|
the view
from cairo
Friday, March 21,
2003
UPDATE: The
city is now void of the large, spontaneous anti-war street protests that
filled it over the first two days of war. A permit from the Interior
Ministry is now required in order to hold a demonstration. The protests
have thus moved off the streets, into syndicates and on university
campuses. Meanwhile, a heavy security presence remains visible on the
streets, while traffic flows relatively smoothly.
UPDATE: Protests
continued to pour out into the streets of Cairo.
For more pictures of
Friday's demonstrations at El-Azhar, click here
Showing
solidarity
Thousands of protestors
took over Tahrir Square on Thursday to protest the US invasion of Iraq.
Photos and
text by Tarek Atia
FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM
THE DEMONSTRATION CLICK HERE
As the
invasion of Iraq began on Thursday, security was
extremely tight around the US Embassy in Cairo. Anti-war protestors in the Egyptian capital were
determined to show the world that thousands of Egyptians were against
the war, despite a government ban on public demonstrations.
 Thousands
of people had exchanged emails and SMSs letting each other know about
the event. 1pm at Simon Bolivar Square, the closest public square to
the American embassy, was slated as the meeting time and place for the protest.
It didn't quite
happen that way. Anti-riot police forces were heavily concentrated in
the area near the embassy, and the demonstration began in Tahrir Square
instead.
Demonstrations in
Egypt are banned based on the Emergency Law, which has been in place
since Anwar El-Sadat's assassination in 1981. Nonetheless, over the past few weeks,
there have
been frequent anti-war demonstrations, which commentators say has been
the government's way of allowing people to vent their anger.
On Thursday there
was plenty of that anger to vent. The demonstrators'
slogans ranged from anti-war chants, to vocal criticisms of America,
Israel, and Arab regimes. The protest included people of all ages and
social classes.
 This particular
demonstration was unique in that the protestors were free to do and say
what they wanted, as long as they did not leave Tahrir Square. It was
only as they began trying to head for the US embassy that things began
to turn ugly.
Attempting
to rush the embassy via one of several side streets, the protestors were
met first by baton wielding security conscripts, and then armored
vehicles spraying a blue colored water on them. As the protestors
retreated, they grabbed stones from the ground and threw them at the security
personnel.
 This scenario was
repeated several times throughout the afternoon, and each time the
clashes between the protestors and the security people got just a little
more violent.
The
organizers of the demonstration were not happy with the fact that
some of the protestors were throwing rocks. They urged these elements to
stop immediately. "We don't want them to shut the demonstration
down," one was heard to be saying, "we want the demonstration
to go on."
 It did, in fact, go
on until late into the night. But by then it had been contained by police in
Tahrir Square itself.
Traffic
in the capital was snarled all day as a result of the protest,
with some groups of unlucky motorists forced to wait in their cars for hours on Qasr El-Aini Street.
UPDATE: Protests
continued to pour out into the streets of Cairo.
For more pictures of
Friday's demonstrations at El-Azhar, click here
FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM
THE DEMONSTRATION CLICK HERE
PREVIOUS VIEW FROM CAIRO
Modern parking
Downtown's new meters may
take a little getting used to, but they have changed parkers' attitudes.
Stadium
demo
100,000 came to Cairo Stadium to chant against the war.
Run of
the prodigal son
Cairo stadium was the host of yet another international friendly
The
Meeting Place
Landmark exhibit of digital photography
The
Cycle
A Cairene is amazed at how clean Alexandria has become.
Hussein
alal Howaa
A look at Ramadan's most popular show.
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