Tahrir 2011 vs. Tahrir 2012

How do you celebrate a revolution that has not yet run its course?

That's the question many Egyptians pondered on January 25, 2012, which is the subject of a blog post I wrote for Beyond Borders, a multimedia website with reports from around the world. My piece compared the atmosphere in Tahrir to the climate surrounding the one-year anniversary.

Check it out: "Tahrir one year later: Celebrating what?"

A soccer game turns violent

Nearly 80 people died and over 1,000 were injured last night in Port Said, the Mediterranean port city on the northern end of the Suez Canal, after spectators at a soccer game stormed the field and attacked rival fans in the most deadly outbreak of violence in Egypt since Hosni Mubarak's downfall. Dozens were reportedly stabbed, suffocated, or fell to their deaths. When another match last night in Cairo was called off as a result, people responding by setting the main stadium in the capital on fire.

Hardcore supporters of the team that seemed to be on the receiving end of the violence, the Cairo powerhouse Al Ahly, are reportedly amassing now in and near downtown Cairo. Tahrir Square is closed off to traffic, and it's clear that soccer fans will play a large role in demonstrations today and already expected protests tomorrow. When the super-excitable "Ultras," as the hardcore Ahly fans are known, are involved, the situation becomes much more volatile; they led the march to the Israeli embassy back in September, and they've also been present at some of the more violent clashes near Tahrir.

The newly minted Egyptian parliament held an emergency session today, and many politicians faulted the police and the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) for failing to uphold security and creating a perception that the military was needed to ensure stability. I asked a worker in my building, a middle-aged man repairing a couch and some chairs, what he thought of the events in Port Said. An Ahly fan, Isma'il said he truly believed Mubarak and his thugs were to blame for a conspiracy to destabilize Egypt. Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood hinted at the role of "foreign fingers" in sowing unrest.

From eyewitness accounts, photos, and video, it appears that the police did not, in fact, do much -- or anything, really -- to stop the violence once it started, leading to more casualties. It's possible they might have provoked it by not having many policemen on hand despite indications things could spiral out of control between two rivals. On top of all this, there was bad blood between the Ultras and the police: The two have violently clashed in the past, and the Ultras are often on the front lines fighting the police when there's violence downtown.

I think, though, that it's dangerous to jump on the conspiracy bandwagon and place all the blame with the police and the SCAF. It's not like the police rushed the field and attacked. The fans did: regular Egyptians and soccer hooligans alike.

As Egypt mourns, I think back to the first -- and only -- Egyptian soccer game I ever attended, in December. As we arrived at the stadium for the match between the Arab Contractors (I kid you not) and Zamalek, Ahly's arch rival and another Cairo powerhouse, fans who wanted to get in for free started pelting the ticket booth with rocks. Chaos ensued until people calmed down, but when we entered the gates, phalanxes of police lined the way in. Our Egyptian friends held us back as the police herded chanting fans through security checkpoints.

Hundreds of policemen lined the field and stood guard in the stands and outside the stadium, and the halftime show consisted of dozens of policemen marching in and standing in front of the rowdy Zamalek supporters, the most hardcore of whom are called "White Knights." Even during this relatively insignificant game, hundreds of policemen watched as the fans set off flares in the stands, lighting up the area behind the goal with an eery red glow.

The rowdiness during that game and my general experience with out-of-control crowds of Egyptian shabaab, or youth, leads me to think that its not necessary correct to read this outbreak of violence as solely a symptom of a poor policing and a weak security environment. Maybe there are more complex, social problems at play, issues that are currently missing from the national dialogue.

Egypt's paper anniversary, another Salon piece

It's been a long time since I last posted, and a lot has happened:

• CASA's fall semester ended.
• I spent a month at home, saw tons of family and friends, and traveled to New York and Boston.
• Apple replaced my defective laptop, ilhamdulillah (praise be to the big man).

I returned to Cairo last week ahead of the start of the spring semester and just before another major event in Egypt: the first anniversary of the "January 25th Revolution." Conversations with Egyptian and American friends, activists, and random cab drivers and the like revealed one constant theme: No one knew what was going to happen today.

Questions abounded. Should Egyptians celebrate or stay somber, in deference to the martyrs and unfulfilled demands of the revolution? Will small groups of thugs take advantage of the crowds and spark violence in Tahrir Square? How will the military and Muslim Brotherhood act on such a symbolic day?

In Tahrir today, I witnessed the largest demonstration I've seen since arriving in Cairo in May, with diverse faces and chants giving the gathering a celebratory but political feel. Egyptians are dissatisfied with the ruling military council and the slow progress of change, despite the fact that what has been lauded as Egypt's first (relatively) freely and fairly elected parliament sat for its inaugural session Monday.

But to some degree, today's demonstration just felt like a larger version of previous protests in the square. I don't think it was any sort of major turning point.

Meanwhile, I spent the last few days interviewing young people from all walks of life for an article I wrote for Salon. Check out my piece, "Growing pains for Egypt’s youthful revolution," here.

So many people. (If you can't see the video, click here.)

My piece in Salon on Egyptians' views of Tahrir

Since my flurry of updates last week, fighting in downtown Cairo tapered off, the protests in Tahrir weakened, and my computer's hard drive crashed. Oh, and the first round of Egyptian parliamentary elections started today—more on that later.

As Egyptians made last-minute decisions about who they'd vote for, I was working on a piece for Salon on the growing divide between the protesters in Tahrir and the rest of the Egyptian populace, most of whom prefer stability to continued demonstrations and a strong economy to violent clashes. I visited Boulaq ad-Dakrur, a working-class Cairo neighborhood, to provide a glimpse into the mood in Egypt as elections begin.

Check out my article here.

'In Tahrir Square, it's January again'

My day today consisted of frantically following Twitter from the moment I woke up until now, around 1 a.m. in Cairo. My classes took place at the same location they did yesterday, in a leafy neighborhood called Zamalek located on an island in the Nile River only about a 10 minute drive from Tahrir Square. I felt worlds away from the fighting, as people went about their daily lives and relaxed in the community's chic cafes.

Clashes in downtown Cairo, though, and specifically right near the American University in Cairo campus where my classes are normally held, continued full steam as protesters kept up their fight against police on a street off of Tahrir. About 45 minutes before my last class was scheduled to end, the director of my program knocked on our door and told us to head home ahead of a citywide curfew called for 3 p.m. It turns out that curfew was just a rumor, but they also dismissed us so we could avoid anticipated traffic congestion linked to the "million-man" march/sit-in planned for earlier this evening.

Just as we arrived in our neighborhood, a large group of school kids marched by in the direction of Tahrir. Chanting slogans and singing, the kids had smiles on their faces and waved Egyptian flags. "Join us!" one urged.

I sat with friends at home most of the afternoon and evening glued to Twitter and the television. We saw one or two more marches go by with young people headed downtown.

Around sunset, we decided to check out the view from the roof of a hotel closer to the square, on the bottom of the same island that is home to Zamalek. On our way, we walked near a much larger march of a couple hundred people on their way across the last bridge to Tahrir. Cries of "Freedom!" and "The people want the fall of the field marshall" filled the air. Egyptians young and old streamed past us in the other direction, their eyes teary and faces covered with yeast, which the protesters have been using to counteract the tear gas's effects; many wore face masks, and some had gas masks hanging around their necks.

Throughout the evening, I learned that many of my Egyptian friends and acquaintances made their way downtown, including one friend who's hardly interested in politics. On Twitter and in person, Egyptians explained how today's Tahrir felt like the Tahrir of the uprising in January and February, when the square looked less like a traffic circle and more like a sea of people packed shoulder to shoulder. Newspapers this week certainly shared that view.

Nearly every Egyptian friend we spoke to urged us Americans to stay home. Xenophobia is on the rise in post-Mubarak Egypt—conspiracy theories about foreign intereference are ubiquitous in the Arab world in general—and the last thing many protesters want is for foreigners to come to Tahrir and play into the storyline that the ruling Supreme Council for the Armed Forces (SCAF) is selling, that "foreign hands" and foreign elements are behind the current unrest. News that three American undergraduate students studying abroad at AUC were arrested in Tahrir only served to discourage us more from going down.

As thousands and thousands of Egyptians continued to pour into Tahrir, Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of the SCAF and the effective ruler of Egypt, gave a rare televised address. Using language reminiscent of Mubarak's speeches during the uprising earlier this year, Tantawi praised the army's role in society, said it never fired on civilians, and decried the media and the gloomy economy. He also promised the SCAF would submit to a referendum on immediately giving up its power, if the people call for it, and agreed to fully transfer power to a civilian president before July 2012. Parliamentary elections will still start next Tuesday, he said. Wrap your head around that one.

It remains to be seen how Egyptians will react to Tantawi's speech and concessions. Since the speech, fighting in the streets near Tahrir has only intensified, with some tear gas entering the square itself and a number of protestors complaining that the gas used feels stronger than the norm. Clashes are taking place in Alexandria, too, and I've heard reports of demonstrations in other Egyptians cities.

I'm off to bed, but please continue to join me on Twitter @bgittleson, and let me know if you have any questions. We'll see how Egypt—and Tahrir—react to developments throughout the day tomorrow.

Tahrir protests, political uncertainty grow

One day later, the protests are not just continuing but have gotten larger. Throughout the day today, the casualties figures creeped higher and higher, and I've seen and heard reports of at least 44 killed and 1,500 wounded. Remarkably, the fighting itself remains concentrated in a few square blocks right by the American University in Cairo campus and the nearby Ministry of the Interior.

On a personal note, I received news via Facebook this evening that a nice young man I met in Tahrir Square a couple months ago was killed yesterday in the clashes. Shehab Ahmad was 25 years old, and I had hung out with him and talked politics once or twice in Tahrir. I hardly knew him, but it was chilling checking out his Facebook profile after I learned of his death: Someone had posted a photo of a pile of corpses in Tahrir—and had tagged him in it. I've uploaded the photo (it's graphic) to my Twitter feed. He appears to be wearing the same shirt he had on when I took this photo of him back in September.

Also this evening, I accompanied two friends who wanted to donate blood to a hospital a few kilometers south of Tahrir. The blood bank received a relatively steady stream of people while we were there—mainly Egyptians but some foreigners, too—but it definitely wasn't overwhelmed by donors. A worker at the hospital, called Qasr El Aini Hospital, told me they had received some injured people from the clashes.

It's difficult to discern the potential effects of the fighting, since developments are rapidly unfolding. Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and his cabinet reportedly submitted their resignation tonight, but the ruling Supreme Council for the Armed Forces (SCAF) apparently rejected it. Parliamentary elections are still scheduled to begin a week from today, although I seriously doubt that'll happen. It's hard to believe that Egypt will be able to hold credible elections when the very police that are supposed to guard the polling stations are currently fighting Egyptians in downtown Cairo.

What'll happen in the next few hours and the following few days remains to seen, but my guess is that the police (if they're smart, which they have yet to prove) will pull back from directly fighting the protesters, while the SCAF will make some larger concession about a timetable for relinquishing power sometime in 2012. Then things will die down in and around Tahrir, and the average Egyptian will be happy that a degree of stability will have once again descended on Egypt. Most Egyptians I've talked to, by the way, are confused and angry about the violence but don't necessarily agree with the concept of continued protests, as they just hope for a return to stability and more prosperous economic conditions. Elections might still take place on time, but with decreased turnout because of fears of election-day violence.

Or everything could spiral out of control. All it takes is an iconic image of a child killed by the army in Tahrir, or a particularly bloody day of clashes, to sway public opinion in favor of the demonstrators. We'll see.

One last note: I've said this before, but it's absolutely incredible how localized the fighting is. I live five minutes away, but all the stores are open and people are out and about. Life goes on unless you're right downtown. Even a few blocks away, I hear, you often can't really tell that anything unusual is taking place right down the street—that is, unless the winds shift and a cloud of tear gas floats your way.

As always, for updates, follow me on Twitter @bgittleson, and check back here for updates.

Cairo clashes continue into second night

Tahrir Square off in the distance at around 2:30 p.m. today, as seen from across the Nile.

Fighting in Tahrir Square and the surrounding neighborhoods is continuing into its second night this evening, as violence between protesters and police has reportedly left over 1,000 injured and two or more dead. I'm sitting at home in my apartment in Dokki, a neighborhood on the other side of the Nile about a five-minute drive or 25 minute walk from Tahrir.

These clashes appear to have started when police moved into the square yesterday afternoon to clear out a couple hundred protesters who tried to start a sit-in there after a massive, peaceful demonstration on Friday. Yesterday and today, rocks were thrown, tear gas was lobbed, and the police reportedly fired rubber bullets and birdshot at demonstrators.

The violence has largely centered around the gate to the American University in Cairo's Tahrir campus, where my classes take place. It's been surreal to see clouds of tear gas waft up into the air above campus, bloodied protesters being carted down the sidewalk I walk on twice daily, and riot police form a wall by the Hardee's and McDonald's branches I pass every morning and afternoon. The president of AUC said in an email today that campus guards reported groups of armed infiltrators on campus—which was closed today indefinitely—and that students said they saw people on campus throwing tear-gas canisters toward protesters outside AUC's walls.

About an hour ago, as my friends and I stood on my roof overlooking the bridge toward Tahrir, we suddenly saw dozens of protesters on the bridge sprint in our direction and then scatter when they arrived at the square near our apartment building, which borders a police station. It was difficult to see if the police were out there fighting the demonstrators, but a couple Molotov cocktails lit up the air nearby, and the street lights on the bridge went out.

The situation here eventually calmed down, and the protesters headed back in the direction of Tahrir. The Russians playing volleyball in a walled-in schoolyard no more than 100 feet away seemed unfazed. The strange thing about Cairo protests in general is how localized they can be, and how life can go on as normal a few blocks down the road.

These clashes are different from the other couple flare-ups we saw over the summer and in the fall, in that they've lasted significantly longer and are occurring only eight days before parliamentary elections are scheduled to kick off. They also seem to be building into this evening, as more and more people head downtown. It's been quite confusing trying to figure out what the security force's or military rulers' intentions are in all of this, or even if they intended for the situation to get out of control to the extent that it has.

Here in Dokki, I'm flagrantly putting off homework and watching the news unfold online. For updates, follow me on Twitter @bgittleson.

Update (11:45 p.m.): After a few more hours of on-and-off clashes downtown, I'm heading to bed. Based on Twitter and online news coverage—as well as some firsthand reports from friends who made their way to Tahrir this evening—it's still pretty tense. Videos show policemen dragging dead bodies, and for a while we heard nonstop sirens from ambulances speeding in the direction of downtown. I'm still probably going to have classes tomorrow, though; it sounds like they'll be held in a different location off of the Tahrir campus. Good night, and rubina yustur (may G-d protect us)!