Graffiti covering Cairo's Mohamed Mahmoud Street, near iconic Tahrir Square, has been wiped off. Sarah Murad asks who's responsible Anger was sparked among artists and political forces on 19 September after graffiti images covering the walls of Mohamed Mahmoud Street documenting the 25 January Revolution were whitewashed. While denying any connection with the erasure, state officials were believed by artists to be behind the wipe out. Attempting to contain the problem, Prime Minister Hisham Kandil called upon all graffiti artists to turn Tahrir Square into a setting "worthy of documenting the revolution's events". In reply to the whitewashing, more graffiti images, symbols and slogans evoking the revolution and subsequent events filled the street's walls the following day. On 21 September graffiti artists and their supporters were on the street from 8am until sunset to complete the paintings. On Saturday, there was a book opening in Tahrir on graffiti compiled by a number of artists. Editor Sherif Boraai has been documenting all the graffiti of the last year and half. The book title is Walls Shout or Godran Tahtef. Ammar Abu Bakr, a prominent graffiti artist, told Al-Ahram Weekly, "I went to see the graffiti after people who were there during the whitewashing told me what happened." Abu Bakr added that he thought it was not easy to find out who did it. "Mohamed Mahmoud Street is a symbolic setting for revolutionaries and there are many who would want to wipe such significance off its walls," Abu Bakr noted. In November last year, the street was the scene of five- day deadly clashes between protesters and police. Since then, it has become a prime venue for revolutionary-themed murals. On 20 September Abu Bakr painted a new graffiti -- a head sticking out its tongue, surrounded by words "Erase more, cowardly regime". Nazli Hussein, a prominent political activist who was present during the graffiti whitewash, said that nobody would dare to wipe the graffiti off the walls unless they received protection from the police. Hussein talked to three men who were covering up and asked them why. One said the American University in Cairo -- located there -- had complained. Another said that street residents were behind the art. The third said they had orders to clean up the area around Tahrir Square. Seif Al-Islam Abdel-Bari, deputy Cairo governor of the western district, told the Weekly that Cairo governorate had nothing to do with cleaning up the graffiti, stressing that they never gave orders for their removal. "Many don't know that graffiti is a well-known art all over the world. So it is possible that some volunteered and washed them off with the aim of cleaning the area," Abdel-Bari said. Abdel-Bari justified the presence of the central security forces in the area, saying it was part of a cleansing campaign. Abdel-Bari, however, pointed out that there were some "insulting statements in the graffiti that are not appropriate," adding that there should be "certain places available all around Egypt for graffiti". Abdel-Bari noted that they are for creative and artistic inputs in all forms, "however, the process of painting graffiti should be more organised." Until recently, most graffiti was aimed at remnants of the old regime and the then ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. photo: Khaled El-Fiqi
