It was a woman that began the demonstrations against President Mubarak. She and her cell phone. It would seem as though the police in Cairo are afraid of the people now. They will lose control and the unexpected will really happen or worse. It seems with the women very badly outnumbered this was a pre-emptive strike against any chance of the opposition reorganizing.
The police and military are probably seeing any reorganization a threat to another Libya or Syria. The tensions between civilians and authorities are high. I would estimate that is true in many of the MIddle East countries with changing dynamics in the government. The uncertainty as to how to proceed has to be chaotic. This scene alone is about as chaotic a police force as I have seen anywhere.
