

Though the claims were denied by Egyptian diplomats in London, there have since been other apparent sightings, with one member of the public claiming on an internet site that she had seen Mrs Mubarak shopping in Selfridges in Oxford Street.

The Foreign Office would not confirm last night whether Mrs Mubarak and her sons Gamal and Alaa had British passports.

The family, who have relatives in Britain, are regular visitors and Gamal, 47, once lived and worked in London, initially for Bank of America before, in 1996, he set up his own investment vehicle, Medinvest Associates.

He lived in a five-storey Georgian townhouse in Knightsbridge, on the same street as the five-star Berkeley Hotel and a stone’s throw from Hyde Park. The most recent similar property to sell on the street went for £5.59 million.

The offices of Medinvest Associates are based a five-minute walk away, above expensive boutiques in the centre of Knightsbridge.

Suzanne Mubarak was born in Upper Egypt in 1941, but her mother Lily May Palmer was a nurse from Pontypridd, Wales, who married an Egyptian paediatrician, Saleh Sabet in 1934.