It’s 7:15pm now. The tax collectors have just voted to temporarily suspend their action, after intervention from senior police officials trying to mediate between them and the govt. Already the numbers of demonstrators had gone up to 2000, and more buses were ready to take off from other provinces (mainly Upper Egypt), and security officials were working around the clock to diffuse the situation.

I think many including myself would have loved the sit-in to continue. But let’s remember it’s the tax collectors themselves, not journalists or activists, who have the last say in how things will go. What happened today, by all measures, was a STRONG show of force, and it won’t be the last national strike. The fight is not over.