Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Cairo Protests - Part V

January 26th, 2011: Second day of demonstrations in Cairo. Up until now the masses and police have stayed away from "my" place of downtown, but as we exited our building in the early evening of Wednesday, a couple of hundered demonstrators made their way towards Tahrir Square through our street. The group was chanting protest verses and was peaceful but angry. Police were present, but as far as I could see they mostly kept their distance from the demonstrators.

Rumours say that military are moving in in Suez, and the Egyptians have today suffered from shut down mobile nets and landlines as well as social networks like Facebook and Twitter along with some newspaper sites. In addition to at least four people that got killed during the clashes today, it is said that two more (a police and a protestor) died today but it's unsure if it was a car accident or something more directly associated with the demonstrations.

The atmosphere among the people in Cairo is tense; most people I've spoken to say that this is a very bad situation, although some of them aren't even sure what this is all about. The Guardian is continuosly, minute by minute, reporting about the situation in Egypt. Rumours say that reporters and other people who document the demonstrations by photo or camera have been rounded up by the police. Some have been driven out in the desert and many have been beaten. The police presence have been high during the whole day and it seems like they're taking no chances after Tuesday's events. All kinds of demonstrations have been prohibited, but many brave souls have defied it all over the country.

Will post a video or two later during the day.

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