Egypt: Scenes from Monday’s Crackdown on Tahrir Square · Global Voices
Thalia Rahme

This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.
The army suspended the sit-in by force on 1 Aug 2011. Photo by Maggie Osama on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA)
The Muslim holy month Ramadan didn't begin well for Egyptians on Tahrir square in Cairo protesting for the numerous still unmet demands of the revolution.
On Monday, 1 August 2011, the army evacuated them with an iron fist, leaving many injured and more than one hundred detained. The day before, more than thirty organizations announced they would suspend sit-ins that gained full force around 8 July for Ramadan and return after the holidays.
Meanwhile, several martyr's families and independent activists refused to leave. The consequences? The army intervened to remove the tents by force, which led to confrontations. On Tuesday night, the only people remaining in the square are Central Security Forces who broke fast there for Iftar.
Eye-witness scenes
On YouTube Kikhote shared this video of clashes on Monday:
AhHossam has this video of the attack:
Egyptian blogger and Global Voices author Lilian Wagdy, was in Tahrir during the crackdown, and wrote on her Tumblr blog what she witnessed [ar]:
Lilian's videos from the day can be seen here and here.
Egyptian blogger Hossam Hamalawy, also known as 3arabawy, has posted several videos from the crackdown as well.
On Twitter, there were numerous first hand accounts. Photographer and activist Jonathan Rashad was also in Tahrir when the army assaulted protesters. He tweeted:
@JonathanRashad: The army along with CSF are arresting many people here. They beat them up to death. #Tahrir #Egypt
Many more twitter reactions are collected by Asteris Masouras in Greece on Storify and can be found here.
As for photos, you can view those taken by Nora Shalaby  and Maggie Osama uploaded on Flickr.
The Front to Defend Egypt Protestors established a list of all detained persons [ar] on their blog, and there are also telephone hotlines for those who seek legal assistance (012 -062 – 4003) or medical assistance (017- 990- 1081).
Many activists are now urging for caution, including Gamal Eid, a lawyer and executive director of The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information. On Monday, he tweeted:
This post is part of our special coverage Egypt Revolution 2011.