Urgent: Army Forces break up Tahrir sit in by force

After some protesters started obstructing the streets around the square, the army forces took that as an excuse to send in its forces to break up by force. They also arrested many of the protesters there. These two videos were streamed live by Tarek Shalaby :

Egyptian Protest in London

On Sunday the 17th of July , people gathered in front of the famous 10 Downing Street in London to show their protest against allowing figures from the old regime to hide in the UK. In addition to asking the UK government to freeze all their assets in UK banks.

Below is the letter sent from Mr. Mostafa Ragab - the director of the Egyptian House in London - to David Cameron about the above matter:

Dear Mr Cameron

On behalf of the British Egyptian Community in UK we thank you and highly appreciate your support to the Egyptian Revolution as you were the first Head of State in Tahrir Square showing your support to the Whole country. History shows strong ties and relations between UK and Egypt , this made thousands of British Egyptians and millions in Egypt have a lot of expectations and are pleading to the British Government to liaise with the Egyptian Government in jointly investigating of The Egyptian assets that belong to the ex-Egyptian regime and other Egyptians in the UK.A verdict could be jointly reached whether these individuals are innocent or not and the legitimacy of their assets.

Your urgent attention to this subject would be highly appreciated.      Kindest Regards, Yours Sincerely,

Mr Mostafa Ragab 

Director of the Egyptian House          

Dr Shenouda Shalaby 

Egyptian UK Management Committee 

Call in the Army ... or not .. ?

OK I have to say this: I am fuckin confused! Now ever since the army hit the streets after January 25, they were our most trusted power, defending the protesters against the regime vigilantes. The army have been in power since February 11th when Mubarak stepped down, and ever since that time they have gone up and down in the scales of being liked and disliked by the public. Videos crept out of army men torturing protesters by beating them up and zapping them with electric rods. But this same army have bowed down to allot of our requests, including choosing a prime minister we agree upon and releasing a modified version of the constitution; which I found to be very pleasing and a very big step even though many were not happy with it. I was one of the people who voted NO in the last poll, but since the majority voted YES we have to be democratic and agree about the new constitution till we get a new one.

Anyway back to topic, yesterday was known as "The Friday of Purification" , the people have gathered in huge numbers to ask the government (which is now the army) to present Mubarak, his family, and his men to trial. The army tried the same tactic as before and released a video showing the arrest of Zakarya Azzmi on Thursday. Though that was great news to hear, but it did not stop the people from flooding to Tahrir Square.

I started my habit of following Twitter to get the feel and the news right from the heart of the square, everything seemed normal as any peaceful protest. But as the time of the curfew crept upon the protesters, no one seemed willing to move. This is where I draw a red line for my support to the protests in Tahrir. Yes you can protest (Don't forget that the army first considered protesting as a crime, then changed that in the new constitution) but no you can not break the law that was placed by the governing body which is now keeping the country in a point of a semi balance. The army is what we got left, do you want to rise against them? Fine, then what? Are you going to run the country from Tahrir? Are you going to protect the country's borders from Israel? Protest all you want, ask for what you want, you are free now and this is the time to shape up the future for Egypt. But once the curfew begins there is no need to act stubborn and squat in the square. If so, then you only have yourself to blame for the consequences.

Egypt army kills 1 dispersing overnight protest

Clashes erupt around Cairo's Tahrir Square - Middle East - Al Jazeera English


The whole night turned into a fuckin war, shots fired, cars burnt, Molotov bombs thrown, its January all over again but this time its wrong. The blame falls on both sides, on the protesters for breaking the curfew, and on the army for using excessive force to break up the squatting at the square. And about the army officers who joined the protest, shown in several videos on Youtube stating they are with the protesters against corruption., I really don't know what to make of it. It is nice to see army men taking sides with the protesters, but when this results in them asking the protesters to stay in the square because they are afraid of arrest or execution, then again we are crossing a red line here.

The army released a statement saying no shots were fired, which is false because it truly shows in the videos on Youtube and stated by many people living around the area (including my cousin who could hear gun shots from 2 to 4 AM). The army also suspects businessman Ibrahim Kamel to be behind what happened at Tahrir being part of the NDP party and the anti revolution movement by sending armed vigilantes disguised as military police and normal civilians to spark up the fights between the people and the army.

If I would point a few fingers myself, I would point it at some "trusted" activists on Twitter and Facebook whom I have noticed have posted nothing but aggravating comments about standing against the army and not letting "the revolution die". These people are using their vast popularity to spread the word they want people to hear, and unfortunately allot of users go blindly behind what these activists say without using their brains to think for a second. I will keep the names to myself and let time and the future reveal them to you, and if I am wrong then I will take back what I said, though I do have a strong feeling about this.

I leave you with some videos published about the Friday incidents.