Egypt: Cleaning Tahrir

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.

For the past few weeks, as Egyptians “cleaned” their country of a dictatorship, Tahrir Square was full of people, full of joy, and as a result, full of things to clean up. Though the activists at the heart of the square took care of their temporary home, there was nevertheless plenty to be done as the crowds thinned out. Today, reports indicate that central Cairo is cleaner than ever, thanks to loads of volunteers who chipped in.

As @CairoCityLimits points out on Twitter:

Downtown Cairo: Cleanest city ever? Even the curbs have been freshly painted. #jan25 #tahrir

@JonJensen adds:

Massive cleanup effort underway in Tahrir right now – mostly by the Egyptian people. The first traffic starting to come through. #Egypt

Linking to a photograph (below), Arwa Mahmoud (@arwasm) shows the teamwork in action:

Fixing the pavements we broke after using them as stones to protect ourselves! #jan25 #egypt http://yfrog.com/h2lcsqj

A group of volunteers fix the pavement in Tahrir Square

Abdelrahman Hassan (@estr4ng3d) has a ground-level shot of the square to share, and this to say about it:

I am not exaggerating when I say the asphalt in #tahrir is SQUEAKY CLEAN. Smells of disenfectant too! http://yfrog.com/h49dehcj

A ground-level view of Tahrir Square

He adds:

It is literally a challenge to find more dust to sweep in #tahrir now.

And yet again, the famous Egyptian sense of humor emerges, with @SharifKaddous's tweet:

I bump into my cousin, Ismail Naguib, on Kasr El Nile bridge. He says: “the new weapon of choice is the broom” #Tahrir #Egypt

3 comments

  • The people of Egypt had the guts to tacle a world problem…they are a match that will start a international revolution against coorupt leadership worldwide. This will be more far reaching than the fall of the Berlin wall.
    Well done people of Egypt!
    I salute you

  • […] There are small, initial signs that Egypt might be different. Just one day after Mubarak ceded power the youth activists returned to Tahrir Square, but this time to clean it up. […]

  • Kiran

    Congradulation egyptian people! Amazing!
    Now begins a very important time in the reformation of your country. I just want to offer a word of advice based on the failures of democracy I observe here in the west. Make sure freedom of the press and manipulation of the media is written in the constitution. Make sure big money and big business can not run your democracy; make sure you have tight regulations on the funding of election campaigns. Beware of the USA and others medaling in your democracy. I hope you continue to struggle for true freedom in this important time. I wish you all the best.

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