Standing Tall Against Repression
Jacopo Quaranta
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2046372,00.html#ixzz1D3ctYUNQTahrir Square, February 3
After two days of clashes with pro-Mubarak groups, demonstrators calling for the end of the regime of Hosni Mubarak remained on Tahrir Square. This woman, a former television journalist, occupied a checkpoint on the square, where she checked women who wished to enter.__________________________
‘Mubarak, Mubarak, What Have You Done?’
Yasmine El Rashidi
Chris Hondros/Getty Images
Protesters gather on the front line between anti- and pro-Mubarak factions on the edge of Tahrir Square as an Egyptian Army tank stands by, Cairo, February 3, 2011
On Tuesday, February 1, we headed to Tahrir Square for the “million man” march with some apprehension. After a week of growing protests, the military, which had arrived on Friday, had increased its presence in downtown Cairo, and the perimeter of the square was now completely barricaded with concrete blocks and metal barriers. Just two narrow entryways had been left—each manned by a dozen soldiers and just as many civilian volunteers. Despite the soldiers’ promise not to use force, many of us who entered the square wondered if they would trap us inside, and then, perhaps even shoot. By 4 PM however—well after the 3 PM curfew set by the military—we knew no harm would come, and the protest turned into something of a festival.
The army and the protesters worked together to weed out infiltrators trying to stir up trouble, and the crowd began chanting about the people and army being one. Estimates of the turnout varied, from one million to three. There was barely an empty square foot in the entire square and adjoining streets; people sang, played cards, shared meals, and later in the evening, began to talk of holding a soccer tournament, together with the army. One Al Jazeera correspondent compared it to a rock concert. People spoke of feeling pride at being Egyptian, some of them for the first time in their lives.
There were still a few thousand people in Tahrir Square early Wednesday morning—mostly men, who had remained following Tuesday’s march. I had gone home Tuesday night after spending the day there, and my plan now was simply to drop by early to get a feel for the “morning after.” When I arrived at the square, I was checked thoroughly by four soldiers and five civilian volunteers—three men and two veiled women. They searched my bag, gave me a pat down to insure I was not carrying a weapon, and asked for my ID. Eventually I was waved in, with a stern warning that any form of violence or incitement would not be tolerated.
Many were still sleeping when I got there, just after 8 AM: some on the grass with blankets over them; others in blue nylon camping tents. A few were at the foot of the sand-colored army tanks that had been stationed around the square and were now covered with anti-Mubarak graffiti. In scattered corners, hundreds of others were having breakfast and had already resumed chanting for Mubarak to leave—taking turns at loudspeakers to come up with inventive new slogans. In one corner, by a metro stop that has been closed for a week now, a gathering of 400 protesters recited poetry—their own, against the current regime. “Mubarak, Mubarak,” one of them repeated, “what have you done, look at the country, where art thou?”
Intermittently, two young men who referred to themselves as “The Organizing Committee”—self-appointed civilians who had already spent several nights in the square would take the mike, and with husky voices, tired from days of chanting, call on the crowds to make this ninth day of protest another peaceful one. No fighting, no arguing, and no tension—even if provoked. “We are here as one. We are having a good time. We are well fed and we are united—young, old, Christian, Muslim, men, women. We are simply Egyptians, and we want to show the world what the Egyptian people are all about—peace and unity.”
People were clapping, beating on drums, and singing along to rhyming anti-Mubarak jokes and refrains. (One dark one was about having to flee the country: “Egyptair, Egyptair, business is good, Mubarak’s staying, so we all need flights.”) A few portable radios were on, tuned to the news or playing popular Egyptian songs. Men and women were entering the square with bags filled with food—breadsticks, packets of wafer biscuits, cartons of mango and guava juice. I recognized one of the women, a historian and collector, carrying bottles of Nestle water. Nearby, two young boys selling biscuits were arguing about how to divide their profits. A man nudged my shoulder, noticing my camera. Pointing to the picture of Mubarak strapped around his neck and marked with a red X, he took off his shoe, placed it on the president’s head, and asked me to photograph him.
Yasmine El Rashidi
An anti-Mubarak demonstrator
One man called on the president to step down soon: “Please, my arm is aching from holding up this sign,” he said.
I circled Tahrir for awhile, chatting with protesters who in some cases had been there for three or four days. “If Mubarak does not leave, I will die on Tahrir’s soil,” one man shouted in my ear, wagging his finger, then pointing up to the circling military helicopter overhead, waving it to go away. “Take Mubarak with you, take Mubarak with you,” the crowds shouted as it circled lower and closer, observing them.
No one was satisfied with Mubarak’s address to the nation the night before, in which he’d promised not to run in the September presidential elections, and the general sentiment was that it was too little too late. Those gathered were already planning ahead for more nights in Tahrir, and for this week’s Friday prayer, discussing who would lead the sermon in the square and where exactly that imam—or civilian—would stand. Mubarak had said in his speech that he would die on Egyptian soil; many of the people I talked to said they were prepared to die in Tahrir Square if he didn’t yield.
When I left mid-morning, I began to sense that the day might take a turn for the worse. As I passed two army tanks that were blocking one of the roads I saw a shrieking woman in a purple veil take on a group of thirty protesters. “You are ruining our country,” she yelled. “We had peace for thirty years, and in one week you have brought us to war. Mubarak is good. Mubarak is the best.” From a distance, the Organizing Committee called for the argument to be broken up. A young man in a green ‘Brazil’ hoodie and black jeans jumped to the cause, taking the woman’s arm and asking her to calm down. He escorted her out of the square, and a human shield formed to prevent her from charging in again. “What is happening,” someone’s voice echoed through a loud speaker, “is that NDP people”—i.e. from Mubarak’s party—“are trying to infiltrate the crowds and cause conflict. We will not allow that. We respect everyone’s opinions, but for those who are pro-Mubarak, there are hundreds of other squares around the city for you to occupy—this one though, is ours.” The voice then called on a group of two hundred men to block a far passage into the square where pro-Mubarak protesters were rumoured to be approaching.
I turned around, and noticed the speaker point up to the monolithic building—the government’s administrative center known as the mugamma—to his left. He asked the crowd to follow his finger, directed up at a corner of the roof. “YOU!” he shouted. “Yes you, in the dark glasses who we have seen every day spy on us from above. You can go back and report to the president that we are not going anywhere, until he does.” The crowd roared in applause. The mugamma has been closed for days now, shielded by the military, patrolled by soldiers.
As I exited Tahrir, I noticed the pro-Mubarak crowds beginning to gather. Two hundred of them stood at one of the main entry passages chanting against the opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei, calling him a traitor and spy. They heckled protesters entering the square in a similar way, trying to provoke a confrontation. After lingering a little, they followed me down the Corniche in the direction of a rally, past the charred remains of the NDP headquarters, which had been burned over the weekend, past rows of tanks and soldiers, and on to the State TV and Radio building, where several hundred more pro-Mubarak protesters were already congregated, blasting the national anthem. There were some women among them—one in a wheelchair, fuming, at what had become of the city—but mainly men: some teachers, some white-collar employees, and scores of lower-middle class men in their twenties.
My notebook gave me away, and they surrounded me—dozens of them—roughly demanding that I take notes and report their accusations against the Tahrir protesters. I was pushed and shoved and someone spit in my face. Some of those around me seemed to have switched sides, moved by the president’s Tuesday speech. “Please write,” one man in his forties ordered me in broken English, tapping his finger forcefully on my notebook. “Mubarak, I am sorry. Please, forgive me. I am sorry.” Others wanted me to document their conspiracy theories: In particular, that the Muslim Brotherhood is funded by Iran, and that ElBaradei, who is known to have a villa in Austria and thought to have made a relative fortune from his IAEA post, pays anti-Mubarak protesters LE50 (about $9) a day to stay in the square. “And they get free KFC,” one urged me to add. “And it’s LE200 not LE50.”
The pro-Mubarak crowd seemed tense, on the verge of rioting. Among them, I also spotted a dozen uniformed police—the same ones who had vanished from the streets after Friday’s protests—now cheering, dancing, being carried on people’s shoulders wielding pro-Mubarak signs. One of them looked wearily at me as I pointed my camera up at him. He seemed to direct a soldier to me, who checked my journalist’s card and gave me the ‘OK’ to go ahead with my work.
Yasmine El Rashidi
Pro-Mubarak demonstrators hoisting policemen on their shoulders
I managed to move away from the crowd, and as I walked home, I called a friend who hadn’t yet been to the square that morning—Elijah Zarwan of the International Crisis Group—telling him it felt like clashes were imminent. Newscasters on State TV, perhaps knowingly, had already issued warnings that violence could erupt and urged citizens to stay home.
At 11:46 AM the government restored Internet access—it had been blocked for six days, since midnight on Thursday—and warnings about violence were circulating there too—on Facebook posts and Twitter feeds. We had all heard that pro-Mubarak protesters and thugs had been on the streets the night before, and an unofficial photocopied flyer had been circulating urging protesters to return home and accept Mubarak’s concessions. It appeared to be a warning—I was not sure from whom. Things seemed on the brink.
I had not been home for long before the first rocks were thrown in Tahrir Square around 2:30 PM. A friend called me immediately, reporting that he had been struck in the back by one. I got a cab and rushed back toward the square, hopping out amid thousands of pro-Mubarak protesters on one of the bridges that lead into it. There were children and families, but mainly tough-looking young men, shouting at their adversaries—some insults, some pro-Mubarak slogans, and many calls for them to get lost. The bridge was packed and from either side of it I could see hundreds, and then thousands, of pro-regime demonstrators marching in from different directions. There were reported to be thousands more approaching the city. In their midst, again, were police, chanting along. Some soldiers stood nearby, in a human chain, casually watching the protesters approach.
Yasmine El Rashidi
Pro-Mubarak demonstrators massing on a bridge near Tahrir Square
I hurried through the masses of people until I reached the Egyptian Museum, which faces Tahrir Square. There, some ten thousand pro-Mubarak protesters had gathered, and I noticed many of them were carrying thick, long, wooden sticks. I tried to push further toward the screaming I could hear coming from deeper in the square itself. I could also see smoke that looked much like the fumes of the tear gas the security forces had fired on us days before. In a split second things seemed to turn. The pro-Mubarak crowd in front of me lunged toward the protesters inside the square, hurling stones, picking up debris from the ground and throwing it into the air. I ran to the side of the bridge by the museum, just missing a horse that came galloping out from the crowds with a big man in his twenties. About a dozen more horses hurtled out. I also heard someone shout “camel.” It was a tactic we had never seen before.
Someone screamed at me to get out of the way. The barricades the army had put up ahead of Tuesday’s march seemed to have been cleared, and now the soldiers, who had been friendly with the protesters over the weekend, simply watched the pro-Mubarak demonstrators attack. I could hear piercing shrieks coming from further in the square. Pieces of metal and other debris seemed to be falling from the sky. Something seemed to be exploding, and I guessed it was shells of tear gas—it was a familiar sound. On the bridge above me, thousands of people had gathered to watch, standing on railings and shoulders. Men began to exit the crowds with their hands on their heads, covered in blood. People rushed in with tissues and water.
A man stared at me and asked where I was from, why I had a camera, what I was doing with a notebook. “Those filthy foreigners and their reports,” he said. I had heard that journalists were being harassed, and I quelled the instinct to panic. I lingered at the bottom of the bridge and called a friend who had been on the “anti-Mubarak” side of the square. He said there was still fighting and that he was stuck right in the center, unable to move. I wanted to tweet about the situation, and reached into my pocket for my phone. I had no chance—a round of gunfire went off just a few feet away. And then more. Successive shots. It sounded close—and as if someone in the pro-Mubarak crowd was aiming at the anti-Mubarak side of the square. People started to scream and run. A man pushed me forward, urging me to go up the bridge. A little boy tripped beside me, and his father grabbed him by his middle and fled.
I managed to get away, and found myself back near the State TV building, once again surrounded by pro-Mubarak demonstrators who had stationed themselves beneath Al Jazeera’s Cairo bureau next door, and were chanting messages up to its reporters. I raced through the crowd, apprehensive that they too might be armed. My speed may have given me away, and a group of young men pointed at me and started to shout “Spy! Traitor! Spy!” I panicked, and tried to disappear into the thick of the crowd, emerging a few minutes later with an Egyptian flag hoisted high—my “cover” bought for $2 from a young boy. Others in the crowd were holding flags, and it seemed to keep me safe. As I walked up another bridge, I passed trucks carrying gangs of thugs— the same type we had seen in the protests last week—being off-loaded onto the street. They had pro-Mubarak banners and were armed with wooden and metal sticks. I caught a glimpse of a knife stuck in the back of one man’s trousers. They saw my flag, and waved me on.
By Wednesday evening, many of my friends were among thousands stuck in Tahrir, which was still surrounded by pro-Mubarak armed men. Egypt’s Minister of Health had reported that five hundred people were injured and one killed in Wednesday’s afternoon violence—a figure he updated Thursday to eight deaths and 900 injuries. A friend—who saw it from an apartment overlooking the square—told me a fire had broken out on top of the Egyptian Museum. Activists were posting Facebook updates by the second, when possible identifying those hurt or detained, and making urgent pleas for help—for medical supplies and to transport injured protesters to hospitals. I heard that a journalist I knew had been severely wounded. The defence ministry was urging people to go home, and there were reports that armed men were circling Tahrir and fanning out across the city. In my neighborhood, the civilian patrols who have manned our streets for the past week (using passwords, changed daily, to admit residents) had been warned that the night would be rough.
At around 1 AM Thursday morning, there were reports of new gunfire and explosions in Tahrir. There was also shouting near my house, and someone was roaring into a loud speaker in the distance—I couldn’t make out what. I could hear explosions somewhere in the distance—perhaps across the river. A rumor spread that thugs would storm Tahrir at dawn. There were already flames in the square, and pro-Mubarak men were hurling Molotov cocktails and glass at protesters from a bridge. Reports of protesters who had gone missing—“kidnapped”—began to come in on social networking sites. Some activists and civilian volunteer patrols had managed to detain thugs and hand them over to the military. An activist tweeted, “We find that every thug arrested has ‘Police’ written on his ID. Those are the only pro-Mubarak protesters” Several confiscated police IDs were posted on the internet.
My father, who lives in another central Cairo neighborhood, called me early Thursday morning, warning of the escalating violence downtown. A friend of his who tried to make her way over one of the bridges to Tahrir around 6 AM had been stopped by armed thugs and warned to turn back if she cared for her life. I also learned that the 72-year-old father of a friend of mine had been hit by a stolen car filled with thugs in the middle of the night as he patrolled the streets with other civilians, and is now in an ICU. Reports of armed men around downtown were streaming in every minute.
Asked what it would do to quell the violence, the government only said, “we will invite, and re-invite, opposition parties to the negotiating table for discussions.” On State TV, which seemed to be broadcasting events from a parallel universe, the pro-Mubarak protesters were being depicted as “pro stability.” I got news that the deputy head of the Egyptian state channel Nile TV had resigned half way through the day—unable, she said, to feed the government’s lies. There was much talk, meanwhile, about who was behind the pro-regime mayhem. Even though some people attribute it broadly to the “government,” many believe it has perhaps been orchestrated by former minister of the interior Habib El Adly and leading members of the ruling National Democratic Party—in particular businessmen, who have benefited greatly from the regime. Among the NDP strongmen often mentioned is Ahmad Ezz, who is suspected by many of having manipulated and financed the rigged parliamentary elections in November. There had also been hired thugs out during those elections and the NDP is known to have unleashed hundreds of them to ensure victory.
Yasmine El Rashidi
The charred headquarters of the ruling NDP party
Many people I am in touch with have been trying to get food and medical supplies into Tahrir since early Thursday morning, but most routes in are now blocked by thugs. “Everywhere I turn I find men with knives and guns,” a friend who was heading there by car with supplies told me at 9 AM. On Facebook, friends and activists are posting feeds: “5 of my journalist friends have been beaten and had their equipment confiscated. The pro-mubarak thugs are targeting journalists.” And another: “Friend was trying to deliver medical supplies, they smashed his car and he had to turn & run away #Jan25”. As gunshots and machine-gun fire are reported across the city, hospital workers describe overwhelming numbers of people coming in with concussions, internal bleedings, and third-degree burns. One activist tweets, “We’ve lost 10 Egyptians in the first gulf war in ‘91 and 307 in our war with Mubarak. #egypt.”
Aida Seif El Dawla, the human rights activist who runs the downtown El Nadim Centre for victims of violence, has been posting news of kidnappings, injuries, and deaths. At 12:16 PM she writes, “Watching Mubarak’s terrorism first hand from the window. Officer supervising the violence.” At 4 PM a friend called from downtown. He was out of breath and panicking—he had just seen a group of thugs drag a foreign-looking man down the street, beating him, accusing him of being an Israeli spy.
Later in the day Aida Seif tweets: “Tomorrow, Anger Friday. Demonstrations all over Egypt chanting Mubarak OUT!”
February 3, 2011 1:45 p.m.
"50 Pounds and a Chicken"
NEWSWEEK [magazine]‘s Christopher Dickey chats with [Nawal El-Saadawi]the octogenarian author and activist who refused to go home when protests in Cairo turned violent [when Mubarak's thugs attacked protesters].
Mubarak's Last Gasps
By Esam Al-Amin
There are decades when nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen.”
--V. I. Lenin (1870-1924)
“Victory is accomplished through the perseverance of the last hour.”
--Prophet Muhammad (570-632 AD)
February 04, 2011 "Counterpunch" - -According to the CIA's declassified documents and records, senior CIA operative, Kermit Roosevelt, paid $100,000 to mobsters in Tehran, in early August 1953, to hire the most feared thugs to stage pro-Shah riots.
Other CIA-paid men were brought weeks later, on August 19, into Tehran in buses and trucks to take over the streets, topple the democratically elected Iranian government, and restore Shah Reza Pahlavi to his thrown. It took the people of Iran 26 years, enormous sacrifices, and a popular revolution to overthrow the imposed, corrupt and repressive rule of the Shah.
This lesson was not lost on the minds of a small clique of officials who were meeting in desperation in the afternoon of Monday, Jan. 31, 2011, in Cairo. According to several sources including former intelligence officer Col. Omar Afifi, one of these officials was the new Interior minister, Police Gen. Mahmoud Wagdy, who as the former head of the prison system, is also a torture expert. He asked Hosni Mubarak, the embattled president to give him a week to take care of the demonstrators who have been occupying major squares around the country for about a week.
Not only he had to rapidly reconstitute his security forces, which were dispersed and dejected in the aftermath of the massive demonstrations engulfing the country, but he also had to come up with a quick plan to prevent the total collapse of the regime.
The meeting included many security officials including Brig. Gen. Ismail Al-Shaer, Cairo’s security chief, as well as other security officers. In addition, leaders of the National Democratic Party (NDP)- the ruling party- including its Secretary General and head of the Consultative Assembly (upper house of Parliament), Safwat El-Sherif, as well as Parliament Speaker, Fathi Sorour, were briefed and given their assignments. Similarly, the retained Minister of Information, Anas Al-Feky, was fully apprised of the plan.
By the end of the meeting each was given certain tasks to regain the initiative from the street; to end or neutralize the revolution; and to defuse the most serious crisis the regime has ever faced in an effort to ease the tremendous domestic and international pressures being exerted on their president.
They knew that eyes around the world would be focused on the massive demonstrations called for by the youth leading the popular revolution while promising million-strong marches on Tuesday, Feb. 1. True to their promise the pro-democracy groups drew a remarkable eight million people (ten percent of the population) throughout Egypt on that day.
People from every age, class, and walk of life assembled and marched in every province and city by the hundreds of thousands: two million in Tahrir Square in Cairo, one million in Martyrs Square in Alexandria, 750 thousand in downtown Mansoura, and a quarter million in Suez, just to name a few. It was an impressive show of strength. This time, they demanded not only the immediate removal of Mubarak but also the ouster of the whole regime.
An evil plan devised
As the fierce determination of the Egyptian people to remove their autocratic president became apparent, governments around the world began pressuring Mubarak to step down and be replaced by his newly appointed Vice President, the former head of intelligence, Gen. Omar Suleiman. President Barak Obama, for example, dispatched over the last weekend former U.S. Ambassador, Frank Wisner, a close friend to Mubarak to deliver such warning.
Wisner indeed delivered a firm but subtle message to Mubarak that he ought to announce that neither he nor his son would be presidential candidates later this year. He also urged him to transfer his powers to Suleiman. Western governments have been alarmed by the deterioration of the situation in Egypt and were trying to give their preferred candidate, Gen. Suleiman, the upper hand before events favor another candidate that might be less amenable to Israel and the West, and therefore shift the strategic balance of powers in the region.
On Saturday Jan. 29, The National Security Council advised the president to ask Mubarak in no uncertain terms to immediately step down. However, Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, whom the president consulted, strenuously objected and pleaded for time to allow Mubarak to stay in power at least until he finishes his term in September.
Openly criticizing Obama, former Israeli Defense minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a longtime friend of Mubarak, said, “I don't think the Americans understand yet the disaster they have pushed the Middle East into.” The Israeli lobby and Saudi Ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir went overdrive and intensified their lobbying efforts in Congress in order to exert immense pressure on the administration. Reluctantly, the U.S. president relented.
Meanwhile, the last touches of a crude plan to abort the protests and attack the demonstrators were being finalized in the Interior Ministry. In the mean time, the leaders of the NPD met with the committee of forty, which is a committee of corrupt oligarchs and tycoons, who have taken over major sections of Egypt’s economy in the last decade and are close associates to Jamal Mubarak, the president’s son. The committee included Ahmad Ezz, Ibrahim Kamel, Mohamad Abu el-Enein, Magdy Ashour and others.
Each businessman pledged to recruit as many people from their businesses and industries as well as mobsters and hoodlums known as Baltagies – people who are paid to fight and cause chaos and terror. Abu el-Enein and Kamel pledged to finance the whole operation.Meanwhile,the Interior Minister reconstituted some of the most notorious officers of his secret police to join the counter-revolutionary demonstrators slated for Wednesday, with a specific plan of attack the pro-democracy protesters.
About a dozen security officers, who were to supervise the plan in the field, also recruited former dangerous ex-prisoners who escaped the prison last Saturday, promising them money and presidential pardons against their convictions. This plan was to be executed in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez, Port Said, Damanhour, Asyout, among other cities across Egypt.
By Tuesday evening, Mubarak gave a speech in response to the massive demonstrations of the day. He pledged not to seek a sixth term, while attacking the demonstrators and accusing them of being infiltrated, in an indirect reference to the Muslim Brotherhood. Nevertheless, he pledged to complete his term and that he would not leave under pressure.
Although he pledged not to run, he was silent about whether or not his son would be a candidate. He ended his 10 minute address by giving his nation a grave warning that the situation was extremely dangerous, and that the country would face either “stability or chaos,” presenting himself as the embodiment of the former. Leaders of the pro-democracy demonstrators immediately rejected his characterization and insisted that he leave power.
Although Sen. John Kerry, the Chairman of the Senate Relations Committee, called publicly on President Mubarak two days earlier to disavow any plans for his son to seek the presidency, the Egyptian president ignored his call. However, a former senior intelligence aide, Mahmoud Ali Sabra, who used to present daily briefs to Mubarak for 18 years (1984-2002), said publicly on Al-Jazeera that Mubarak has indeed been grooming his son to become president since at least 1997. Although Jamal had no official title in the government, Sabra stated that Mubarak asked him to present these daily intelligence reports to no one in the government except to him and his son.
Sabra also described how Mubarak was disturbed after the first stage of the 2000 Parliamentary elections, when the Muslim Brotherhood won a majority of seats. He then ordered his Interior Minister to manipulate the elections in the subsequent stages and forge the results in order to put NDP on top.
Shortly after the besieged president’s address to his nation around midnight on Tuesday, the baltagieswere unleashed on the pro-democracy demonstrators in Alexandria and Port Said beating and clubbing them in a rehearsal for what was to come the following day at Tahrir Square.
Tahrir or Liberation Square has been the center of action in Cairo throughout the protests. It’s the largest square in the country located in downtown Cairo where millions of demonstrators have been gathering since Jan. 25. Eight separate entrances lead to it including the ones from the American Embassy and the famous Egyptian museum.
Around 2 PM on Wednesday Feb. 2, the execution of the plan of attack ensued in earnest. Over three thousand baltagies attacked from two entrances with thousands of rocks and stones thrown at the tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators gathered in the square, while most attackers had shields to defend themselves against the returning rocks. While a few were armed with guns, all baltagies were armed with clubs, machetes, razors, knives or other sharp objects.
After about an hour of throwing stones, the second stage of the attacks proceeded as dozens of horses and camels came charging at the demonstrators in a scene reminiscent of the battles of the middle ages. The pro-democracy people fought back by their bare hands, knocking them from their rides and throwing their bodies at them. They subsequently apprehended over three hundred and fifty baltagies, turning them over to nearby army units.
They confiscated their IDs which showed that most assailants were either NDP members or from the secret police. Others confessed that they were ex-cons who were paid $10 to beat up the demonstrators. The camel and horse riders confessed to have been paid $70 each.
The third stage of the attack came about three hours later when dozens of assailants climbed the roofs in nearby buildings and threw hundreds of Molotov cocktails at the pro-democracy protesters below, who immediately rushed to extinguish the fires. They eventually had to put out two fires at the Egyptian museum as well. By midnight the thugs started using tear gas and live bullets from a bridge above the protesters killing five people and injuring over three dozens, ten seriously.
Interestingly, one hour before the planned assault the army announced to the demonstrators on national TV that the government “got the message” and then implored the protesters to end the demonstrations and “go home.” But when the protesters begged the army units to interfere during the brutal attacks that persisted for 16 hours, the army declared that it was neutral and partially withdrew from some entrances despite its promise to protect the peaceful and unarmed demonstrators.
By morning, the Tahrir Square resembled a battleground with at least 10 persons killed and over 2,500 injured people, 900 of which required transport to nearby hospitals as admitted by the Health ministry. Most of the injured suffered face and head wounds including concussions, burns and cuts because of the use of rocks, iron bars, shanks, razors, and Molotov cocktails. Al-Jazeera TV and many other TV networks around the world were broadcasting these assaults live to the bewilderment of billions of people worldwide.
Before the attacks started that afternoon, the Minister of Information had also executed his part of the plan. He called on all ministry employees to demonstrate on behalf of Mubarak in an upscale neighborhood in Cairo. He then asked the Egyptian state TV to broadcast live- for the first time in nine days of continuous demonstrations- the ensuing confrontation between the protesters and the government-sponsored thugs, in order to show the Egyptian people what chaos would bring to the country as Mubarak had warned them in his address just the previous night.
The battle plan was for the baltagies to block seven entrances of the Tahrir Square, leaving only the American Embassy entrance open for the thugs to push back the demonstrators in order for them to come so close to the Embassy that its guards surrounding it would have to shoot at them and thus instigate a confrontation with the Americans.
But the heroic steadfastness of the demonstrators lead by the youth was phenomenal as they not only withstood their ground but also chased them away every time they were pushed. By the next morning the assault fizzled and the whole world condemned the Mubarak regime for such wickedness, cruelty, and total disregard of human life.
“The events in Tahrir Square and elsewhere strongly suggest government involvement in violence against peaceful protesters,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of the Human Rights Watch. “The U.S. and other allies should make clear that further abuse will come at a very high price.”
By that afternoon every major Western country has called for Mubarak to step down including the U.S, the European Union, the U.K, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Norway and many others. In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs called the violence by the pro-Mubarak crowd “outrageous and deplorable” and warned that it should stop immediately.
On the other hand, by daybreak, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians joined their fellow pro-democracy activists in order to show support and solidarity. The leaders of the protests have already called for massive demonstrations on Friday across Egypt after congregational prayers, calling the event “Departure Day,” in a reference to the day they hoped to force Mubarak to resign or leave the country.
In an attempt to contain the damage about what happened in Tahrir Square on Wednesday, Prime Minister Ahmad Shafiq offered his apology to the people. He also denied his government’s involvement, calling for a prompt investigation and swift punishment for those who were responsible. Moreover, Vice President Suleiman appeared on state TV offering an olive branch to the opposition, declaring that all of their demands would be accepted by the government, while ignoring the main demand of Mubarak’s ouster. He then pleaded for time to implement political reforms.
He also appealed to the nation to allow President Mubarak to complete his term until the upcoming presidential elections in September. For the first time, the regime then vowed that the president’s son would not be a candidate. He further called for dialogue with all opposition parties.
Ahmad Maher, 29, the national coordinator of the “April 6 Youth” movement, the primary group that called for and organized the uprising, immediately rejected the offer by Suleiman, calling it a trick to abort the revolution. He insisted on the main demand of removing Mubarak from power before any negotiations could take place.
All other opposition groups, including the popular Muslim Brotherhood, followed suit. Friday’s “Departure Day” is promising to be a decisive day where the pro-democracy demonstrators vowed to continue the protests until Mubarak is ousted.
Meanwhile, the regime in a last-ditch effort to limit the effect of the demonstrations have asked all foreign journalists to leave the country before D-Day (Departure Day), and dismantled all cameras from Tahrir Square. There is not a single network in Cairo today that can broadcast the event live. Clearly, this last ploy was designed to intimidate the demonstrators who insisted that they would not cowed.
Likely scenarios: remember Marcos?
The Obama administration is evidently very frustrated with Mubarak because of his stubbornness and obliviousness to reality. President Obama bluntly declared on Tuesday, “It is my belief that an orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful and it must begin now.”
Since the crisis began ten days ago, the U.S, which has been supporting and subsidizing the Egyptian regime for three decades, expected that its beleaguered ally would listen to its advice, limit the damage, pack up and leave. But his performance and ruthless behavior have endangered its other allies in the region, and caused long-term damage to its strategic interests, namely, Israel, stability, oil, and military bases.
Egypt was one of the most important countries and allies to the U.S. in the region. It was a cornerstone in its strategic equation. If Egypt were to be lost to a more independent leader, the strategic balance of power in the region would radically shift against America’s interest or its allies.
In turn this change might cause a major re-assessment of the long-term American strategy in the region, especially in regard to policies related to Israel and counter-terrorism. Thus, Vice President Suleiman is considered by the U.S. and other Western allies, as the best person who could fulfill this role of maintaining the status quo. Thus, the more Mubarak maneuvered to stay in power, the less likely this prospect would be realized.
Ambassador Wisner, who has been in Egypt since Saturday, was asked to deliver to Mubarak an ultimatum from Obama. It would be similar to the one given to Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines in 1989 by then President George H. W. Bush. Mubarak would be told that he should resign and transfer his presidential powers to his vice president.
If he refuses, the army would then remove him anyway, while Western governments would go after the billions in American and European assets that he and his sons have hoarded over the years. He would also be told that he would face a certain indictment by the International Criminal Court on War Crimes against his people. Surely, Mubarak would be expected to choose the first option and leave either to Germany under a medical pretext, or join his two sons in London.
As Omar Suleiman is promoted to become the new President of Egypt, this appointment will be hailed by Western governments and media as a great victory by the pro-democracy forces and as the expression of the will of the Egyptian people. Political and economic reforms will then be promised to the people, in an effort that allows great leeway in internal reforms but keep foreign policy intact.
However, this move will undoubtedly divide the country. The leaders of the revolution, namely the youth, who have led the demonstrations for the past two weeks and sacrificed blood for it, would continue to press for total and clean break from the previous regime. They will also be supported by popular and grass-roots movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood.
On the other hand, other opposition movements, which have little or no popular support bur were largely created by the Mubarak regime as a décor to portray a democratic image, will accept Suleiman and embrace the new arrangements in order to have a seat at the table and get a piece of the pie. The Egyptian public will likely be split as well.
With the monopoly of the government over the state media and other means of government information control, the new regime may bet on getting a slack from the public while it consolidates its power.
Alternatively, the youth movement, which started its march towards freedom and democracy using social media and independent means of communications, while spearheading the most robust and forceful democracy movement in the whole region, may actually have the last word.
Esam Al-Amin can be reached at alamin1919@gmail.com
>via: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27411.htm
The man who wrote those words – the witty and courageous Egyptian blogger “Sandmonkey” – is currently in hiding in his native city of Cairo, moving from one friend’s apartment to another, as supporters of Hosni Mubarak pursue him and other democracy demonstrators.
I had been trying to reach “Sandmonkey” – who has written for Pajamas Media – ever since the demonstrations broke out, because I suspected he would be in the thick of things. But as most know, the Internet was cut in Egypt until Wednesday.
When I finally got through to him late Wednesday night Pacific time, I discovered that, boy, were my suppositions ever correct. “Sandmonkey” was indeed in the thick of things and his on-the-ground observations that I recorded in this Skype audio interview were in many ways surprising and contradicted what we are hearing in our media.
Some of things that you will hear in more detail in the interview are reassuring, but others decidedly not. On the reassuring side, “Sandmonkey” says the the Muslim Brotherhood is not a heavy presence at the demonstrations and that for the last four years they have been in a weakened position in Egypt, the least powerful of five Islamic organizations (although the most violent).
Also heartening is that he says that there are no leaders for the movement, not Mahmoud ElBaradei or anybody else.
Unfortunately, however, it doesn’t sound much like an Egyptian version of the Tea Party. Mubarak isn’t going away and it’s getting more bloodthirsty by the day. “Sandmonkey” sounded bleak. He said that only America can help at this point by fully backing the demonstrators against Mubarak. “Does America stand for its ideals or does it stand for its interests?” he asked.
On that score, he doesn’t like Obama. But guess what? He liked George Bush!
Have a listen. We’ll be back in contact with “Sandmonkey” soon.
Roger L. Simon is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, novelist and blogger, and the CEO of Pajamas Media. His book, Blacklisting Myself: Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in the Age of Terror, was released in February 2009.
Qatar: Al Jazeera Cairo Office Burnt by Thugs, Arabic Website Hacked
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
UPDATE: Al Jazeera reported that their office in Cairo has been stormed by “gangs of thugs” today. The office has been burned along with the equipment inside it. In the last week its bureau was forcibly closed, all its journalists had press credentials revoked, and nine journalists were detained at various stages. Al Jazeera has also faced unprecedented levels of interference in its broadcast signal as well as persistent and repeated attempts to bring down its websites, said a Press statement released by the network.
Qatar-based Al Jazeera's Arabic news website was reportedly hacked earlier today, by what the news network described as “opponents of the pro-democracy movement in Egypt.”
A Medecins Sans Frontieres advertisement was replaced with an image which showed a picture of president Hosni Mubarak, with the message: “Together we will bring Egypt down.”
According to a Press release sent to Global Voices Online, the network said:
For two hours this morning (from 6:30am – 8:30am Doha time), a banner advertisement was taken over and replaced with a slogan of “Together for the collapse of Egypt” which linked to a page criticizing Al Jazeera.
A spokesman for Al Jazeera said that their engineers moved quickly to solve the problem.
The hacking follows an open battle between Al Jazeera, which has been instrumental in covering the protests of Egyptians against the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak and his regime, and the Egyptian government, which has been trying to take it off the air since the protests started on January 25.
An adamant Al Jazeera vowed to continue its work on the ground, and cover the protests, despite the targeted warfare waged by the Egyptian regime, which included the closing of its Cairo bureau, interference with its broadcast signal, taking it off the air, booting it out of the Nilesat satellite, and the harassment and arrest of its journalists, and the confiscation of its equipment.
The story was quickly picked up by netizens around the world, some of whom expressed outrage at the attack.
Iraqi blogger Raed Jarrar has posted screen shots of the hacked advertisement, and the message it was replaced with by the hackers.
Tweeting from the UAE, Sultan Al Qassemi quotes Al Jazeera saying that the “website AlJazeera.net was hacked by those unhappy with its coverage of the events in Egypt.”
Deena Adel adds:
Al Jazeera website has been hacked - an attempt to tarnish the network's image and obstruct the coverage of #Egypt's #Jan25 protests.
And Sunny Singh notes:
Overnight regime hacked activists, bloggers, protester's accounts. Even Al Jazeera. Apparently they havent figure out how to tweet. #jan25
Meanwhile, others are enjoying the face-off between Al Jazeera and Egypt.
Love this online war. Al jazeera website got hacked for awhile. #Egypt #jan25
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
Egypt: Wael Abbas, Arrested by Army, then Released
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
Prominent Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas, who has been instrumental in uncovering police torture and brutality, was held for about an hour today - raising the concern of netizens around the world. Among those held yesterday were bloggerSandmonkey, who was on his way to deliver medical aid to Tahrir Square.
Wael Abbas
Abbas has since been released, but is flustered that he is being stopped “at every single checkpoint,” because he and his friends are suspected of beingforeigners. The Egyptian regime has upped its warfare against journalists, with a concentrated crackdown yesterday on political and human rights activists, and the international press, to leave protesters without a leadership on the one hand and muzzle the Press, on the other. Like all its plots so far, this plan has fired back too, and the mood was jubilant today as millions rallied all day calling for Mubarak to leave.
Like many digital activists, Abbas continued to live stream today's protests on bambuser. His videos can be found here.
Here some of the reactions on Twitter, after Abbas was reported arrested:
@OuiamY: Youth protest leader Wael Abbas and Michael Nabil arrested. Is this the freedom that Mubaraks regime promised? #jan25 #tahrir
@RamyYaacoub: Breaking News: It seems that blogger Wael Abbas (@waelabbas) has been arrested by the army #Egypt #Jan25
@ahmed: Wael Abbas (@waelabbas) just tweeted that he was arrested by the army! #Egypt #Jan25
As the clock ticked, more tweets continued to pour:
@ghazamfar: #Egypt: Arrested Blogger Wael Abbas OK — 5 Others With him — May Be In Military Police Custody http://tinyurl.com/6egmefh #Jan25
And then came good news:
@weddady: Can someone confirm please that he is free? RT @aonahrawy: @waelabbas just released now from custody @monaeltahawy @3arabawy @ShawkattRaghib
Questions were also asked on promises made against attacks on journalists and protesters:
@bencnn: #Egypt press ctr denies official policy targetting journalists. “Acts of violence against journalists unacceptable, media always welcome”
@Indiffirent: Then where's Wael Ghonim & Y Was Wael Abbas arrested RT@AlArabiya_Eng Egypt's PM: the government vows not to crackdown of protesters #Jan25
Meanwhile, the hunt continues for Google executive Wael Ghonim, who has been missing since January 25.
@monasosh: Search for @Ghonim continues, if you have ANY info email infoaboutwael@google.com or call +44 20 7031 3008. Let's get our friend back #Jan25
And @ircpresident shares a list containing the names of people arrested since the protests started on January 25:
Photo credit: Hossam ElHamalawy
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Protests 2011.
shooting
"It is stupefying that the government continues to send out thugs and plainclothes police to attack journalists and to ransack media bureaus," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. "This is doubly outrageous after the embattled president, vice president, and prime minister all expressed various degrees of regret for the unprecedented attacks on the media on Wednesday and Thursday. They vowed to the Egyptian people in public statements and to the press in interviews that such assaults would not be allowed to take place again."
Ahmad Mohamed Mahmoud, a journalist working for the newspaper Al-Ta'awun, published by the state-owned Al-Ahram Foundation, died today from gunshot wounds sustained on January 28, Al-Jazeera and the semi-official Al-Ahram reported today. Mahmoud was shot by what the newspaper described as sniper fire while filming confrontations between security forces and demonstrators in central Cairo's Qasr al-Aini area, which is adjacent to Tahrir Square. The death is the first reported media fatality during the uprising.
"As the unprecedented campaign against media continues, the Egyptian government has made its intentions abundantly clear: Silence as many journalists as possible no matter the political cost," said Abdel Dayem. "We call on the Egyptian government to immediately release Al-Jazeera's Adbel Fatah Fayed, Ahmed Youssif, and all other detained journalists. We call on governments around the world to forcefully condemn this latest abuse."
In the last 24 hours, CPJ documented another 10 anti-press assaults, 10 detentions, two attacks on newsrooms, and the hacking of a major news website. In all, CPJ has documented at least 101 direct attacks on journalists and news facilities this week, and it's investigating numerous other reports.
Here is a round-up of new attacks on the press:
- Egyptian security agents have detained Al-Jazeera Cairo Bureau Chief Abdel Fatah Fayed and journalist Ahmad Youssif, who was with him at the time, according to Al-Jazeera's website.
- Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor at the U.K. Observer, and Jack Shenker, aGuardian reporter, were stopped today while trying to enter Tahrir Square, the Guardianreported. The paper said they were intercepted by government forces, forced to kneel facing a wall, and interrogated. Beaumont was quoted by the Guardian as saying: "Although the square itself is calm, things around the periphery are very different. We were taken at a checkpoint and led to the Ministry of the Interior ... We were held for two hours ... and we were both warned that if we came anywhere near the square again, things wouldn't go so nicely for us."
- Al-Hurra's Cairo bureau was targeted on Thursday, the U.S. government-funded station told CPJ in an e-mail. Men stormed its offices and "threatened to kill Al-Hurra's two on-air journalists--Akram Khuzam and Tarek El Shamy--if they didn't leave the building," the station said in a statement. The bureau was immediately closed.
- Two correspondents for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Robert Tait and Abdelilah Nuaimi, were detained in Cairo, the U.S.-government funded station reported. "We call on the Egyptian authorities to release our correspondents and their equipment immediately," RFE/RL News Director Jay Tolson said.
- Andrew Henderson, a photographer working for UAE-based daily The National, was attacked on Thursday by a group of young men who broke his camera equipment,National reporter Hugh Naylor told CPJ in an e-mail. "Were it not for a bit of help from the military, he would likely have been mauled to death by an angry mob," he told CPJ. Naylor himself was punched several times in the head "by some angry, plainclothes youth standing near the foreign ministry yesterday," he said. "I will credit one apparent Mubarak loyalist for essentially saving my life. While pretending to be angry at me and taking my passport, he walked me away from the crowd and back safely to my hotel."
- Al-Jazeera's Arabic website was hacked today, the station reported on the air. According to a statement from the station, "For two hours this morning (from 6.30 am-8.30am Doha time), a banner advertisement was taken over and replaced with the slogan of 'Together for the collapse of Egypt,' which linked to a page criticizing Al-Jazeera." A spokesman for Al-Jazeera said that engineers "moved quickly to solve the problem," TheGuardian reported.
- Al-Jazeera's Cairo office was stormed today by Mubarak supporters, the station reported on the air. Its office was vandalized and it equipment was set afire.
- Prominent Egyptian Blogger Wael Abbas tweeted today that he was detained and later released by military forces. He said he has been "getting stopped by every single checkpoint."
- Al-Jazeera English producer Abdullah Mussa tweeted today that he had been attacked. He wrote: "Released from street checkpoint. Three machetes to my neck and angry mob. Foreign journalists are being accused if inflaming situation."
- Eric Feijten, a reporter for Dutch news broadcaster Nederlande Omroep Stichting (NOS), was arrested and released at least twice in the past two days. NOS released a statement after his first arrest saying that Feijten had been beaten and threatened. "Finally after 17 hours without drinking or eating, he was released in a small hotel near the airport," NOS wrote. He left Egypt today and tweeted: "At the airport and there was even a ticket. Kicked out, so i am not happy because i failed to do my job."
- NPR reporter Lourdes Garcia-Navarro was attacked on Wednesday, the station reported. Garcia-Navarro was preparing a piece about the impact of demonstrations on the daily lives of Egyptians when she and her colleague, Ashraf Khalil, were surrounded by dozens of men. "We were asked if we were Israeli spies, or employees of the Arabic news network Al-Jazeera, who have been a particular target of the authorities here. It began to get heated and they wouldn't let us leave," Garcia-Navarro said. She added that Khalil was punched repeatedly in the face.
- Andrew Butters of Time magazine was attacked on Thursday. "I was grabbed by a young guy with a club who hauled me over to an improvised checkpoint," NPR quoted him as saying. He said it was clear that the actions were being coordinated by police and security agents.
- Radio-Canada cameraman Sylvain Castonguay and Radio-Canada producer Jean-Francois Lepine were badly beaten by pro-government supporters near Cairo's airport on Wednesday after their crew's interpreter was assaulted, CBC reported.
- A group of Chinese journalists were briefly detained on Thursday after customs officials discovered bulletproof vests, satellite phones, and walkie-talkies in their luggage, according to news reports. They were released but part of their equipment was confiscated.
2 Detained Reporters Saw Secret Police’s Methods Firsthand
Arrested Egyptian protesters are escorted by soldiers during clashes at Tahrir square.
By SOUAD MEKHENNET and NICHOLAS KULISH
Published: February 4, 2011
Related
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Among the Brotherhood (February 13, 2011)
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More Attacks and Detentions for Journalists in Cairo (February 5, 2011)
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The Lede Blog: Latest Updates on Day 11 of Egypt Protests (February 4, 2011)
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Egypt Officials Seek to Nudge Mubarak Out (February 5, 2011)
CAIRO. WE had been detained by Egyptian authorities, handed over to the country’s dreaded Mukhabarat, the secret police, and interrogated. They left us all night in a cold room, on hard orange plastic stools, under fluorescent lights.
But our discomfort paled in comparison to the dull whacks and the screams of pain by Egyptian people that broke the stillness of the night. In one instance, between the cries of suffering, an officer said in Arabic, “You are talking to journalists? You are talking badly about your country?”
A voice, also in Arabic, answered: “You are committing a sin. You are committing a sin.”
We — Souad Mekhennet, Nicholas Kulish and a driver, who is not a journalist and was not involved in the demonstrations — were detained Thursday afternoon while driving into Cairo. We were stopped at a checkpoint and thus began a 24-hour journey through Egyptian detention, ending with — we were told by the soldiers who delivered us there — the secret police. When asked, they declined to identify themselves.
Captivity was terrible. We felt powerless — uncertain about where and how long we would be held. But the worst part had nothing to do with our treatment. It was seeing — and in particular hearing through the walls of this dreadful facility — the abuse of Egyptians at the hands of their own government.
For one day, we were trapped in the brutal maze where Egyptians are lost for months or even years. Our detainment threw into haunting relief the abuses of security services, the police, the secret police and the intelligence service, and explained why they were at the forefront of complaints made by the protesters.
Many journalists shared this experience, and many were kept in worse conditions — some suffering from injuries as well.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, over the period we were held there were 30 detentions of journalists, 26 assaults and 8 instances of equipment being seized. We saw a journalist with his head bandaged and others brought in with jackets thrown over their heads as they were led by armed men.
In the morning, we could hear the strained voice of a man with a French accent calling out in English: “Where am I? What is happening to me? Answer me. Answer me.”
This prompted us into action — pressing to be released with more urgency, and indeed fear, than before. A plainclothes officer who said his name was Marwan gestured to us. “Come to the door,” he said, “and look out.”
We saw more than 20 people, Westerners and Egyptians, blindfolded and handcuffed. The room had been empty when we arrived the evening before.
“We could be treating you a lot worse,” he said in a flat tone, the facts speaking for themselves. Marwan said Egyptians were being held in the thousands. During the night we heard them being beaten, screaming after every blow.
We were on our way back to Cairo after reporting about the demonstrations from Alexandria for The Times. We were traveling with journalists from the German public television station ZDF, a normal practice in such conditions — safety in numbers.
At the outskirts of Cairo, we were stopped at what looked like a civilian checkpoint.
We had been through many checkpoints without problems, but after the driver opened our trunk a tremendous uproar began. They saw a large black bag with an orange ZDF microphone poking out. In the tense environment, television crews had been attacked and accused of creating anti-Egyptian propaganda. We had been in the middle of a near-riot with the same crew the day before.
The crowd shouted and banged on the car, pulling the doors open. The ZDF crew in the other car managed to drive off, while we were stuck. Instead of dragging us out as we expected, two men pushed their way into the backseat. We were relieved that they were taking us from the crowd, until one pulled out his police identification. Rather than helping us escape, he was now detaining us.
The officer gave the driver directions to an impromptu police station in the Sharabiya district of Cairo, on the roof of a lumber warehouse. The officer in charge there, who identified himself as Ehab, said they were the secret police.
They searched the ZDF bags and found much more than just a camera. “We have a woman with a German passport of Arab origin and an American in a car with camera, satellite equipment and $10,000,” he said. “This is very suspicious. I think they need to be checked.”
Anxiety turned to anticipation when we were driven to a military base. The military had been the closest thing Egypthad to a guarantor of stability and we thought once we explained who we were and provided documentation we would be allowed to go to our hotel.
In a strange exchange that only made sense later, Ms. Mekhennet asked a soldier, “Where are you taking us?” The soldier answered: “My heart goes out to you. I’m sorry.”
After driving to several more bases we were told we were being handed over to the Mukhabarat at their headquarters in Nasr City.
It was sundown when they had us bring everything in from the car. The items were inventoried, from socks and a water bottle to a band of 50 $100 bills. Our cellphones, cameras and computers were confiscated.
We were taken to separate rooms with brown leather padded walls and interrogated individually. Mr. Kulish’s interrogator spoke perfect English and joked about the television show “Friends,” mentioning that he had lived in Florida and Texas.
The Mukhabarat has had a working relationship with American intelligence, including the C.I.A.’s so-called rendition program of prison transfers. During our questioning, a man nearby was being beaten — the sickening sound somewhere between a thud and a thwack. Between his screams someone yelled in Arabic, “You’re a traitor working with foreigners.”
Egyptian journalists had a freer hand than many in the region’s police states, but the secret police kept a close eye on both journalists and their sources. As the protests became more violent, a campaign of intimidation against journalists and the Egyptians speaking to them became apparent. We appeared to have stumbled into the middle of it.
Ms. Mekhennet asked her interrogator, “Where are we?” The interrogator answered, “You are nowhere.”
We were blindfolded and led to the blank room where we would spend the night and into the next afternoon on the orange plastic chairs. The screams from the torture made it nearly impossible to think.
We were not physically abused. Ms. Mekhennet explained that she had been sick and a man appeared with a blood-pressure gauge, but she declined the offer. One officer gave each of us Pepsi and a small package of cookies. It was after 10 o’clock at night, and we had not eaten since breakfast, but the agonizing cries instantly stilled our appetites.
We were told we could go in the morning, and starting at 6 a.m. we asked repeatedly to be released.
Marwan first appeared around 11 a.m. He became visibly annoyed by our requests, complaining that thousands of Egyptians civilians were in detention. He did not appreciate our sense of entitlement.
That was when he opened the door and showed us our handcuffed, blindfolded colleagues from international news outlets. He said that he was exhausted, but would find our cellphones and computers.
About an hour later, we were given back our belongings. Our greatest fear, that the innocent driver would be kept for “processing,” did not come to pass.
We left together, with pangs of guilt as we saw our blindfolded, injured colleagues again, and new people led in, past guards with bulletproof vests and assault rifles.
Were we going to a hotel? we asked.
“You don’t get to know that,” a guard answered.
They put us in our car with orders to put our heads down. “Look down, and don’t talk. If you look up you will see something you don’t ever want to see.”
They left us that way for 10 minutes. The only sounds were of guns being loaded and checked and duct-tape ripping.
An interrogator appeared and asked our driver, “What did you do in Tahrir Square?” He said we weren’t there. The interrogator said to the driver, “So you’re a traitor to your country.”
In Arabic, Ms. Mekhennet, a German citizen with Arab roots, kept telling the questioner that we are journalists for The New York Times. “You came here to make this country look bad,” the interrogator said.
We were told we would be driving out in our car, but escorted by a man with an assault rifle. Again, we were told to look down.
Finally, after a while, our escort ordered the driver to stop the car and got out. “You can go now.”
The driver began yelling “Alhamdulillah” or “Praise be to God.” We looked around and realized we were alone, somewhere in the middle of Cairo, but away from the protests, the normal street traffic slowly moving past
.