Egypt: Night Falls, After Day of Rage
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
As the night sky extended over Egypt, protests in Cairo and around the country continued. News was dominated by events in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where police dispersed a sit-in with tear gas, rubber bullets, and water canons leaving many people wounded. In Suez, three people were reported dead. In Alexandria, a sit-in of thousands began amidst arrests. In El-Mahala, a large industrial and agricultural city, there were reports on Twitter of police thugs destroying public property in El-Shoon square and of further clashes between citizens and police.
@Alaa tweeted that doctors were badly needed in Tahrir Square:
Try to move ppl to hospitals instead, doctors need medicine & equipment ♻ @husseinelsaid: @alaa doctors needed at Tahrir DESPERATELY pls RT
Earlier today, the Egyptian government blocked Twitter, and also cut mobile phone coverage around Tahrir Square, leaving protesters with no means to communicate with the outside world. This led to a spontaneous act by residents in the neighborhood to remove the passwords from their wireless routers so protesters could go online:
المواطنين والمحلات لغوا باسوردات شبكات الوايرلس والمعتصمين في التحرير يستطيعون الآن التواصل مع الناس#Jan25 #fb
Also, nearby shops began offering protesters food and water.
من التحرير: هارديز طلع ساندوتشات صغيرة للمعتصمين والأمن منعهم وطلب منهم يقفلوا ويمشوا ورفضوا يقفلوا ومشاركين الشباب
A few celebrities joined the protests, and were updating their Twitter accounts. Actors Amr Waked and Khaled Aboul Naga, a female television presenter Bouthayna Kamel, director Amr Salama, and politician Ayman Nour.
Amr Salama and Khaled Aboul Naga, wrote wrote an update from the protesters to all Egyptians:
رسالة من المعتصمين: كلنا موجودين في ميدان التحرير مش هنتحرك، و هنبات و هنكمل مظاهرتنا بكره الصبح رغم كل اللي بيعمله الأمن، اللي يقدر منا ينزل للناس دي ينزل، و اللي يقدر يجيبلهم مية أو أكل يجيب، و اللي مايقدرش ينشر الخبر دا و مايصدقش اللي بيتقال عن إنهم هيمشوا أو هيتحركوا من مكانهم… قوم يا مصري
It was around 10:00PM local Cairo time when Farouk tweeted from Tahrir Square.
من التحرير المعنويات مرتفعة بس الامن بيجهز هجوم تقريبا
@Sandmonkey noted:
Fun fact of the day: not a single girl was sexually harassed today. Everyone acted with utter respect. #jan25
However, the mood changed abruptly around midnight when police began dispersing protesters in Tahrir Square by force.
@Mohamed_A_Ali tweeted from the location of the sit in:
الضرب اشتغل الحقونا
According to well-known female politician, Gameela Ismail, at least 40 people were arrested by the police and taken to an unknown place, including her son Noor, Dr. Mostafa El Nagar, the general coordinator for the Campaign for Change, journalist Mohamed Abdelfattah, and AbdelRahman Ayyash, an engineering student who was scheduled to take an exam tomorrow in his faculty.
There are calls for more protests in different public squares of Egypt tomorrow, but whether demonstrations will actually continue or not in the morning still remains to be seen.
26 comments
Update From The Uprising In Egypt…
Source: Global Voices – January 26, 2011 As the night sky extended over Egypt, protests in Cairo and around the country continued. News was dominated by events in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where police dispersed a sit-in with tear gas, rubber bullet…
Why must freedom come at such a high cost?
Because the time for it to come easily is long past. There’s a point of no return in situations like this, and Egypt was past it a long time ago.
History already shows that when peaceful protests don’t work or are broken up, the violence starts. Especially if a government has already shown violence in response to protest.
Funny how it always seems to follow the same pattern, regardless of the country, the situation, or the era.
My heart goes out to the innocent people of Egypt, all I can do is pray and all we can do no matter what religion is pray for all this to end.