CAIRO: About 100 people gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Monday, not to celebrate those who instigated the revolt there five years ago that overthrew Egypt’s longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak but to praise the police who tried to stop them.
“We are here to celebrate with our brothers, fathers, and colleagues in the Egyptian police... who sacrificed their lives and blood for us,” said one of the demonstrators, 52-year-old home appliance repairman Refaat Sabry.
He wore a pin on his jacket depicting Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Egypt’s latest general-turned-president, whose crackdown on the youth activists who led the 2011 revolution has dashed their hopes for a new era of political freedom.
“Continue Mr. President,” said a placard held by one demonstrator, while others handed flowers to police, who have arrested thousands of government opponents under El-Sisi’s rule.
The blaring siren of an armored police vehicle sounded nearby, a reminder of the street battles of 2011.
There are no official celebrations to mark the uprising against Mubarak and significant protests are unlikely as security forces have detained people from administrators of Facebook pages to student activists and closed art centers and cafes where activists might gather.
Al Masry Al Youm, Egypt’s largest independent newspaper, dedicated a page to cartoons mocking the state of the revolution, and the various groups that have tried to claim it, from the Brotherhood to the police.
In one sketch, two men in winter coats walk in the rain as one says to the other “this is the Arab Spring.” In another, an aging Muslim Brotherhood supporter yells at an impoverished youth to go and instigate a revolution so he could “ride” it.
In letters and interviews from jail, youth activists charted their journey from the hope and exuberance of the 18-day revolt of 2011 to their new battle against despair.
“I have nothing to say: No hopes, no dreams, no fears, no warnings, no insights, nothing, absolutely nothing,” Alaa Abdel Fattah, who is serving a five-year sentence for taking part in a small protest, wrote in the British Guardian newspaper.
Back in Tahrir, high-ranking police officers handed out fliers proclaiming that the police serve the people.
Roads leading to the Interior Ministry were cordoned off with police trucks and barricades. Revolutionary graffiti daubed on the walls of Mohamed Mahmoud street, the central Cairo site of violent standoffs between police and demonstrators, has been largely erased.
Yet some still believe change is possible.
“Revolution is ongoing, as life and dreams are ongoing,” activist Mahienour El-Massry wrote, in a letter from jail.
“We are here to celebrate with our brothers, fathers, and colleagues in the Egyptian police... who sacrificed their lives and blood for us,” said one of the demonstrators, 52-year-old home appliance repairman Refaat Sabry.
He wore a pin on his jacket depicting Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Egypt’s latest general-turned-president, whose crackdown on the youth activists who led the 2011 revolution has dashed their hopes for a new era of political freedom.
“Continue Mr. President,” said a placard held by one demonstrator, while others handed flowers to police, who have arrested thousands of government opponents under El-Sisi’s rule.
The blaring siren of an armored police vehicle sounded nearby, a reminder of the street battles of 2011.
There are no official celebrations to mark the uprising against Mubarak and significant protests are unlikely as security forces have detained people from administrators of Facebook pages to student activists and closed art centers and cafes where activists might gather.
Al Masry Al Youm, Egypt’s largest independent newspaper, dedicated a page to cartoons mocking the state of the revolution, and the various groups that have tried to claim it, from the Brotherhood to the police.
In one sketch, two men in winter coats walk in the rain as one says to the other “this is the Arab Spring.” In another, an aging Muslim Brotherhood supporter yells at an impoverished youth to go and instigate a revolution so he could “ride” it.
In letters and interviews from jail, youth activists charted their journey from the hope and exuberance of the 18-day revolt of 2011 to their new battle against despair.
“I have nothing to say: No hopes, no dreams, no fears, no warnings, no insights, nothing, absolutely nothing,” Alaa Abdel Fattah, who is serving a five-year sentence for taking part in a small protest, wrote in the British Guardian newspaper.
Back in Tahrir, high-ranking police officers handed out fliers proclaiming that the police serve the people.
Roads leading to the Interior Ministry were cordoned off with police trucks and barricades. Revolutionary graffiti daubed on the walls of Mohamed Mahmoud street, the central Cairo site of violent standoffs between police and demonstrators, has been largely erased.
Yet some still believe change is possible.
“Revolution is ongoing, as life and dreams are ongoing,” activist Mahienour El-Massry wrote, in a letter from jail.
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