A tense day in Cairo
As the day turns to evening, we are again sitting in the apartment. Today morning began peaceful but tense, and many people were out in Downtown Cairo, and we could move freely and pay a visit to Tahrir Square. But in the course of afternoon, government thugs have been spreading on the streets of Downtown Cairo in small but aggressive groups, and friends of ours had to turn back as their tried to get to Tahrir in the afternoon. Many others have been able to reach Tahrir Square through other routes, and a number of people are moving through the streets here right now trying to get to Tahrir – from shouts few blocks away we guess that there are still standoffs going on. We hear occasional gunfire, probably by the army. Through phone calls I know that there are already now more people on Tahrir Square than there were yesterday.
Sitting unable to do anything and trying to guess what the situation is like out in the streets is the worst thing there is, and I feel that I should have rather stayed on Tahrir Square if there is nothing I can do here. But while I write this, BBC tells that the protesters have been able to push pro-Mubarak folks back from the streets leading to Tahrir. Friends from different parts of the city are determined to get to Tahrir Square, and many seem to be successful. Our spirits, which were down just an hour earlier, rise again. One friend says: Tahrir Square is the only place where I feel safe.
Last night was a terrible and dramatic night, and thinking back to it is amazing now that the demonstrators successfully held it out against the thugs throughout the night.
In the morning some of our friends returned from Tahrir Square, quite exhausted and in urgent need for sleep. One of them had spent all nights helping wounded people from the frontline to the hospital. His hands were covered in dried blood. While they got to sleep my European friend and I went out to see how the situation was in Tahrir Square and to buy some food. At early noon the market area of Bab el-Louq near Tahrir square was quite lively and calm, and we could buy some medicine in a pharmacy on our way to the Square, where several human chains and multiple checkpoints of volunteers, many of them carrying bandages on their heads as memories from last night’s fight. We found the people inside tense and tired, but still well organised, most of them determined to stay, some uncertain, and everybody expecting a new attack to begin this evening. A stream of new demonstrators was arriving from all directions – except from Abdel Mun’im Riyad Square
where the standoff with the pro-Mubarak thugs continued.
As we were making a quick walk around the square, suddenly I was enthusiastically greeted by an old friend of mine whom I wouldn’t have expected to see here. Sheikh N. is an Islamic mystic (Sufi) who spends most of the year setting up his tent and offering free food and lodging to the pilgrims at Muslim festivals around Egypt. But I never thought that he would have anything to do with politics. But here he was in Tahrir Square, having changed his plain white robe and turban for jeans and jacket and demonstrating against oppression since a week by now. He has built his tent in one of the green isles in the square, with some of his supporters along with him. I am delighted to see him. It gives me so much hope.
Determination mixed with anxiety was the mood of the morning and the early afternoon. But there were good signs. As we left Tahrir we saw a police officer (from the criminal or traffic police, not the central security forces who beat up the demonstrators) in uniform joining the protestors – although it did take a while before the protestors were convinced. And as we walked through the streets, most shops had satellite, not Egyptian television turned on. Intense debates continued at every corner, and the short pro-Mubarak euphoria had again given way to a more critical albeit by no means unified mood. At a café where state television was on we saw the new prime minister very apologetic and nervous on television, offering his excuses for last night’s violence.
The thug attack at Tahrir has made a lot of people very angry. First thing this morning newspaper delivery cars were all over the city, and independent newspapers showed very dramatic images of thugs on horseback riding into the pro-democracy crowd. These were images that will not be easily forgotten, and they have changed the situation again. One friend who was on Tahrir last night told that in the early morning hours he encountered a man who just arrived to protect the demonstration, telling that after Mubarak’s speech on Tuesday he had believed him and was ready to be content and go home, but after what he had seen on Wednesday, he was back on the street. This gives the people hope, and many say that Mubarak has de facto already fallen, the attack last night was no more by Mubarak, but by the system of oppression trying once more its old tactics of chaos and intimidation. Mubarak has made all concessions he can make. There is nothing left for him to
do than to resign. The question is when and how.
This is so far an interim day of anxious expectation between the rapid dramatic events of yesterday and in anticipation of tomorrow when a new big demonstration is announced countrywide. It could be decisive. But first, we will see what the night is going to bring. Maybe some food can be delivered to Tahrir again.
You are very welcome to pass these news on. You can find my notes also on a blog: http://samuliegypt.blogspot.com/
With the best greetings from the Egyptian revolution
Samuli
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
A very bad night in Cairo
I’m writing this in the apartment of a friend where we had to retreat as the pro-Mubarak thugs on the streets of downtown Cairo were becoming increasingly aggressive this afternoon. This is a report of a day that began in indecisive but optimistic mood, but turned into mob violence evidently initiated and organized by the government. Evidence follows.
As I left my friend’s apartment in Giza, I found people all over the city again discussing and debating intensely, some firmly in support of the protests or at least against Mubarak, some against the protests and for Mubarak, and also many who found that Mubarak had shown responsibility and character with his speech last night, where he promised not to run for presidency again, to make constitutional changes, and to take care of a peaceful and orderly transition. But as I got closer to Tahrir Square, I also saw that there was some real hatred in the air, as men from the car workshop area in Champollion street interrupted a family on their way to Tahrir, telling that this is not a place for women to go, and that what they were doing is a shame. One of the local guys got really upset – his shop had been looted, he said – and a heated argument, almost a fight evolved, with the accusations “thieves!” and “police informer!” being shouted. The
people in the workshop area had been hit hard by the looting and even harder by the curfew and had begun to blame the pro-democracy protesters.
As I arrived on Tahrir Square, I found a small but loud pro-Mubarak demonstration trying to enter the square but being prevented from doing so by the police. On the square, there were still (or already) lots of people, more than on Monday but of course much less than yesterday in the big demonstration. There the atmosphere was a good deal more nervous and tense than yesterday that was really like a popular street festival, but demonstrators were streaming in again bit by bit, and the square was slowly filling for a new day of peaceful demonstrations demanding Mubarak to resign.
As I left the square towards downtown Cairo, however, I encountered a different atmosphere – no pro-democracy demonstration here, instead, some shops were opening and many people walking in the streets. As I reached 26th of July Street, one of central Cairo’s major streets, I encountered more pro-Mubarak demonstrations, driving on top of trucks and chanting “mish ha yimshi!”(“He won’t go”, in contrast to the pro-democracy slogan “We won’t go until he goes!”) At first these were small groups, but bit by bit they succeed gathering spontaneous participants as well, and in the course of an hour, they developed into huge mass marches through the streets. Many cars and busses were honking their horns and people are waving Egyptian flags. Quite suddenly, an air of enthusiasm and relief overcame the people in the street. Some were there to show their support to Mubarak, but many others are more differentiated: They were happy and that
Mubarak has promised not to run for presidency and confident that there is going to be democracy and new parliamentary elections. They thought that Mubarak has heard the voice of the people, and that he shouldn’t go immediately but there should a period of well-ordered transition, and people should stop demonstrating and everybody should go back to work.
If this momentum had prevailed, if the pro-Mubarak demonstrations had developed the way the people I talked with were hoping, this might indeed have been a starting point to the ordered democratic transition many of the pro-Mubarak demonstrators were looking forward to. Unfortunately, the Egyptian government had different plans, as some of my friends had already guessed. Already in the morning my Egyptian friend said: “Now our blood will be shed.” And as I stood at the streetcorner, a man came with his young son on his way from Tahrir. I told him what was going on and said that I just fear that it may turn into violence against the pro-democracy protest. He said: “That’s what will happen”, turned around and told me that he is going back to Tahrir Square.
The Pro-Mubarak demonstration was clearly organised by the government, with trucks with loudspeakers and pictures of Mubarak riding through the streets and distributing photocopied paper sheets in handwriting saying “Yes to Mubarak, no to destruction.” But it gained genuine popular support and there were really a lot of people spontaneously joining the march for Mubarak. But the people I talked to were also positively peaceful, they were out for the return of peace, and it was clear that they had no intention to go to attack the anti-Government demonstrators. However, as I walk down Talaat Harb street down to Tahrir, the demonstrators there are much more aggressive and much more organised than the crowd who spontaneously joined the big marches towards Muhandisin and the TV centre in Maspiro where the main pro-Mubarak demonstrations. Also unlike the people on 26 July streets who willingly and happily got engaged into lively and at times heated
discussions and were also very welcoming towards me, the people who gather in the streets leading to Tahrir square are hostile towards me, especially when my friend, foreigner like me, and I tried to make photographs, to which immediately men among the crowd tell us not to make photographs unless we don’t want our camera broken.
At the corner of Bustan and Talaat Harb street we find a tense standoff between pro-democracy demonstrators who stand in a human chain, and pro-mubarak folks who moving back and forth, their mood getting more an more heated. One man among them starts to tell me that the people inside are being paid to participate there, how else could they have ID controls and food for so many day. When I say him: Please keep peace, he replies: It’s them who don’t keep peace ! A man arrives on motorcycle to bring bottles of water and juice to the pro-demonstrators inside. As he tries to enter through the human chain, pro-Mubarak demonstrators grab the boxes, and in a rush that I otherwise know from beggars at main mosques everybody runs for the water and juice, someone shouts: “This is our water!”, the people are almost fighting to get some of the loot. This stands in a dramatic tension to the determined sense of discipline shown by the pro-democracy
demonstrators. A very aggressive atmosphere is building here, and we decide to move away. We pick up a friend in Bab el-Louq and walk to the apartment of a friend amidst of loud groups walking through the streets and chanting pro-Mubarak slogans. Crazily enough, amidst all this, we find the cafes in the Bursa area full with customers in the middle of all this commotion.
Soon after we reach our friend’s apartment, things start to get worse, the shouts louder, we hear shots, and from the balcony we see a part of the mob bringing somebody they have caught and throwing him in a rude fashion to what looks like an army special unit protecting one of the foreign diplomatic sites in the city. There is a long confrontation as the pro-Mubarak people are trying to push through the army line but are not left through. We are getting rather afraid as it gets louder and more chaotic in the streets, and the caretaker of the house tells everybody to turn their lights off. Since then we sit in the dark, lights on only in the kitchen. It is out of the question to go to the street. At times, we hear loud noise of shops being broken along with pro-Mubarak slogans and gunfire. Then things get calm again, later we hear gunfire from the direction of Tahrir Square. Our friends there tell us on the phone that the situation inside the square
is much better than it looks on television – we are watching Al-Jazeera livestream on the internet. But where we are staying, the situation is very volatile, and we hear that several foreign journalists have been attacked by the pro-Mubarak thugs in the course of the day and the night. Although the people in the square would badly need medicine and food, which we have here, it seems way too dangerous for two foreigners to go out now.
There is no way to predict from here what will come today. There is no question that the government will put the blame on the pro-democracy movement. The question is whether the Egyptians will believe it. A friend from Kitkat on the other side of the Nile where the situation is calm with whom I spoke on the phone said that people in his neighbourhood who until now had been very much supportive of Mubarak, were disgusted by what was going on today. But Egyptians appear very split today, and there is no way to tell what will come. In the last two weeks, every single prediction I have made about the situation has turned out false. Just as I did not expect the protests to become so huge, I did not expect the events today to turn the way they did. The only thing that is sure about the situation now is that Mubarak and is ruling elite are not serious about the orderly transition to democracy, but are again resorting to the tactics of intimidation and chaos.
What a horrible and criminal way to rule a country.
You can follow the events in Tahrir Square on Al-Jazeera English.
Please call your government and MP and tell that to show any support to this government is the same as showing support to crimes against humanity.
All the best,
Samuli
As I left my friend’s apartment in Giza, I found people all over the city again discussing and debating intensely, some firmly in support of the protests or at least against Mubarak, some against the protests and for Mubarak, and also many who found that Mubarak had shown responsibility and character with his speech last night, where he promised not to run for presidency again, to make constitutional changes, and to take care of a peaceful and orderly transition. But as I got closer to Tahrir Square, I also saw that there was some real hatred in the air, as men from the car workshop area in Champollion street interrupted a family on their way to Tahrir, telling that this is not a place for women to go, and that what they were doing is a shame. One of the local guys got really upset – his shop had been looted, he said – and a heated argument, almost a fight evolved, with the accusations “thieves!” and “police informer!” being shouted. The
people in the workshop area had been hit hard by the looting and even harder by the curfew and had begun to blame the pro-democracy protesters.
As I arrived on Tahrir Square, I found a small but loud pro-Mubarak demonstration trying to enter the square but being prevented from doing so by the police. On the square, there were still (or already) lots of people, more than on Monday but of course much less than yesterday in the big demonstration. There the atmosphere was a good deal more nervous and tense than yesterday that was really like a popular street festival, but demonstrators were streaming in again bit by bit, and the square was slowly filling for a new day of peaceful demonstrations demanding Mubarak to resign.
As I left the square towards downtown Cairo, however, I encountered a different atmosphere – no pro-democracy demonstration here, instead, some shops were opening and many people walking in the streets. As I reached 26th of July Street, one of central Cairo’s major streets, I encountered more pro-Mubarak demonstrations, driving on top of trucks and chanting “mish ha yimshi!”(“He won’t go”, in contrast to the pro-democracy slogan “We won’t go until he goes!”) At first these were small groups, but bit by bit they succeed gathering spontaneous participants as well, and in the course of an hour, they developed into huge mass marches through the streets. Many cars and busses were honking their horns and people are waving Egyptian flags. Quite suddenly, an air of enthusiasm and relief overcame the people in the street. Some were there to show their support to Mubarak, but many others are more differentiated: They were happy and that
Mubarak has promised not to run for presidency and confident that there is going to be democracy and new parliamentary elections. They thought that Mubarak has heard the voice of the people, and that he shouldn’t go immediately but there should a period of well-ordered transition, and people should stop demonstrating and everybody should go back to work.
If this momentum had prevailed, if the pro-Mubarak demonstrations had developed the way the people I talked with were hoping, this might indeed have been a starting point to the ordered democratic transition many of the pro-Mubarak demonstrators were looking forward to. Unfortunately, the Egyptian government had different plans, as some of my friends had already guessed. Already in the morning my Egyptian friend said: “Now our blood will be shed.” And as I stood at the streetcorner, a man came with his young son on his way from Tahrir. I told him what was going on and said that I just fear that it may turn into violence against the pro-democracy protest. He said: “That’s what will happen”, turned around and told me that he is going back to Tahrir Square.
The Pro-Mubarak demonstration was clearly organised by the government, with trucks with loudspeakers and pictures of Mubarak riding through the streets and distributing photocopied paper sheets in handwriting saying “Yes to Mubarak, no to destruction.” But it gained genuine popular support and there were really a lot of people spontaneously joining the march for Mubarak. But the people I talked to were also positively peaceful, they were out for the return of peace, and it was clear that they had no intention to go to attack the anti-Government demonstrators. However, as I walk down Talaat Harb street down to Tahrir, the demonstrators there are much more aggressive and much more organised than the crowd who spontaneously joined the big marches towards Muhandisin and the TV centre in Maspiro where the main pro-Mubarak demonstrations. Also unlike the people on 26 July streets who willingly and happily got engaged into lively and at times heated
discussions and were also very welcoming towards me, the people who gather in the streets leading to Tahrir square are hostile towards me, especially when my friend, foreigner like me, and I tried to make photographs, to which immediately men among the crowd tell us not to make photographs unless we don’t want our camera broken.
At the corner of Bustan and Talaat Harb street we find a tense standoff between pro-democracy demonstrators who stand in a human chain, and pro-mubarak folks who moving back and forth, their mood getting more an more heated. One man among them starts to tell me that the people inside are being paid to participate there, how else could they have ID controls and food for so many day. When I say him: Please keep peace, he replies: It’s them who don’t keep peace ! A man arrives on motorcycle to bring bottles of water and juice to the pro-demonstrators inside. As he tries to enter through the human chain, pro-Mubarak demonstrators grab the boxes, and in a rush that I otherwise know from beggars at main mosques everybody runs for the water and juice, someone shouts: “This is our water!”, the people are almost fighting to get some of the loot. This stands in a dramatic tension to the determined sense of discipline shown by the pro-democracy
demonstrators. A very aggressive atmosphere is building here, and we decide to move away. We pick up a friend in Bab el-Louq and walk to the apartment of a friend amidst of loud groups walking through the streets and chanting pro-Mubarak slogans. Crazily enough, amidst all this, we find the cafes in the Bursa area full with customers in the middle of all this commotion.
Soon after we reach our friend’s apartment, things start to get worse, the shouts louder, we hear shots, and from the balcony we see a part of the mob bringing somebody they have caught and throwing him in a rude fashion to what looks like an army special unit protecting one of the foreign diplomatic sites in the city. There is a long confrontation as the pro-Mubarak people are trying to push through the army line but are not left through. We are getting rather afraid as it gets louder and more chaotic in the streets, and the caretaker of the house tells everybody to turn their lights off. Since then we sit in the dark, lights on only in the kitchen. It is out of the question to go to the street. At times, we hear loud noise of shops being broken along with pro-Mubarak slogans and gunfire. Then things get calm again, later we hear gunfire from the direction of Tahrir Square. Our friends there tell us on the phone that the situation inside the square
is much better than it looks on television – we are watching Al-Jazeera livestream on the internet. But where we are staying, the situation is very volatile, and we hear that several foreign journalists have been attacked by the pro-Mubarak thugs in the course of the day and the night. Although the people in the square would badly need medicine and food, which we have here, it seems way too dangerous for two foreigners to go out now.
There is no way to predict from here what will come today. There is no question that the government will put the blame on the pro-democracy movement. The question is whether the Egyptians will believe it. A friend from Kitkat on the other side of the Nile where the situation is calm with whom I spoke on the phone said that people in his neighbourhood who until now had been very much supportive of Mubarak, were disgusted by what was going on today. But Egyptians appear very split today, and there is no way to tell what will come. In the last two weeks, every single prediction I have made about the situation has turned out false. Just as I did not expect the protests to become so huge, I did not expect the events today to turn the way they did. The only thing that is sure about the situation now is that Mubarak and is ruling elite are not serious about the orderly transition to democracy, but are again resorting to the tactics of intimidation and chaos.
What a horrible and criminal way to rule a country.
You can follow the events in Tahrir Square on Al-Jazeera English.
Please call your government and MP and tell that to show any support to this government is the same as showing support to crimes against humanity.
All the best,
Samuli
Samuli's LATEST news from Cairo 02-02-2011
DANIELA HERE - WAS TRAVELLING THE WHOLE MORNING AND JUST ARRIVED IN ROTTERDAM!
HERE SAMULI'S NEWS FROM NOON CAIRO TIME UNTIL NOW
As the situation is too tense he retrieved to a friends house near Talaat Harb and tries to get online, as the internet seems to be open today again. Stay tuned!
16:27: Because Hosni Mubarak couldn't use the army to crush the demonstrators, he now mobilises his citizens to attack their fellow citizens.
16:18: A man just tried to bring water & juice to the contra demonstration. he was stopped, his water taken, but he was let go. Big chain of people stands facing the pro demonstrators to stop them from entering. Situation very tense. Confrontation likely!
15:26: Henri Onodera reports that thugs of NDP have attacked the demonstration on Tahrir. Meanwhile pro-Mubarak demo passing through 26 July St gathers huge crowds."
14:48: The pro-Mubarak demonstration is currently heading for the TV headquaters, which hopefully means that the situation remains peaceful. If it does, that may be the seed of peaceful transition to democracy after all.
14:15: Pro demonstration is big. Spontaneous analysis of the mood in the streets in central Cairo: most Egyptians are happy with what they got - no re-election of Mubarak, new parliamentary elections, new minister of interior. It is far less than what the demonstrators asked, and ensures the continuation of the old system. But heated discussions continue in the streets. My worry now is, that the pro demonstrators will try to break the contra demonstrations.
14:00: The pro Mubarak demonstrations on 26 July St. is gaining some support from bystanders. His televison speech yesterday together with the fear of chaos has made a good part of the people to turn to spport him. So far, everything remains peaceful.
13:07: A continuous stream of people entering Tahrir Square. Today will be a big demonstration as well, though probably not as big as yesterday.
12:41: Situation today more nervous and tense. The government has effectively reached to split people apart. The coming days will show, how lasting the revolution is...
Samuli's news from Cairo 02-02-2011
09:32 CT: Cairo wakes up to a busy morning. Banks & cash dispensers are open again, and people crowd to collect their salaries. Traffic police is back on the streets, unarmed. People debating everywhere, some firmly against the president, some supportive. In Manyal I see a 15 men strong pro-Mubarak demonstration. My journalist friend saw some last night. They are small and all chant the same slogan. Greetings from Cairo, Samuli.
10:32 CT: On Champollion St. a family with Egyptian flags is stopped by inhabitants of the car workshop area, saying that what they do is a shame and blaming them for looting. A heated discussion evolves, with the accusation "thief", "police informer"! If Mubarak's strategy of using chaos to split the people is successful, it will be a terrible tragedy.
11:09 CT: At the corner of Champollion St. a 50 men big pro-Mubarak demonstration (no families and women in this one) tries to enter Tahrir Square. The army prevents them from entering. On Tahrir, the big Anti-Mubarak demonstrations goes on.
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Samuli's news from Cairo 01-02-2011
I'm on Tahrir square. Crowds are increasing in today's demonstrations. Peaceful and well organized. Volunteers and soldiers check ID's to prevent plainclothes police from entering. Earlier in the metro all passengers talk about the demonstrations. They disagree about what to do, but there is wide consensus that Mubarak has to go. Reports about chaos completely false. Citizens and army successful in keeping order better than police ever did.
The crowds keep increasing. The most impressive thing is that Egyptians who are otherwise quite chaotic, are spontaneously disciplined: they stand patiently in queues, collect their own garbage, something they would have never made just ten days ago.
Monday, 31 January 2011
Samuli's news from Cairo 31-01-2011
10 am Cairo time: Samuli has arrived in Giza. He said that the situation seen from his cab ride from the airport, through the city to his final destination showed less damage as described in some reports. He has seen 3 demolished buildings, and 4-5 demolished shops, but it's not whole blocks. People all talk about tomorrow's 1 million people demonstrat...ion, which will be joined by everybody he has talked to. No train service tomorrow! Military and vigilant committees are to be seen everywhere, as well as some police. But things are calm and cheerful. Downtown shops are closed, but in Giza they are open. He says that the atmosphere is much more positive than he expected. People discuss if the change of the government is sufficient, but many plead that by tomorrow Mubarak has to step down... He's now on his way to Tahrir!
Sunday, 30 January 2011
"You'll be late for the revolution!"
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Frankfurt airport.
After long hesitation, I made yesterday night the decision to fly to Cairo after M. had assured me that it is safe in Giza. The flight had been rescheduled to start 9:30 a.m. instead of noon in order to arrive in Cairo in daytime before curfew. Sophie took me to station by car and I took the early morning ICE to the airport. Everything went fine, I checked in, but the very instance I arrived at gate B25 where the plane was to depart, the announcement was made that the flight was cancelled. An airline officer of Egyptian origin explained the situation to the approximately 20 to 30 Egyptian passengers: Cairo airport was closed, there was nobody working, no technical staff, no security, no customs, and no planes would start to Cairo today. All flights to Cairo are cancelled. (Later someone who had called people on the airport told that the airport is not yet closed but it is being shut down. The officers and workers are there, but not working. Why is not
clear.) The people, of course, were very anxious and eager to get to Egypt whatever way possible, and discussed the problem and the possibilities long with the airline staff.
Heated political discussions evolved, focussing on the looting that had happened last night. Everybody was very concerned about the safety of their family, their property, and the general situation in Egypt. The opinions went far apart regarding the cause of the problem and the possible remedies. One of the passengers, arriving from the United States said that Egypt is a bunch of 80 million thugs and that if he had been in Tahrir square on Tuesday when the demonstrations began he would have fired into the crowd and killed them by hundreds, and forget about human rights, to stop the chaos at its roots. An older gentleman disagreed, and said that on the contrary Egyptians are good people (tayyibin) and should not be accused of the acts of thugs and criminals who exploited the occasion. Another man in his fifties agreed with the first one and said that the whole thing had gotten out of hand because the demonstrations hadn’t been suppressed with a hard
hand from the beginning. If the upraising had done anything to these two men, it had confirmed them in their belief that Egypt must be ruled with an iron hand. Others, however, disagreed with them strongly, or avoided getting involved into the debate. I spoke for a longer while with four younger people, one Egyptian woman living in Germany, another on her way from France back to Egypt, a man from Upper Egypt who had lived for four years in the US and was returning now because he was worried about his family, and another man, an aviation officer who had been abroad for six months. This crowd would not place the blame on the demonstrators, but on the president, most clearly so the woman living in Germany who had decided to return to Egypt in order to participate in the revolution, and who said that this chaos will only stop “when he goes”. Also the aviation officer, who lowered his voice (the people still fear there may be secret police among the
passengers) to tell that it costs 8 million pounds just to escort Hosni Mubarak from his residence in Heliopolis to Almaza military airport whenever he goes somewhere.
Everybody trying to fly was concerned, worried and anxious. Many had spent the last 48 hours in front of television screens, and many had not slept last night. Also I had only slept three hours. With their very different interpretations of the situation, they all shared a concern for the safety of their families. But when I called M. to tell that I cannot come today, I found him in excellent mood, joyful, even enthusiastic, and telling me: “You’ll be late for the revolution!” He had collected revolution souvenirs: tear gas grenades, broken bottles, and much more, and he is looking forward to see me tomorrow.
Our flights are rescheduled for tomorrow 8:30. Lufthansa will try to fly to Cairo as soon as they can to bring home the people stranded on Cairo airports - there were thousands, even tens of thousands of them, somebody told. But it won’t be today.
All the best,
Samuli
Greetings from Frankfurt airport.
After long hesitation, I made yesterday night the decision to fly to Cairo after M. had assured me that it is safe in Giza. The flight had been rescheduled to start 9:30 a.m. instead of noon in order to arrive in Cairo in daytime before curfew. Sophie took me to station by car and I took the early morning ICE to the airport. Everything went fine, I checked in, but the very instance I arrived at gate B25 where the plane was to depart, the announcement was made that the flight was cancelled. An airline officer of Egyptian origin explained the situation to the approximately 20 to 30 Egyptian passengers: Cairo airport was closed, there was nobody working, no technical staff, no security, no customs, and no planes would start to Cairo today. All flights to Cairo are cancelled. (Later someone who had called people on the airport told that the airport is not yet closed but it is being shut down. The officers and workers are there, but not working. Why is not
clear.) The people, of course, were very anxious and eager to get to Egypt whatever way possible, and discussed the problem and the possibilities long with the airline staff.
Heated political discussions evolved, focussing on the looting that had happened last night. Everybody was very concerned about the safety of their family, their property, and the general situation in Egypt. The opinions went far apart regarding the cause of the problem and the possible remedies. One of the passengers, arriving from the United States said that Egypt is a bunch of 80 million thugs and that if he had been in Tahrir square on Tuesday when the demonstrations began he would have fired into the crowd and killed them by hundreds, and forget about human rights, to stop the chaos at its roots. An older gentleman disagreed, and said that on the contrary Egyptians are good people (tayyibin) and should not be accused of the acts of thugs and criminals who exploited the occasion. Another man in his fifties agreed with the first one and said that the whole thing had gotten out of hand because the demonstrations hadn’t been suppressed with a hard
hand from the beginning. If the upraising had done anything to these two men, it had confirmed them in their belief that Egypt must be ruled with an iron hand. Others, however, disagreed with them strongly, or avoided getting involved into the debate. I spoke for a longer while with four younger people, one Egyptian woman living in Germany, another on her way from France back to Egypt, a man from Upper Egypt who had lived for four years in the US and was returning now because he was worried about his family, and another man, an aviation officer who had been abroad for six months. This crowd would not place the blame on the demonstrators, but on the president, most clearly so the woman living in Germany who had decided to return to Egypt in order to participate in the revolution, and who said that this chaos will only stop “when he goes”. Also the aviation officer, who lowered his voice (the people still fear there may be secret police among the
passengers) to tell that it costs 8 million pounds just to escort Hosni Mubarak from his residence in Heliopolis to Almaza military airport whenever he goes somewhere.
Everybody trying to fly was concerned, worried and anxious. Many had spent the last 48 hours in front of television screens, and many had not slept last night. Also I had only slept three hours. With their very different interpretations of the situation, they all shared a concern for the safety of their families. But when I called M. to tell that I cannot come today, I found him in excellent mood, joyful, even enthusiastic, and telling me: “You’ll be late for the revolution!” He had collected revolution souvenirs: tear gas grenades, broken bottles, and much more, and he is looking forward to see me tomorrow.
Our flights are rescheduled for tomorrow 8:30. Lufthansa will try to fly to Cairo as soon as they can to bring home the people stranded on Cairo airports - there were thousands, even tens of thousands of them, somebody told. But it won’t be today.
All the best,
Samuli
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