11th day of protests: Out in the streets people are catching up on the latest events, exchanging war stories. I made a couple of attempts to enter the Tahrir area, but was impossible. My hopes was to find one of the make shift hospitals and offer my assistance. When I'm not studying I'm working as a First Aid/CPR instructor for the Swedish Red Cross. It's more than frustrating to not be able to help when I'm qualified for it. The ICRC and ERC have been stopped from entering Tahrir and medical supplies and other essentials like food and water are being confiscated by Mubarak supporters. Some streets are completely controlled by either pro-Mubarak or pro-democracy protesters; a picture resembling that of a country in civil war. The destruction of central Cairo is massive.
Dark clouds are moving in on the city, like a bad omen predicting more chaos to come. Cairo today is like a rubber band stretched to a maximum, ready to snap at any moment. The pro-democracy protesters are calling this day "Departure Day", hinting at the deadline for Mubarak to step down. Exactily what that means is still unclear. Some are talking about marching towards the presidential palace, others are talking about the violent erruption of the human volcano in Tahrir Square.
The military is to some degree stopping pro-Mubarak protesters to enter the square, but it's more than likely that many of them have managed to get past the security check points.
I see people with crutches, plasters and bandages everywhere to show the extent of the violence used from all sides during these past 11 days of protests. In my bag I have a basic first aid kit, just in case.
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