A revolution comes unstuck

A pro-democracy protester faces off against angry residents in the Cairo neighbourhood of Abbasiyah

Egypt's revolution took a sorry turn on Saturday (July 23) night. Some thousand demonstrators left Tahrir Square and marched toward the headquarters of SCAF,  the military council currently not doing the greatest job in the world of governing post-Mubarak Egypt. The march was stopped by lines of soldiers behind barbed wire out side Noor Mosque in the neighbourhood of Abbasiyah. Around half an hour after the unstoppable force of the marchers met the immovable object of the military barricade, the inevitable occurred.  

I didn't see who threw what first, but soon enough the Tahrir crowd were embroiled in running street battles with local Abbasiyah residents, angered by the demonstrators' presence and apparently bolstered by the infamous 'baltigia' thugs. Rocks, bottles and bricks rained down from the surrounding rooftops and side streets as the Tahrir protestors responded in kind: trashing cars, store fronts and probably homes in the process. There may have been more protesters in Tahrir following the events of Saturday night than there had been for a while, but this seemed like no way to fix the waning popularity on the Jan 25th movement.  As a doctor spectating from the neighbouring hospital said to my colleague Remco Andersen of the Dutch paper Volkskrant for whom we were both on assignment in Egypt: "Egyptians fighting Egyptians. What a mess this has become."

 

Salafis and strikes: Cairo

Egypt's Salafis are a conundrum. They resent their portrayal by Egyptian and Western media as

 bogeymen intent on taking over the world, then tell you that, in as much, this is exactly what they'd like to see happen.  The Salafis we met were very welcoming and certainly knew a thing or two about how to eat a sheep; rest assured, should a global caliphate arise it'll likely come with more good food than you can shake a Quoran at.  Intrepid reporter Sarah Lynch will have a far more insightful view on this whole situation in next month's Esquire Middle East and an insight into the economic effects of labour strikes in Egypt in next month's Executive.

 

Esquire's Cairo spread

Here's a sneaky preview of the feature by Josh Wood and I which Esquire Middle East will be running next month.  I'm quite looking forward to seeing this one in the flesh, as it were.

 

Mubarak's mob

 These pictures are from a Pro-Muabrak demonstration Josh Wood  and I ran into last Wednesday morning, our second day in Cairo. These boys sure loved their President and filled Mohandaseen square, across the river from Tahrir, in what we were told time and time again was an effort to show the world that there was no united Egyptian voice calling for the end of Mubarak's regime.
The protest was vast and there were a huge number of legitimate demonstrators; many whom I spoke to were all-out in favor of Mubarak, like this lady here...

But there was also an element who thought that whilst he should not stand at the next election, if Mubarak were to leave immediately as per the Tahrir protester's demands, then the country would face even deeper chaos. "We don't want to be like Iraq" was one sentiment repeated over and over.

However, compared to the demonstrations in Tahrir the previous day, there was clearly far more tension, particularly aimed toward myself and Josh – who found many a shady Mukhabarat man lurking behind him whilst he spoke to members of the crowd. For every time I was stopped and often told to take peoples picture, there were those who were fairly adamant that I shouldn't be there at all.
This anti-foreign sentiment, seeded by a relentless campaign on state television that 'Israeli agitators' were posing as Western journalists, led to the somewhat crazy situation myself and Josh found ourselves in on Thursday, which eventually led to us leaving the country. Still, I managed to get a ton of stuff in the few brief days I was lucky enough to witness one of the most interesting events of recent years and I'll be getting up here as soon as I can, before y'all start saying "Sam, shut the f*ck up about Egypt."

 

 

One night in Tahrir

It took a few hours of persistence to get into Tahrir square this evening, but I made it eventually. By the time I arrived, the anti-Mubarak protesters had barricaded the street by the Egyptian Museum just north of the square, using metal sheets and burned out vehicles. The protesters rained a literal hail of stones upon the pro-Mubarak 'demonstrators' – some of whom were captured and found to have security service ID's and are largely believed to be a government orchestrated 'rent-a-mob' – who had attempted to take Tahrir square earlier in the afternoon. 

The traffic must have been two way - I was taken to a make shift hospital in a precinct beside the square where doctors were treating a stream of injured demonstrators.

Tonight it really felt like the Tahrir demonstrators were fighting for their survival - many of the pro-Mubarak crowd were believed to be armed with sticks, knives and such. It sounds corny to repeat, but one old guy smashing up kerbststones to be thrown said: "We are doing this for our freedom." He looked me straight in the eye and meant every word. It sent shivers up my spine.

Cairo: Heroes of the 'hood

After the police disappeared from Cairo's streets and violent looters – widely believed to be in the employ of embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's regime – caused havoc throughout the city, residents took matters into their own hands and formed 'neighbourhood committees' on every street corner. These might look like alarming pictures but they're not. The guys I spoke to last night were some of the friendliest I've met in Egypt and from a wide spectrum of society, students, professionals, shop keepers and the like, young and old, all out to 'do their bit.'

Although the fate of Egypt could still swing either way, and today pro mubarak supporters have taken to the streets, last night there was an amazing feeling of hope that just maybe a 30-years-too-late change might be possible. 

Josh Wood's story about this, for the International Herald Tribune is here. 

Anti Mubarak protest in Beirut

 Police guarded the Egyptian embassy in Beirut today with riot gear and razor wire as around 200 or so protestors gathered to demonstrate against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the actions of Egyptian security forces over the last few days. Not exactly reminiscent of the chaos currently unfurling in Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt, but, hey, every little helps.

Esquire's Alexandria spread

Here are a few more pictures from my cold and wet jaunt to Alexandria in December, which will be in next month's Esquire Middle East. (un-subbed)Words, as ever, by Mr Josh Wood.

A damp day in Alex

 I was in Alexandria on some freelance assignments a couple of weekends back and managed to arrive pretty much at the exact same time one of the worst storms the city has seen in recent years. Western tourists are a bit thin on the ground at this time of year so I think I was something of a novelty for the locals. Fortunately, this translated in a positive way and people seemed very receptive to having their pictures taken by this strange, wet, whitey.