Egypt Elections: Tahrir Square Clashes Raise Fears About Future
CAIRO -- Protesters retook control of Tahrir Square late on Saturday after a protracted series of clashes with security officers armed with tear gas and rubber bullets. But as it approached 11:15 p.m. local time, police had begun to move back into the area in force. And rumors ran rampant that police officers from the much detested Ministry of Interior were gathering at various entrances to the square.
Up a side street to the west, in the direction of the Interior Ministry, bouts of rock throwing and tear gas firing continued. There were numerous reports of badly wounded protesters, including at least two who had lost eyes after being hit in the face with rubber bullets.
Late reports put the casualty count at one dead and nearly 700 wounded over the course of the day.
"It's like January 25th all over again," people in Tahrir said repeatedly, hearkening back to the very first clashes of the revolution that unseated Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak -- but not, as it turned out, his system of governance.
Others, noting the swift return of informal security measures and self-protection that took shape in early February, and again this week, called it a repeat of "January 25th, January 28th, and the first few days of February all in one."
For many who came to Tahrir on Saturday, it was another sign of how far the government and security forces are willing to go to sustain the status quo, even with democratic elections in sight.
"I don't care about fake elections," said Ahmed Attar, a 30-year-old activist and telecommunications employee who had rushed down to join the melee after reading about it on Twitter.
"We have to keep fighting for the revolution," Attar said. "We have to take the risks and accept what comes back. This revolution is not just happening online; it is in line."
Hossam el-Hamalawy, a prominent labor organizer who found himself caught up in the tear gas and rock throwing on Saturday, described the scene as one that had taken place occasionally since February and a sign that the revolution had not yet taken hold.
"These clashes aren't going to overthrow the system," he said, "but they're mobilizing the people again, and they're an important deterrence against the police. The security forces are the main threat the regime has against us, and we always need to send a message to them that we are not afraid."
For the past several months, ever since the fall of Mubarak, Egypt has been ruled by a military council, which has repeatedly stumbled over its own promises to restore civilian power and has engaged in abuses reminiscent of those during the Mubarak era. The vote that is due to begin on Nov. 28 would only select a parliament. The election of a new president, with true constitutional powers, has been delayed until early 2013.
Still, as it became increasingly clear that conservative religious groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and parties from the extremist Salafist Muslim movement were likely to fare well in the vote, the Egyptian army used public fears about the interruption of civic society to justify those abuses -- while simultaneously playing a double game, crushing dissent from leftist and Christian movements.
Any accord with the military council began to break down on Friday, when Islamists and secular liberals joined forces in one of the largest protests since Mubarak's ouster to demand the end of martial law.
By Saturday night, after the army stood by while police forces attacked civilians, the army's reputation was in tatters, and the impending elections, like the revolution itself, seemed increasingly at risk.
"I can't describe my feelings about this," said Raied Salama, a senior official in the liberal Social Democratic party, who had put his campaigning on hold to come down to Tahrir. "As one of my colleagues said, the January 25th feelings are all back. I cannot say if that is a good thing or not. You recall the memories of the 25th, and you feel happy for what we accomplished, but given everything Egypt has passed through since then, I am very worried."
How far the message of Tahrir carries among the general public, which has grown exceedingly worn down from the months of unrest, is difficult to say.
On television, the Egyptian government responded to today's clashes with a flurry of propagandistic messages, characterizing the protesters as "baltagiyas" (pro-regime thugs) and destroyers of the reputation of the original movement.
At one point, according to several Twitter users monitoring state TV, broadcasters compared the actions of the police and military council to American police confronting Occupy Wall Street and suggested that the West had justified its use of force.
As midnight approached in Cairo, with several thousand people in the square and more arriving in droves, there seemed to be little indication that anyone was going home soon.
Follow Joshua Hersh on Twitter at @joshuahersh for updates and the latest on the upcoming elections in Egypt.
Read earlier dispatches from Cairo on HuffPost World.
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First Posted: 11/19/11 05:06 PM ET Updated: 11/19/11 06:02 PM ET