Anti government protesters are demanding that President Hosni Mubarak stand down after 30 years in power. In the lasted developments, police have been ordered back onto the streets of Cairo after demonstrators defied a curfew and called for a general strike.

Finnish travel agency Aurinkomatkat is busy evacuating around 400 clients from Sharm-el-Sheikh and Hurghada and has temporarily suspended all of its tours. Two planes will be dispatched by Finnair to pick up the stranded holidaymakers.

Lomamatkat also cancelled the holidays of 150 Finns who were expecting to fly to Hughanda on Sunday, and brought another 190 home who were already in the country. According to the company’s CEO, Mikko Pietarinen, travel agencies are expecting a more tightly-worded advisory about travel to Egypt from the Finnish Foreign Ministry this week.

It is estimated that around 3,500 Finns are currently on holiday in the country with a further 200 living there as expats. Cairo’s Finnish Embassy is asking independent travellers to register their presence in the country and all resident Finns to update their contact information.

Speaking in an interview with Helsingbord Dabladet (HD) newspaper, Nijim said, “They took my camera and drove me to a prison where they hit and threatened me. They took off my clothes and gave electric shocks to my entire body.” “They put a knife to my throat. I’ve never been so afraid,” he added.

Nijim, who is originally from Qatar but has lived in Teckomatorp, southwest Sweden, for several years and holds a Swedish passport, says he was holidaying in Egypt when the anti-government protests began. Demonstrators have been taking to the streets for days, calling for president-of-30-years Hosni Mubarak to stand down.

After allegedly being told he would spend the rest of his life behind bars if he contacted the Swedish Embassy, Nijim claims he only managed to escape from his captors in the confusion caused when protesters set fire to the prison on Saturday (January 29). He claims he missed his flight home after his arrest and dramatic escape.

Swedish authorities confirmed that a Swede aged between 20 and 25 “said he had been in prison”. Foreign Ministry spokesman Tobias Nilsson told AFP that the man had not yet visited the Swedish Embassy for assistance, adding: “We cannot confirm what has happened to him”.

Jon Bjorgvinsson is a correspondent for RUV, Iceland’s national broadcaster; although he is in Egypt on commission for Swiss television.

The attack took place yesterday morning at a marketplace in a poor district of the Egyptian capital. The reporter and crew were busy filming when some locals began shouting at them and eventually attacked them. Bjorgvinsson was knocked to the ground, his camera was broken and his clothes were ripped. The police arrested the television station’s other cameraman, RUV reports.

Bjorgvinsson told RUV that with the help of two locals, they managed to escape with some of their equipment and film.

“When I had been filming for maybe two or three minutes in the marketplace, the atmosphere got extremely tense around us. Women, especially, began to scream; even older women. Then men came charging over to us and began to attack us saying we were foreign spies.” He added that the group’s driver managed to get the car in a good position and then two locals came and helped — although by that time, he had been knocked to the ground, had his equipment broken, clothes ripped and his hand injured. Luckily nobody was seriously hurt and the group managed to get back to their hotel. Jon Bjorgvinsson told Icelandic press that he is unfortunately all-too-used to being in such situations.

Jon’s pictures from the attack can be seen here (for a limited time).

Photo: RUV.is

The 8,000-strong protesters also showered the building in paint and food colouring and one window was smashed at the neighbouring Domkirkjan cathedral.

Police and protesters never clashed directly and the crowds were held back effectively by fences erected earlier in the day. A large bonfire was lit in the middle of Austurvollur Square (outside parliament) and police described the vast majority of the protesters as peaceful. Nobody was arrested despite the high level of vandalism.

Several MPs’ cars were pelted as they drove away after the meeting of parliament ended around midnight; none more so than the Minister of Finance’s car.

The protesters were protesting various things; but mostly the perceived lack of promised government help to indebted householders. Many were also there to call for new elections. At least one person in the crowd was waving a Nazi Swastika flag; something which has drawn widespread condemnation.

5,000 to 8,000 people gathered outside Althingi and police had previously erected fences in anticipation of the protest. The protests are being nicknamed the Barrel Protests because of the large number of people banging oil drums and other large containers to disturb parliament. Paint has also been thrown at the building, six windows broken, and stones and golf balls thrown at police officers. Nobody has yet been arrested.

Inside the chamber, Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir used her speech to defend her government’s record, highlighting the progress made in stabilising the krona, bringing inflation and unemployment down and in balancing the nation’s budget. She said that she has not failed to notice the regular calls for new elections; adding that she would not hesitate to call elections if she believed another government would have any chance of doing a better job under such difficult circumstances.

Leader of the Independence Party, Bjarni Benediktsson disagreed by saying that the problem with left-wing governments is that they never learn to make laws and rules to accommodate how people are — instead they make laws and rules for how they want people to be.

Left Green leader, Steingrimur J. Sigfusson defended his cutbacks and tax hikes as Minister of Finance. He told Althingi that the country is currently spending 15 percent of its budget in interest payments and it is his top priority to pay down the national debt as fast as possible. If he decided to relieve pressure on the public by relying more on foreign debt, interest payments would shoot up to a quarter of the total national budget in no time, he said.

Thor Saari, speaking for The Movement, made a simple and poignant point: namely that Althingi is conducting its keynote speeches with fences and police surrounding the building and angry protesters making their voices heard. This is simply not the way Icelandic politics should be, and the government should take some blame.

Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, leader of the Progressive Party attacked not only the government, but also the protesters. He said that the nation is in a crisis and the two main things needed to stop the crisis getting out of hand are for the government to provide more real, tangible help to those in the worst financial situations and for the government to stand above the chaos and make it clear that violence will never be an acceptable tactic.

A small group of protesters also gathered in the northern town of Akureyri in support.

A group of protesters camped outside parliament in tents on Thursday night under the banner “Tjaldborg”. The reason for the name comes from the “Skjaldborg” or “wall of shields” that the government promised to metaphorically erect to protect vulnerable householders. “Tjaldborg”, on the other hand, sounds very similar but means “Tent City”.

More protesters began gathering in support and one of the biggest political protests since the “pots and pans revolution” was underway by lunch time yesterday. Yesterday was the beginning of the new October session of parliament – which is the reason for the protest.

The thousand-strong crowd was significantly smaller than those which toppled the former government in spring 2009. Police described the protest and mostly peaceful – although a serious breach occurred when a window was broken at the Domkirkjan cathedral while MPs were inside for the traditional first day of parliament church service. Protesters also attempted to pelt them with eggs as they entered the church, Visir.is reported.

The protest speakers were Olafur Gardarsson, vice chairman of the Households’ Interest Group, and Bjorn Thorri Viktorsson and Ludvik Ludviksson from New Iceland.

The group’s demands were very clear: no debt write-offs, but fair debt correction for homeowners. Foreign currency house loans should be corrected and transferred into Icelandic kronur. Inflation indexed mortgages should be abolished. And a law should be put in place to stipulate that loan providers cannot repossess property other than that upon which the loan was issued.

According to Reykjavik Police, the protest went peacefully – although perhaps protesters did not make as big an impression as they would have liked, because the police representative talking to mbl.is believed the protesters were part of the In Defence group.

Although the protesters are calling for government action and not for government resignations and new elections; the wintertime Saturday afternoon protests will be too similar to last year’s pots and pans revolution for the country’s leaders’ comfort. The Households’ Interest Group intends to hold similar protests every Saturday afternoon in December.

Calling itself “Reclaim Rosengard”, the festival was supposed to be an organised protest-festival against the prevailing social conditions in this predominantly immigrant neighbourhood. But after just 15 minutes, the activists who were trying to raise awareness of Rosengard’s situation were violently kicked out by its residents.

Inger Leite, the municipal district representative of Rosengard, told the TT news agency: “There were quite a few who had gathered, not only young people, but also a lot of parents. I think that patience has run out among the residents of Rosengard.”

Leite was referring to the fact that the residents of Rosengard had made it very clear they didn’t want outsiders coming into their neighbourhood trying to speak out on their behalf. Since the activists were denied their right to hold the street party, they gathered at a nearby petrol station and began hurling rocks, bottles and Molotov cocktails at passing police cars.

It’s little wonder that Rosengard’s residents didn’t want these people holding a protest party in their backyard. Fortunately no one was injured in the melee and no arrests were made.

Icelandic music stars Mugison, Sudden Weather Change, Reykjavík!, Erpur, XXXRottwiler Hundar and Jeff Who? will entertain the crowds.

The protesters have already had most of their desires fulfilled; but have pledged to continue protesting until the heads of the Central Bank of Iceland have been replaced. Vidar Hreinsson, literary scholar; Katrin Snaeholm Baldursdottir, actress; and Vidar Thorsteinsson, philosopher will speak at the protest meeting this afternoon. The chairperson, as usual, will be Hordur Torfason.

An Orange representative met with a police representative on Thursday to explain that protesters wearing orange clothes will be peaceful and oppose violence. Orange clothes will be the equivalent of a white flag to mark out peaceful protesters, the movement says.

The group’s statement says that orange is a peaceful symbol of change. The Orange Protesters endorse allowing Icelanders to vote for a new government as soon as possible. The Orange group says it does not support any particular political party, and orange is not a colour associated with any Icelandic party.

The group encourages all peaceful protesters to mark themselves orange and show that they are taking part in a peaceful protest, without violence and without extremism.