CAIRO - Egypt's chief archaeologist urged young Egyptians to help protect national heritage from robbers following a spate of attacks on archaeological sites. "I have addressed Egypt's young revolutionaries via the social networking site Facebook to participate in a massive campaign in co-operation with archaeologists and security personnel," Zahi Hawass said. In a marked shift from his previous statements, Egypt's Minister of Antiquities, Hawass, said this week that his department was unable to protect Egypt's historic sites and artifacts and that he was considering resigning. In a telephone interview with The New York Times, he said that thieves on Monday had broken into two warehouses near the pyramids of Giza that held artifacts excavated in the early 20th century. It was not yet clear what had been taken. He said that the police were no longer protecting Egypt's monuments and that his own staff was unarmed and unable to stop attacks. "During the revolution nothing happened, but after the revolution many things are happening everywhere," Hawass said. "People building houses, taking archaeological land, excavating at night ��" it's like a nightmare, and I don't know what I can do." Hawass's statement that nothing happened to Egypt's antiquities during the uprising, that led to the fall of President Hosni Mubarak's government, was inaccurate: thieves broke into the Egyptian Museum on the night of January28 and took 18 objects, only three of which ��" and parts of others ��" have been recovered.