El-Tahrir Square

kind of unreal to be in the location where history was made just a year ago

After the revolution the Egyptian army walled off several streets around Tahrir Square to restrict traffic. These walls have now been painted by graffiti artists with scenes from the revolution. This wall is just south of the American University in Cairo campus.

The heart of modern Cairo, Tahrir Square, is typical of the more modern, commercial centre of Cairo; it houses numerous important old and modern structures in addition to it being a public transport hub, all of which have turned the square into one of the most important and busiestareas in the city. However, Tahrir Square witnessed a series of past events and changes of regimes throughout the history of the country.

Photography exhibit at De Brakke Grond in Amsterdam - I was struck by the photos of the women who participated in the Arab Spring uprising in Cairo, taken by young photographer Pauline Beugnies. I follow the news in the USA and look closely at the photos - and wondered why there were so few women represented in the photos we saw of the revolution. Was it indicative of the repressive culture ? Seeing this show in Amsterdam I found the answer - the women were present but usually kept themselves separate. They were involved and integral to the uprising. It was wonderful to see Ms. Beugnies visceral and poetic photos of the events in Tahrir Square.

30 June, on the first anniversary of the election of Morsi, tens of thousands of Morsi opponents massed in Tahrir Square and outside the main presidential palace in the Heliopolis suburb demanding Morsi’s resignation. Demonstrations were also reported to be in progress in 18 locations across Cairo and in other different locations across the country including Alexandria, El-Mahalla and cities of the Suez Canal. The demonstrations are described as being backed by multiple entities, including the Tamarod movement formed by members of the Egyptian Movement for Change in April 2013 that claims to have collected 22 million signatures calling for President Morsi’s resignation. On the night of 3 July, after a warning hours earlier to intervene, the Egyptian Armed Forces came out with a statement announcing the end of Mohammed Morsi’s presidency. In the same statement, the military announced that the constitution was suspended, that a presidential election would be held soon, the chief justice of the constitutional court, Adly Mansour, is now head of the government and that a transitional technocratic government would be formed until the election.[