What was supposed to be a short visit to Cairo while in transit to points north turned into something longer. Organized street protests began on January 25th when the general public answered a call to protest against the regime of Hosni Mubarak. For three days the protests grew as the fear of the police and gangs of plain-clothed thugs was overcome thru practice.
As the week progressed, the Muslim Brotherhood announced that they would join protests scheduled for Friday, 28th of January. When Mohammed El Baradei returned to Egypt on the 27th to support the protests it was clear a confrontation of historical significance was about to occur. On the morning of the 28th the internet and mobile phones were disconnected by the government. The metro station at Tahrir Square was closed and I travelled to the next metro station to the north – Nasser Station – and then walked back to Tahrir Square along Talaat Arb Street.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talaat_Harb_Street
Downtown Cairo was as quiet as it is every Friday morning – the weekly day of worship and rest. Along Talaat Arb street are the remains of the old downtown. When I worked with older Egyptian engineers in my early projects in Egypt they described how, when they were teenagers, Talaat Arb was the centre of town where all the young people would go at night to the movies or a café.
Egypt, up to the 1960s had a major film production industry that produced entertainment for the entire Arab region. In recent decades state corruption and censorship has reduced many Egyptian institutions to a shell of their former selves including the movie industry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Egypt
Now that freedom has returned to Egypt, another Egyptian film production renaissance will probably arise and the economic impact – and others like it – will be part of the advantage of Egypt’s revolution.
As the week progressed, the Muslim Brotherhood announced that they would join protests scheduled for Friday, 28th of January. When Mohammed El Baradei returned to Egypt on the 27th to support the protests it was clear a confrontation of historical significance was about to occur. On the morning of the 28th the internet and mobile phones were disconnected by the government. The metro station at Tahrir Square was closed and I travelled to the next metro station to the north – Nasser Station – and then walked back to Tahrir Square along Talaat Arb Street.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talaat_Harb_Street
Downtown Cairo was as quiet as it is every Friday morning – the weekly day of worship and rest. Along Talaat Arb street are the remains of the old downtown. When I worked with older Egyptian engineers in my early projects in Egypt they described how, when they were teenagers, Talaat Arb was the centre of town where all the young people would go at night to the movies or a café.
Egypt, up to the 1960s had a major film production industry that produced entertainment for the entire Arab region. In recent decades state corruption and censorship has reduced many Egyptian institutions to a shell of their former selves including the movie industry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Egypt
Now that freedom has returned to Egypt, another Egyptian film production renaissance will probably arise and the economic impact – and others like it – will be part of the advantage of Egypt’s revolution.
Another asset awaiting revival is the entire down town of Cairo – at least six square kilometres– which is filled with magnificent architecture from the late 1800s thru 1940. Some restoration and commercialization has begun with these buildings but it too has been slowed by unreformed property laws from the time of Nasser.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sebwhite/4508915890/in/photostream/
Medan Talaat Arb is one of the centres in downtown. Here was the famous Groppi’s Café.
http://egy-plus.com/landmarks/96-06-15.php
At around 11:00 AM Medan Tahrir was quiet with little traffic. Eight hours later the square was a battle zone with over 10 dead, hundreds wounded, and the regime’s forces driven off the streets by rocks and Molotov cocktails and crowds numbering in the thousands.
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