Reading the Pictures: <i> Day 15: Tahrir Resurgent -- Exclusive Photos From Cairo</i>

Watching the situation play out in central Cairo is like watching a roller-coaster. Last Monday and Tuesday had the feel of imminent regime change. Wednesday and Thursday brought the thug-led government crackdown filling Cairo's sky with sticks and rocks. Friday was a cool-off day followed by a masterful weekend PR show by the government causing the U.S. to back off in the name with piecemeal reform. As a consequence, Monday was a depressing day for the resistance. Stores reopened, as did the banks, traffic resumed and the government spin was: what revolution? Which brings us to Tuesday.

Rock and roll?

In a matter of speaking.

BagNews has had two photographers on the ground for over a week now. The well-respected Alan Chin, arriving on Saturday night, suffered the confiscation of four of his cameras at the airport by government officials as part of the harassment of journalists in what seems like a systematic effort to reduce the flow of democracy images.

Alan's photo above conveys three developments in Tahrir on Tuesday: the crush of people as the crowds escalated again; the increase in energy and intensity on the part of the anti-Mubarak protesters; and the excitement generated by by the words of a former Google executive released from detention who electrified the crowd.

Here is the full set of photos by Alan Chin, in large format, from Tuesday in Tahrir Square, with his commentary. And here you can find the archive of all the photo-reports from BagNews since the Middle East crisis began.

Stay tuned for another update within 24 hours.

(Photos ©Alan Chin/BagNews -- 2011)