Military occupies Egypt's iconic square but people power continues to haunt Tahrir

Despite the conspicuous presence of security forces in Tahrir Square since it was cleared of protesters at the start of the month, activists still hope to return there

Tahrir Square, the iconic symbol of the Egyptian January 25 Revolution, is overrun by military police who prevent any protests from taking place, but Ahram Online gets a sense from activists that they haven't given up. The Coordination Committee of the Masses of the Revolution is calling Egyptians to pray the "Feast Prayer” in Tahrir Square. These prayers take place on the first day of the feast holiday that signals the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
“While I pity the army soldiers and policemen standing there for the whole day, the scene provokes me so much,” Gamal Eid, head of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) tells Ahram Online.
Other politicians also see the scene of the soldiers filling the square as inciting. “The way they surround the square: it's as if they fear an Israeli occupation. [But] we are Egyptians and we have the right to be there,” Abdel Aziz El-Hussini, a member of the Karama Political Party told Ahram Online.
On 1 August the army forces smashed into Tahrir Square to disperse the sit-in, which had been demonstrating there since 8 July. Some activists were detained and later released, but since then the square has been completely occupied by the army and police forces.
To ensure that protesters will not be able to get into Tahrir Square again, greenery has replaced demonstrators' tents. Moreover, the Cairo government launched a survey for opinions on how to decorate the square.
So how do the revolutionaries feel about being bumped out of the symbolic square?
After several failed attempts to protest in Tahrir Square, many have decided to postpone the idea of protesting there.
“We need to win over public opinion again before we go back to Tahrir: for the time being the majority of Egyptians don't want any more protests in the square,” Shady Ghazali Harb, member of the Youth Revolution Coalition and founding member of El-Wayi political party.
The perception of the Tahrir Square sit-in is not very positive. Many people think it is just a waste of resources in terms of time and they complain about the traffic it's caused. Also, several media have reported that today's protesters in Tahrir Square are not the ones who initiated the peaceful protests back in January and which toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.
“Tahrir Square was over-used. The revolution can attain its demands by other means,” El-Hussini told Ahram Online.
“I think it is better now if each fights for the purification of his field, like hospitals and universities and that we go to Tahrir Square when we really need to,” Eid seemed to echo the sentiment.
Military boots revolutionaries out
Several protests started in Tahrir Square but were stifled by the military forces. For instance, the first protest attempt since the military booted the demonstrators camping-in was on the funeral of the first martyr of one of the clashes in Abbassiya, Cairo. On the morning of Friday 5 August the military forces turned away the protesters who were heading to Tahrir.
Another major protest was deflated the Friday after. “For the Love of Egypt” was organised by liberals and Sufis to demonstrate the unity of Egyptians and to demand that Egypt become a civil state. This unity, with the surprise that the usually apolitical Sufis agreed to a political protest, was in defiance of a Friday protest overtaken by Islamists on Friday 29 July, which triggered several tensions in the political scene. The “For the Love of Egypt” protest was deflated when the deputy prime minister, Ali El-Selmi, met with several political parties and the liberals called off the demonstrations. The parties announced they were awaiting a promised statement by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf on supra-constitutional principles to be released within days. Accordingly, only a small group went to Tahrir, and it was thereafter known as the Sufi Friday. Even on that day protesters were denied access to the square itself; it was filled with hundreds of policemen and army forces.
After that only a small protest of tens of people went to Tahrir Square: one on 15 August after Mubarak's second court appearance and the other on 19 August against Israel after they killed five Egyptian soldiers in Sinai. In both cases the protesters were denied access to the square itself.
Moreover, the following Friday, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces, paid Tahrir Square a visit to show his support for his downed soldiers in Sinai.
All eyes remained on Tahrir Square during the 18 days of the uprising that forced Mubarak out of power. During the months that followed Egyptians continued their revolution, not settling until the corrupt, entrenched regime is purged from all stations of power.
Currently, the square is full of greenery and security officers, but revolutionaries are waiting for the right moment to take it over again.
Several activists agree that if one thing could fill political forces and revolutionaries with indignation and bring them together back to Tahrir Square; it's the military trials of civilians.
Mona Seif, a political rights activist, says “I just want to regain the square because the army has no right to dominate it now: it is the incarnation of people's will.”