TNGG’s Anna Day is Cairo. This post is excerpted from one she wrote for PolicyMic.
Men Dancing in celebration at the Tahrir Occupation Party
It felt like January 28 all over again, only exactly five months later.
In downtown Cairo, tear gas clouds billowed over thousands of demonstrators as sirens and the sound of gunshots rang out through the now infamous Tahrir Square. Cairo’s busiest downtown boulevards had been transformed, yet again, into an urban battlefield, and, for all those present during the early days of the Egyptian Revolution, the sight of blood and the stinging of teargas revived memories of Egypt’s remarkable but painful “Day of Rage.”
It had been five months to the day since Egyptian activists called for a “Day of Anger,” following the eruption of unprecedented protests (and violent repression) on Jan. 25. This day of mass demonstrations, which became known as “Anger Friday,” marked yet another escalation in the number of protesters as well as in the severity of police brutality; the total number of deaths on #Jan28 is still unknown. After seemingly endless day-long street fights between demonstrators and the regime’s police apparatus, Egyptian dictator, President Hosni Mubarak, replaced his police force with the Egyptian army, a neutral security force and a beloved intermediary for many.
On June 28, however, the police were back on the streets, with clashes resuming between demonstrators and the Central Security Forces. The usual suspects were also present: the baltagiya, plainclothes officers, had graced the scene with their presence to the outrage of many activists and to the deep insult to the families of “martyrs,” those who died during the 18-day uprisings earlier this year. The only player missing was the Egyptian Army, nowhere to be found for a considerable part of the night, as frantic tweets buzzed with calls for their intervention.
Much had changed in five months. The dictator had been toppled, and the army, the once-neutral security force, had been tasked with the challenging role of transitional authority. In that transition, the image of the once beloved army had been tainted by power, as they failed and even abused many of their supporters.
Photo by Anna Day.
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