I woke up this morning and something was noticeably different -- where was the noise??? No honking, no loud laughing, no sounds of the city. When I looked out the window, an apocalypse appeared to have wiped out the entire population of Dokki overnight. Today marks the anniversary of the first day of the Egypt's revolution last year, and all of Cairo is congregating in Tahrir Square right now. The Egyptians are using this day to celebrate the anniversary and also protest their government's lack of self-determination/ensure that power is turned over to civilians.
Nobody knows how this day is going to turn out, not even the Egyptians that are protesting. It all depends on how the military and police force decide to react to the protestors. It could be a peaceful day or a very violent and dangerous one. Previous crowd control tactics in Tahrir have been tear gas, fire hoses, physical assault, and BB guns. Additionally, rumors are circulating that the police are going to be spraying people with blue paint that will not wash off for months so that protestors can be identified and face consequences.
Protestors in Tahrir today are technically breaking Egyptian law. Egypt has been under a declared state of emergency for decades, starting when Sadat was assassinated. The civil liberties that are guaranteed in Egypt's current constitution (opinion, press, association, forming unions) are essentially null because of the Emergency Law in place. Under this law, people are not permitted to block traffic or prevent government functioning, which is exactly what will happen in Tahrir today. Thus, the government and military has the law on their side.
Due to the unpredictability of today's outcome, you all will be happy to hear that all of us on the program are on house arrest and are spending the day in the apartments. We are going to be thinking of our Egyptian friends that are in Tahrir and hoping that they will return back to us safely. This day is also important because it will most likely determine if we will be able to remain in Egypt. If things get out of control today, evacuation is definitely a possibility. I will be devastated if that is the case... I am in no way ready to say goodbye to Cairo.
On a lighter note, here are some pictures from our trip to the Giza Pyramids this past weekend :)
Libby- I heard on NPR this morning that the military was going to
ReplyDeletelift the "Emergency Act". Keep your head down and keep the blogs
coming.
Grandpa Marsh
i love you libster!!! keep posting! the pics are gorgeous....and YOU BETTER NOT COME HOME WITH BLUE PAINT MISSY!!!! miss you!
ReplyDeleteHey Lib!
ReplyDeleteA colleague of mine, who is attending the Arab Health 2012 meeting in Dubai this week, told me a couple of days ago that he spoke with a guy from Cairo who said that they were expecting quite the rumpus on the anniversary – I haven’t seen the news for a couple of days, so what's the verdict? The smart play is to avoid the scene, although in my younger days I always wanted to see it for myself – Remember, I was a 6'4" man with a posse in tow at the time, so maybe you want to sit this one out given the circumstances… There is a mantra we abided to in the Army, which is "always keep your head down"... I know that you are smart enough to follow this sound advice. Have fun!