CAIRO, Jan 29, 2011 (AFP) - Young Egyptians on Saturday formed a human chain to protect the Cairo museum which houses priceless antiquities, as efforts got under way around the riot-hit capital to organise neighbourhood watch committees.
Dozens of people surrounded the city centre museum -- home to the world famous Tutankhamun mask -- where army tanks had been stationed, as nationwide anti-government riots swept the country for a fifth day running.
Egypt's opposition Muslim Brotherhood, which has thrown its weight behind the protests, told AFP it had recruited members to form neighbourhood watch committees around the capital to protect public and private establishments.
"We have selected members to form neighbourhood watch committees, and they will be stationed around the capital trying to protect property," Salah Abdelraouf told AFP.
Anti-regime protests gave way to looting in parts of the country, as the army stepped in to maintain the peace.
Residents of the poor Al-Sabtia neighbourhood, brandishing knives and home-made weapons, poured onto the streets to chase away looters who had ransacked a large mall and threatened to storm a commercial luxury tower.
The residents took stolen goods back from the looters and stored them in a local mosque, preparing to hand them over to the authorities once order is restored, witnesses said.
"They protected us all night," employees of a luxury five-star hotel told AFP, of the residents.
President Hosni Mubarak, 82, addressed the nation overnight, sacking the government and vowing economic and political reforms in the world's most populous Arab nation but showing no sign of easing his 30-year grip on power.
Protesters who have been demanding that Mubarak step down, as well as an end to endemic state corruption and police brutality that have become systematic under his rule, dismissed his speech as too little, too late.
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Copyright AFP 2011.
