"dark bats of the night"?Reporting From Cairo —
Tensions rose in Egypt's capital Wednesday as the army confronted
protesters occupying new territory in front of the parliament building and the vice president warned of a possible coup, saying demonstrations must end or
"the dark bats of the night" would emerge to terrorize the nation.
Vice President Omar Suleiman, who until has now presented himself as a soft-spoken voice of reason in discussions with opposition leaders,
sounded rattled as he warned of tougher measures in comments to Egyptian newspaper editors published Wednesday.
The protests are "very dangerous for society and we can't put up with this at all," he said. "We don't want to deal with Egyptian society with police tools."
He said he foresaw "the dark bats of the night emerging to terrorize the people" if the situation is not resolved. If protests against President Hosni Mubarak's leadership continued, he said, the likelihood is that "a coup happens, which would mean uncalculated and hasty steps, including lots of irrationalities."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-egypt-unrest-20110210,0,3733387.story