29-June-2011
The uneasy peace was shredded last night at Tahrir Square as police turned on the crowd with tear gas. Tonight could be even worse – but only after the football has finished, of course.
Local soccer Godzillas, Zamalek and Ahly, the Manchesters United and City of Cairo, will contest the first leg of their thoroughly worshipped derby. The cafes and restaurants of the capital will heave.
Hours before, a moderate throng (by Tahrir standards), still numbering into the thousands, has gathered on the site of the 25 January revolution, perhaps the most famous roundabout in the world at the moment. They chant slogans such as “We don’t want another presidents.” Large chunks of rubble lie in the street and many in the crowds have bandages wrapped around their heads from last night’s turmoil. Some say the problems last night were incited by paid pro-Mubarak stooges. Who can know? Smashed windows don't tell tales.
TV cameras probe for pockets of action among the chanting assembly. But Tahrir’s heart is not quite in it this evening – well not yet.
“The fans from the [Cairo] stadium will make it down here after the game – there will be 50,000 of them,” says a friendly gentleman leaning on a railing next to me in semi-smooth English. “Some will stay all night, they will sleep here.”
An hour before the game, an energetic group of protesters, the bulk of which are males in their late teens and early twenties, splinters off, flowing down a street off the square, chanting in resolute and incendiary tones.
They pause at intersections for maximum impact, snaking their way through the canyon-like streets of Down Town.
About 20 minutes before the game, the gaggle of pent-up testosteronites disperses.
The noise recommences about ten minutes later. But now it has the practiced cacophony of football chants. The cynic in me says that sport is certainly ‘opiating’ these masses, distracting them from what’s really matters. But my new friend snaps me out of my cynicism.
“The people are not happy with the revolution yet. They say there will be one million people in the square again on Friday night. There is still much to come.”
I’m attacked by a pang of regret that I will not be in Cairo to witness Friday’s reaction – we will be moving on today, heading north to Port Said and the Suez and then south.
But this ongoing game has a long way to go. Striker Hosni Mubarak was shown the red card early on for continued foul play. But in reality, it’s too early to know which way this will go for Egypt United.
Steve Madgwick
