TAHRIR: Cairo's Tahrir Square has been the iconic home of the revolution since its eruption on 25 January 2011. During the 18 days of revolt before the ousting of former president Hosni Mubarak, Tahrir voiced the demands of all strands of revolutionary opinion, with demands for bread, freedom, social justice and the toppling of a decadent 30-year-old regime being common chants. People from across the social, political and economic spectrum gathered at downtown Cairo's epicentre, at times in their millions. They were determined. They were united. During the past two years, Tahrir has witnessed occasions to celebrate and many more to mourn. Many people were killed there by Mubarak's security forces. Field hospitals were set up in and around the square to treat demonstrators showered with tear gas, water from powerful hoses and live bullets, or physically attacked by police or army soldiers. The funerals of the revolution's martyrs — those murdered during the bloody events of the Battle of the Camel, the Mohamed Mahmoud Street clashes and the clashes outside the cabinet office — also often passed through the square. Tahrir was the centre of a nation swept by euphoria when Mubarak was forced from office on 11 February 2011. For the 18 days before that happened, Tahrir showed a face of Egypt that the world had previously not known. By day, the crowds stood fast against attacks by the security forces. By night, they sat in circles, discussing the future and the changes the revolution must bring. They cooked, washed and cleaned in the square. They sang, sometimes a capella, sometimes accompanied by a guitar, or they attended concerts given impromptu by Rami Essam, dubbed the “singer of the revolution”. They recited poems highlighting the injustice and corruption of the Mubarak regime, the killing of fellow revolutionaries, or painting a rosy, optimistic tomorrow when Mubarak would be toppled. Indeed, Tahrir Square blew the world's mind, all the more so when the revolutionaries, in a very civilised gesture, cleaned and repainted the square before they finally left on 12 February 2011. Yet, a few months into the revolution, cracks had started to appear in the lines of the revolutionaries. Political divisions soon took over, and Tahrir no longer voiced united demands. What it did voice, however, was the outcry of a nation torn between religious rule by the Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafis and other Islamist forces, military rule, in the shape of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which was in charge of the transitional phase but in effect represented a continuation of 60 years of army rule, and civil rule, all amid threats of the country's falling into an economic abyss. Each of these parties took turns in organising rallies and “million-man marches” in Tahrir Square, each determined to show who was the stronger. The “Friday of Coming Together”, held on 29 July 2011, was meant to bring all the forces together under united demands. However, early on that day hundreds of thousands of people affiliated to the Islamist forces took over the square, securing it against the entry of other forces. They raised black flags and described as atheists those who spoke of democracy and liberal notions. The day ended by being dubbed by the media the “Friday of Kandahar” — a conservative and Islamist-ruled city in Afghanistan and a magnet for terror organisations like Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. A sequel was held on 2 November 2011, which the Islamists organised under the banner of the “Friday of Applying the Sharia” and other people recognised as “Kandahar II”. On the first anniversary of the revolution, Tahrir Square witnessed the arrival of more marches organised by revolutionary forces. These reiterated the same chants of the revolution, which had thus far achieved none of their demands. On the other side of the square, Islamist forces were celebrating their new-found gains in the shape of a parliamentary majority. Under the rule of the SCAF, other protests were held in Tahrir Square demanding the speeding up of the presidential elections, with many people being divided over which should come first, the elections or drafting a new constitution. When the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi was announced president on 24 June, 2012, with a slight margin of 49 per cent of the vote, the Islamists rushed to Tahrir Square to celebrate. Morsi also showed up in Tahrir, swore himself into office in front of the public and announced that “the goals of the revolution are finally being achieved.” The revolutionary forces, liberal and otherwise, stood on the sidelines of the scene, mourning what they called the “death of the revolution.” On 22 November 2012, Tahrir Square regained its zeal. People once again converged on the home of the revolution, angrily denouncing Morsi's constitutional declaration which granted him dictatorial powers and put him above the law. The declaration also shielded the Islamist-packed Constituent Assembly in charge of drafting the new constitution and the Shura Council against lawsuits contesting their legitimacy, and it illegally forced the country's prosecutor-general, Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud, from office, instead appointing the Muslim Brotherhood-leaning Talaat Abdallah. A sit-in was immediately in place, with around 250 tents set up in and around the square. More than 30 political parties, together with civil and revolutionary movements and unions from across Egypt's governorates, joined in the sit-in. Even individuals and groups with no political affiliation took part. At least 1,500 protesters set up camp in Tahrir Square, with this figure doubling when the security attacks intensified, or after million-man rallies like 30 November's “Friday of the Dream of the Martyr”. The protesters were further enraged when Morsi gave the Constituent Assembly, from which civil society representatives, the Church and Al-Azhar had withdrawn in protest citing concerns at Islamist hegemony, a period of two months to continue drafting the new constitution in order to give a chance to the withdrawing parties to reconsider and rejoin the assembly. However, within 48 hours the Constituent Assembly had announced it was done with writing the 236-article constitution, severing all hopes that forces other than the Islamists could contribute to drafting the nation's new charter. Immediately, Morsi called for a referendum on 15 December, ignoring non-Islamist demands to postpone the referendum until a public consensus had been reached. This political climate was the fuel that re-energised the protesters in Tahrir, who were unanimous in their demands: either Morsi scrapped the constitutional declaration and put off the referendum, or he left office. However, these demands fell on deaf ears. The referendum was held on time, and the constitution passed with 63.8 per cent of the vote. Today, the protesters are still sitting in Tahrir Square. And Morsi is still giving them the cold shoulder.
AL-ITTIHADIYA PRESIDENTIAL PALACE: Located in Al-Mirghani Street in the upscale neighbourhood of Heliopolis, the Al-Ittihadiya presidential palace was not a venue for protests until recently (only for celebration the night Mubarak was toppled), when all else had failed to win the president's attention. Morsi's controversial 22 November constitutional declaration pressed the wrong buttons for people outside Islamist circles. A sit-in immediately took place demanding the annulling of the decree. Two weeks later, nothing had changed. The clock was ticking after Morsi had called for a referendum on the constitution to take place on 15 December. On 4 December, marches from different areas in Cairo headed to Al-Ittihadiya. The numbers were expected to be around a few thousand. However, by 8pm when all the marches had arrived, the scene was awe-inspiring. Network operators said they had recorded over 700,000 signals from around the palace. Men and women, young and old, from across the social and economic spectrum were at Al-Ittihadiya, chanting, not in denunciation of the presidential decree, but in the hope of the fall of Morsi and the end of Muslim Brotherhood rule. The security forces, including riot police, the Presidential Guard and Interior Ministry officers were present. The palace was heavily fortified, and barbed wires stopped the protesters some distance away. Running a grave risk, young protesters started pushing back the barbed wires, while the security forces retaliated by firing tear gas bombs in their direction. It was a moment during which the nation held its breath, as a disastrous scenario seemed fast looming. The masses jumped back, trying to take shelter in the narrow streets around Al-Mirghani. Fear and death were on everyone's minds. As the air was clearing from the smoke, shouts were heard that it was now safe to come out. To the surprise of all, the security forces had disappeared, leaving the presidential palace unguarded. The crowds were even more jubilant to hear that Morsi had apparently sneaked out of the back door of the palace after feeling the massive number of protesters to be a serious threat. Within minutes, the demonstrators formed a human chain around Al-Ittihadiya. They could have taken over the palace itself, but they decided against it, making do with spray-painting the walls with graffiti of the martyrs and slogans denouncing Morsi and his group. While some of the protesters announced they were going to sit-in in front of the palace until Morsi responded to their demands, the opposition National Salvation Front gave the president a 48-hour ultimatum to annul the constitutional declaration. The following day at 3pm, while tens of protesters had set up camp outside the palace, Islamist militias attacked. They tore down the tents and beat the protesters, including the women. By nightfall, the Islamists had grown in numbers, and so had the protesters. The militias were armed with knives, sticks, live ammunition and tear gas, the protesters with rocks. The Central Security Forces were deployed, but they didn't intervene. Instead, they watched as a bloody battle ensued between the two sides and continued until the small hours of the next day. Eight people died and more than 750 were injured. On 7 December, the protesters came back in larger numbers. Again, they sprayed the walls of the palace — which had been painted clean by the Islamists (not city council workers) — with anti-Morsi graffiti. And again, they set up camp in front of the palace, raising placards calling for the “ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood” and rejecting the “rule of the supreme guide”. Until today, the sit-in is still ongoing.
THE JUDICIARY: The Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) building overlooks the Maadi Corniche. Regarded as the highest judicial authority in Egypt, the SCC enjoys worldwide respect, but it is seen by Egypt's Islamists as an institution that has maintained its loyalty to Mubarak. The SCC swore Morsi into office on 30 June 2012, but to the dismay of the Islamists the following month it ruled that parliament, which they dominated, should be disbanded. Since then, the Islamists have seemed bent on a confrontation with the SCC. This started on the night of 1 December — the day Morsi called for a referendum on the constitution. During what the Islamists claimed was a “million-man protest” in Giza's Al-Nahda Square — an area containing no more than 50,000 people, according to the Giza governor — and which was a show of power under the pretext of supporting the president and his decisions, Islamist leaders called on their followers to sit-in at the SCC before the court issued its ruling the next day on two momentous lawsuits: one contesting the constitutionality of the law governing the elections to the Shura Council — dominated by the Islamists — and the other challenging the legitimacy of the Constituent Assembly that on 29 November had hammered out and hurriedly voted on the draft constitution — after civil and Christian forces and Al-Azhar had withdrawn in protest at the dominance of the Islamists. Tens of Islamists heeded the call at once, but they were followed by thousands on the morning of 2 December before the court was to adjourn. Despite the presence of police forces, the SCC judges couldn't enter the building, the entrances of which had been blockaded by Islamist forces, with some of them climbing over external fences. The SCC described that Sunday as the “the judiciary's blackest day on record”, and for the first time in its history the court decided to suspend its work for an indefinite period, saying that it “would not reconvene until its judges could operate without any psychological or material pressures”. Meanwhile, in front of the court building, the Islamists were celebrating their “victory” with chants lambasting the judges and opposition forces. One such chant was “Morsi give us the cue, and we'll bring them in a keg for you.” Carrying pictures of the president, they described themselves as the “true revolutionaries” and Morsi their true representative. From the Islamists' viewpoint, the court should have dropped the two cases immediately after Morsi's constitutional decree which shielded the Shura Council and Constituent Assembly from any legal contestation. The judges began an immediate strike, following the example of other judges and prosecutors who had stopped work in protest at the presidential decree which according to them “undermined judicial authority”. The Judges Club, a union with 9,500 members, joined in solidarity and announced that it would not oversee the constitutional referendum. Judicial circles were already dealing with much turbulence on this front, especially after Islamist forces held protests in front of the Supreme Judicial House calling for the toppling of the Mubarak appointee prosecutor-general Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud, who was later ousted by the 22 November declaration. Political researcher Amr Hamzawy commented on the SCC sit-in by saying that “the president and his group are leading Egypt into a period of darkness par excellence... He has made a dictatorial decision to hold a referendum on an illegal constitution that divides society, and now he has put the judiciary under siege in order to terrorise it.” While the Islamists eventually got what they wanted, they didn't leave the site of the SCC. Tents were erected around the security cordon enforced by the police, with a few hundred Islamist members determined not to leave in order to make sure that the SCC would not reconvene. After 24 days of sit-ins, the result of the referendum on the constitution was announced, with 63.8 per cent voting yes. Only then, and after celebrating the result in situ, did the Islamists pack up and leave. The last time Egypt's judges announced a general strike was during the 1919 Revolution, when they joined the popular uprising against British colonial rule.
THE MEDIA: On 6 December 2012, hundreds of Islamists staged a sit-in in front of the Media Production City located in 6 October City on the outskirts of Cairo. They comprised a total of 17 fundamentalist groups headed by Hazemoun, a movement made up of followers of the Salafi Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, who was eliminated from the presidential race in March. The Islamists declared that their sit-in was “a protest against the corruption of the atheist media”, and they called for the “purging of private media outlets that have been hostile to the Islamists for no apparent reason”, in the words of Abu Ismail. The protesting hordes announced they would not leave until the draft constitution had been endorsed in the referendum. While the daily schedule of the Islamist protesters started with prayers and Quran recitations, afternoons were dedicated to chants, insulting at many times. Media figures Ibrahim Eissa, Lamis Al-Hadidi and Amr Adib received the lion's share of the threats and insults. By night, the protesters slaughtered sheep or camels — one had been used as a film prop and had been reported to police as having been stolen from the Media Production City premises. The sit-in caused uproar among media figures, who regarded it as an “attempt to intimidate the media and clip its wings”. They also saw it as a direct threat to their safety on their way to and from their workplace. The Islamists insisted that their sit-in was peaceful, despite the fact that they had smashed the car of director Khaled Youssef while he was entering the media city. A few days into the camp-out, one of the satellite channels broadcasting from the media city received a phone call, transmitted live, from an Islamist leader in the sit-in. He threatened that the Islamist forces would “attack the Media Production City if private channels remain biased against the Islamists”. The following day, Gamal Saber, a Hazemoun organiser and the spokesman of the protesters, told the daily Al-Masry Al-Youm that “it was a hollow threat. We were not planning to attack. All we wanted to do was to place the sword of fear and terror on the necks of corrupt media persons who use their corrupt pens against President Morsi and the Islamists.” On 14 December, and against their former plans, the Islamists decided to end their sit-in to vote on the draft constitution the following day. Ironically, the day the Islamists camped out in front of the Media Production City was the same day that Essam Al-Amir, head of state-owned television, had resigned from his post in protest at the “Islamisation of the media”. A day before he resigned, there had been deadly clashes at the presidential palace in which Islamists had attacked peaceful protesters. Al-Amir said that “the state-owned TV presented one side of the story and is biased towards the Islamists, which is not surprising given that the information minister, Salah Abdel-Maksoud, is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
MAHALLA: This city in the Gharbiya governorate is regarded as a nucleus of revolt in modern-day Egypt. An industrious city known for its large assembly of textile workers, Mahalla has played an integral part in pre- and post-revolutionary Egypt. On 27 November 2012, 5,000 workers at the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company marched to Shon Square in Mahalla in protest at “Morsi's dictatorial 22 November declaration followed three days later by his interventionist labour decree,” declared Sayed Habib, a labour rights activist at the Centre for Trade Union and Workers' Services in Mahalla. “The labour decree pushes for Brotherhood hegemony over the trade unions by removing members over the age of 60 from the Trade Union Federation and replacing them with appointed members.” Against such a background, Mahalla workers headed to Shon Square shouting chants such as “Morsi be patient, Mahalla will dig your grave”, and “down with supreme guide rule”, only to be received in the square by Islamist supporters who showered the protesters with Molotov cocktails, bullets and rocks. The Mahalla workers then engaged in a fierce battle and pelted rocks and Molotov cocktails back. Showers of tear gas bombs thrown by security forces who rushed to the scene failed to defuse the clashes. That night at least 400 people were recorded as having been injured. On 7 December, a few thousand angry unionised Mahalla workers marched to the city council and declared the “independence of Mahalla”. “The Independent Republic of Greater Mahalla” was a reaction to the bloody clashes that had taken place at Al-Ittihadiya presidential palace on 5 December. Mahalla's independence, though not regarded as a secessionist movement, was a gesture expressing the opposition to Morsi's regime and the organisation from which he hailed. Two days later, union workers and locals in Mahalla gathered in Shon Square to celebrate their newly autonomous state and denounce the ruling regime. Their chants, such as “raise your head up high, you're a Mahallan” and “down with Muslim Brotherhood rule”, shook the square in a message that they would “not be terrorised by Brotherhood militias”. Addressing the crowd, Fathi Abdel-Hamid of the Independent Federation of Pensioners said, “we are here to declare that we will not tolerate rulers who bleed us in order to remain in power,” while George Ishak, former leader of the Kifaya Movement, added that, “the Muslim Brotherhood is leading us towards a fascist state. We shall not tolerate fascism.” Angry anti-Morsi Mahallans spray-painted graffiti on walls that read “Mahalla is a Brotherhood-free zone”. This nominal act of independence was born in a city with a history of dissidence. In fact, Mahalla is credited with leading a culture of revolt against injustice and corruption, when in December 2006 and April 2008 tens of thousands of workers from the textile sector protested against their dire living conditions and low wages. Their intifada then spilled over to more than 650 demonstrations and sit-ins during 2007 by 198,000 workers from almost all sectors of the economy. It is widely believed that Mahalla was one of the main precursors to the 25 January Revolution.
ABBASIYA: The Cairo neighbourhood of Abbasiya witnessed an amalgamation of events. In November 2011, Abbasiya was home to pro-SCAF rallies, promoted by TV anchorman Tawfik Okasha of the Faraeen satellite channel. A month later, during another pro-SCAF assembly, music was blasted from speakers and groups of people formed dancing circles, while across town, in Qasr Al-Aini Street, there were deadly clashes between protesters and the army. On 27 April 2012, Abbasiya was edging towards a bloody confrontation that in fact took place only one week later. Supporters of Islamist presidential contender Hazem Salah Abu Ismail and other leftist and Islamist forces had gathered in their thousands in Abbasiya, where the heavily fortified Defence Ministry is located, in order to protest against Abu Ismail's ouster from the presidential race. They demanded the dissolution of the Presidential Elections Commission (PEC), which had issued the ruling, and the annulment of article 28 of the SCAF's interim constitutional declaration, which rendered any appeal against the PEC's rulings impossible. Declaring an open-ended sit-in, the Abbasiya protesters drew sympathy from some forces, though not from Abbasiya residents. Minor daily clashes were the norm on those days, but in the early morning of 1 May groups of thugs armed with knives and guns attacked the protesters, leaving 11 dead. As calls among the protesters grew louder for the “Friday of the Great March” towards the Defence Ministry, slated for 4 May, SCAF generals who had been watching at a distance since the sit-in began issued a stern warning against approaching this “lion's den”. Come Friday, the number of protesters in Abbasiya had grown. They chanted for the fall of the SCAF and its leader Hussein Tantawi. One demonstrator crossed the barbed wire set up around the Ministry of Defence building, and this was all the soldiers needed to start their clampdown on the protesters. Water canons and tear gas were responded to by protesters pelting rocks. Some 300 demonstrators were arrested, chased down to the Nour Mosque in Ramses Street and beaten, and, according to military statements, one soldier was shot dead and hundreds of military police and anti-riot forces were injured.
MOHAMED MAHMOUD STREET: On 19 November 2011, clashes broke out in Mohamed Mahmoud Street off Tahrir Square after security forces attempted to evacuate the square by force. The fighting lasted five days, resulting in the deaths of 42 protesters and the injury of hundreds who were attacked with tear gas, clubs, birdshot and live ammunition. The Mohamed Mahmoud clashes are infamous for the “eye-snipping” used by the security forces, which apparently mainly targeted the protesters' eyes with rubber bullets. At the time, the ruling SCAF justified the violence by announcing that “those in Tahrir are thugs, not peaceful protesters.” A year after the clashes, the wounds were still fresh in the hearts of the protesters. They rallied at Mohamed Mahmoud Street on 19 November 2012, to commemorate the martyrs' deaths and their contributions to the revolution and demand retribution. Their killers were still at large. One of the protesters was 17-year-old Gaber Salah, known as “Jika”. He received a bullet in the head when clashes ensued with the security forces and died a few days later after being kept alive on life support. Jika's death was proof to many that whether under Mubarak, the SCAF or Morsi nothing had really changed in the country.
THE CABINET: After the Mohamed Mahmoud Street clashes in 2011, protesters held a sit-in in front of the cabinet building on Qasr Al-Aini Street in protest at the SCAF's appointment of Kamal Al-Ganzouri as prime minister. During the third week of the sit-in, at dawn on 16 December, a protester was severely beaten by military forces deployed inside the cabinet premises, which ignited the wrath of the protesters. Thousands of protesters converged in front of the building, calling for the stepping down of the SCAF. A fierce battle ensued between army soldiers and demonstrators. The violence used by the army led to the death of four people, including Sheikh Emad Effat, a cleric at Dar Al-Iftaa, and the injury of over 250. The army brutality against the protesters was most manifest when the army dragged a woman along the ground, which led to the exposure of parts of her body in front of the public and before the cameras. The fighting at the cabinet building continued for a week, with the army chasing protesters down Rihan Street, Tahrir Square and in Qasr Al-Aini, burning down a number of field hospitals. The clashes resulted in the deaths of 17 and the injury of over 1,000. During the course of events, the Egyptian Institute of Science, which possesses a library of rare books, was set on fire. The SCAF pointed the finger of blame at the protesters, who announced that they were innocent of such a crime and in turn blamed the thugs present at the clashes. On Friday, 23 December, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Tahrir Square in what they called the “Friday of Free Women” to denounce the violations committed against women and protesters in general at the hands of army soldiers. They carried symbolic coffins to commemorate the martyrs. That same day across town another celebration was held in Abbasiya in support of the SCAF. MASPERO: The site of the headquarters of state-owned radio and television, Maspero post-revolution became the venue for Coptic protests against attacks on their community, including the bombing of Alexandria's Two Saints Church just a few minutes into 2011, the burning of the Sol Church in Muqattam and the torching of the Mar Mina Church in Imbaba in May the same year. The Copts felt their freedom of worship had been compromised, and their demonstrations were a cry against the erosion of their civil rights. Consolation was drawn from the fact that Muslims expressed their solidarity with the Copts. Crosses were raised and next to them placards reading, “with Muslim and Christian hand-in-hand, we'll build Egypt strong and grand.” The bloodiest of the clashes witnessed at Maspero was on 9 October 2011, when a mostly Christian march ended with protesters being sandwiched between thugs and army forces. Attacked with batons and live bullets, the demonstrators responded by throwing rocks. An army vehicle ploughed through the crowd at high speed, soldiers set cars on fire, and protesters torched army vehicles. Meanwhile, in a live broadcast, the state media urged “citizens to head to Maspero to protect the army from the Copts”. Twenty-seven Copts were killed that night. On the first anniversary of the revolution, Maspero hosted anti-SCAF rallies. Tahrir Square was filled with Islamists celebrating their parliamentary gains and leaving no choice for the protesters, who were not satisfied that the revolution had achieved its goals, little choice but to recreate the zest of the revolutionary zeal at Maspero. The protesters at Maspero held a two-week sit-in calling for the stepping down of the ruling military council, retribution for those killed during the revolution and the speeding up of presidential elections already slated for June 2012. The demonstrators also called for the “purging of the media, which is toeing the government line and acting like the spokesperson of the military.” On the fifth day of the sit-in, the protesters were attacked by thugs with rocks, sticks and glass bottles, and many injuries were reported. The incident, much like its 9 October predecessor, was blamed on an unidentified party.
MUSTAFA MAHMOUD AND ROXY: These three venues hosted pro-Mubarak or SCAF rallies in 2011-2. Mustafa Mahmoud Square in Mohandessin was where anti-revolutionary groups assembled on 28 January 2011. They dubbed themselves the “Sons of Mubarak” and wanted to see their “spiritual father” remain in power, at least until his term had ended in September 2011. However, their warnings against instability and chaos were drowned out by the chants coming from Tahrir Square demanding change. During a few days, the few thousands grouped in Mustafa Mahmoud Square kept a light schedule, appearing at noon and leaving by sunset. But from then on, Mustafa Mahmoud Square became the meeting point of revolutionary forces before they embarked on marches to other venues of protest. Pro-Mubarak supporters left Mustafa Mahmoud Square only to reappear in summer in the upscale residential district of Heliopolis's Roxy Square. This time they supported the SCAF. Although they numbered in the few dozens, they claimed they spoke on behalf of the “silent majority”. They carried banners calling for stability and talked in nostalgic terms about the Mubarak era. They kept up the habit of meeting at Roxy on Fridays for a few weeks, and again their voices were lost amid those of the revolutionaries.
ALEXANDRIA: The Mediterranean city has played an integral role since the onset of the revolution. Al-Qaed Ibrahim Square on the city's Corniche echoed Tahrir's chants and demands. It has maintained its revolutionary spirit during the past two years, not taking the side of any one particular faction. The goals of the revolution, and preserving its moderate equilibrium, were the only voice heard from Al-Qaed. That is, until Islamist supporters held a rally there in support of Morsi's decree two months ago. Alexandria had its fair share of skirmishes with the security forces during and after the revolution, and with thugs and Islamists. On 1 December 2012, in Sidi Gaber Square thugs attacked a protest held by a number of civil movements in solidarity with the Tahrir sit-in and against the Islamist draft constitution with birdshot, knives, rocks and broken bottles. The Central Security Forces managed to defuse the clashes. The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party denied it had sent its followers to the site of the protest. On 5 December, and as protesters in front of Al-Ittihadiya palace were being attacked by Islamist militias, Alexandrian demonstrators quickly assembled at Sidi Gaber to denounce the violence of the Islamists in confronting their political rivals, raising the banner “the people want true democracy. Bread, freedom and the disbanding of the Constituent Assembly.” On 21 December, clashes erupted in front of the Al-Qaed Ibrahim Mosque on the Corniche between supporters and opponents of the draft constitution. The fighting started after preacher Ahmed Al-Mahalawi urged worshippers to vote “yes” in the referendum on the constitution, stating that “it will usher in long-sought-after stability”. According to eyewitness accounts, a worshipper stood up chanting, “down with the rule of the supreme guide”. He was then apparently beaten up and detained along with two of his friends inside the mosque by members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Outside the mosque, bearded men affiliated to Islamist groupings were fighting with protesters. The bearded men were carrying swords, knives, Molotov cocktails and rocks. Nine people were reported dead and hundreds injured. The following Friday, dubbed the “Friday of Protecting Mosques and Preachers,” Islamists from different governorates arrived at Alexandria's Al-Qaed Ibrahim Mosque bent on fighting the opposing camp. They prevented people not affiliated to the Islamist groups from praying inside the Mosque. After the prayers, clashes erupted between the two factions, but the Islamists, mainly from the Salafist Hazemoun group, were outnumbered by the protesters. Street fights lasted the whole day, and at night when the Islamists had escaped to neighbouring side streets the protesters set fire to their buses. Until last week, skirmishes were ongoing in Alexandria. On 19 January, protesters and martyrs' families clashed with police in front of the Manshiya Court Complex during the trial of those accused of murdering Alexandria's revolutionaries. Tear gas bombs were fired at the protesters. Retribution for those killed during the revolution is another demand that it has thus far failed to achieve.
