Egypt: The Shadow of January 25th in June

"We're trying to start something new," said Egyptian activist Ahmed Salah last night in Tahrir Square as protesters clashed with police. By something new he meant a reiterated version of January the 25th: the scale and rhythm of the protests were similar, and the goal was the same as before - to ensure that the initial demands of the revolution are not ignored by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Why the Conflict?

Tuesday's clashes began to build on Friday. As Dima Khatib writes:

It had been brewing since Friday afternoon when some martyrs' families started an open sit-in at Maspero, Egyptian Radio and TV building. By "martyrs" I mean those killed during Jan25 revolution. The families want killers of their loved ones punished...Families of the martyrs wanted to attend the trial. They negotiated with the police that they could just send in a delegation to represent them. But the answer was: No. So when the session lasted about 3 minutes during which the court just said that the trial was postponed - again - , the families got even angrier. It has been 5 months now.

It was when the Maspero sit-in turned violent, with police using an electric prod made for cattle, that more people came onto the street. By about one in the morning, Tahrir Square was teeming with people. By the time we got there, the tear gas was already being shot from one end of the square into the crowds. The clashes continued until nearly dawn. In a game of tag between protesters and riot police, the police sweeped forward and protesters ran away only to wait, creep forwards again toward the riot forces, until once again they were pushed back. During lulls, police could be seen in the avenues off of the main square, resting, smoking and talking to one another until a captain signaled for them to get back into the square and begin the dance once more. It was and still is a standoff.

Without the police would anyone still be in the square? By cracking down on otherwise non-violent protesters, are security forces feeding the conflict more than dampening it? Probably yes to both.

It's not as if the police forces are unscathed - below, an injured policeman walking away from the square with help from a friend.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook (How Did Word Spread?)

As we walked through the alleyway where riot police and their captain rested, we overhead them wondering how so many people ended up in the square so quickly.

So how did it happen? Word spread in a way that was prototypical of unrest in 2011: a well networked blogger, Gigi Ibrahim (@GSquare86) entered a meetup for Twitter users in downtown Cairo, pulled out her laptop to show video she had just taken of martyrs' family members getting beaten by police forces.

In the video, you could see that one person was knocked down with an electricity prod:

Within two hours, these bloggers had left the gathering and headed to Tahrir. They used every network available, from Twitter to Text messages. The video, having been uploaded in real time, spread just as quickly through every network possible, and there you have it: new clashes in Cairo. That's how a crowd gathered so quickly in Tahrir.

A Standstill

When I asked a police captain (through a translator) why he thought so many people were still coming into the square, he said it's because they have unanswered questions. Of course they do: one of the main problems is that the military won't communicate with citizens. Theres no table at which representatives of Egyptian citizens can sit in order to negotiate with the ruling military as in, for example, Poland's transition from revolution to democracy.

So what recourse to Egyptians have than to return to Tahrir? At the same time, though, can their larger goals be satisfied by the same tactics? By the end of the night, protesters and security forces were as bleary eyed as the other. With everyone exclaiming that June 28th felt a lot like January 25th, and rebelling against the military's enduring grip on power, it all felt a little too circular.