Activists from different political tendencies are calling for a demonstration in Tahrir Sq., Sunday 25 March, 6pm, to protest Mubarak’s dictatorial amendments to the constitution.
Activists are planning to sleep over at Tahrir Sq. Make sure you bring bottles of water, food supplies, and as many inverted Egyptian flags as possible.
Mathew uploaded to his flickr account some pictures he took of the violence that engulfed downtown Cairo on 21 March 2003, following the outbreak of the US-led war on Iraq. More than 40,000 took control of downtown, but the scene went down into chaos with the severe police brutality against demonstrators.
Several friends of mine were detained on that day, and tortured. I was arrested in the afternoon of the following day, 22 March, and taken to Gamaliya Police Station with dozens of detainees picked up randomly in Tahrir Square, then transferred to State Security HQ in Lazoughly, before I was released by 3am. One week later, the director of the Government Press Center Attiya Shakran revoked my official Press Card saying he was acting on “orders from State Security.” Since then, I applied three times for credentials only to be turned down.
These were the biggest demos the capital has witnessed since the January 1977 Bread Intifada.
Few dozens assembled with difficulty in Tahrir Square, under immense security presence, to demonstrate against Mubarak’s National Democratic Party’s congress that’s starting tomorrow.
The sit in, organized by Kefaya, should have lasted till the following day, as the ambitious organizers of the event were hoping. However the heavy police presence that prevented groups of demonstrators to assemble, in addition to the weak turn out to start with, meant this was not possible at all.
On my way to Tahrir, I spotted seven Central Security Forces trucks full of conscripts parked in front of the Arab League, and five other trucks and three police vans in Qasr el-Nil Street. (I’m sure there were loads of other trucks parked all over downtown as usual, but I couldn’t spot them where I was.) The center of the square was already occupied by regular police conscripts in white uniforms. Plainclothes security agents could also be seen virtually everywhere.
Only a crowd of at best 70 activists, mainly from the Revolutionary Socialists, Ghad, Karama, and independents, managed to assemble. They were cornered by a CSF ring in the square at the beginning of Qasr el-Nil street. The demonstrators called for the release of political detainees, chanted against the Mubarak family, NDP, corruption, and chanted against the US as the sponsor of Mubarak’s regime, and against Israel, the regime’s ally as protesters put it. Some left wing demonstrators chanted calling for the “execution of the president on charges of high treason,” others called for his assassination a la Sadat.
The sit in was folded at 9:30pm, and demonstrators announced they will be meeting at the Lawyer’s Syndicate on Thursday 7pm for the Kefaya conference on constitutional amendments.