CAIRO: The armored vehicle sped down the road, protesters jumping out of the way as the APC whirled left, then right, in an apparent attempt to hit protesters who had retaken Tahrir Square from the police earlier that evening, but were driven out by tear gas. The smoke rose from the streets as the police kept firing. Vinegar and soda was being passed out to everyone as eyes had turned red from the gas. Cairo was again the battlefield for revolution. By 8:00 PM, the police had retreated to their barricades in front of the ministry of defense, giving the thousands of predominantly middle-class demonstrators a chance to return and take positions in the same square that witnessed the ousting of Hosni Mubarak 10 months earlier. It was a cat and mouse game of sorts, with protesters moving forward, only to face yet another American-made barrage of tear gas rang out – demonstrators were more than willing to put the canisters up for the cameras. The chants were clear, these demonstrators wanted the military out. “Down with the Field Marshall” echoed throughout Tahrir Square as thousands and thousands continued to stream into the square in the evening. On the sidewalk just around the corner from the American University in Cairo (AUC) downtown campus, scores of injured were being carried out of harm's way. Some were bleeding, others were passed out as a result of the high level of gas being indiscriminately bombarded into hundreds of people. The smoke lined the sky as bomb after bomb hit the ground, its screeching sound making it know that the eye-burning gas was to be unleashed. But what made Saturday so contrasting from Friday's mainly Islamist demonstration was the diversity of protesters. Men and women from all walks of Egyptian society were present, making their voices home. There were bearded youth, young women, men and families out to call for an end to the military's rule of Egypt. It was a cross-section of Egyptian society, a moment much like the January 25 uprising, where religion, faith, gender and the other divisive ideology that has come to represent the political arena had evaporated. This was not the ultra-liberal left, with their smart phones tweeting away as their fellow Egyptians protest, chant and demand change. No, it was the Egyptians. They had, or have, returned to Tahrir. And they have done so with power and force. While it was not peaceful by any means, with rocks being thrown in the police's direction, it was unifying. If something changed on January 25, on November 19, Egypt may have simply snapped. What made January 25 so successful was not the Internet – surely it assisted, but was not a driving factor – but it was the middle-class who took to the streets for a cause. Today, on Saturday, the middle-class once again took to the streets to remind the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) that this is not their country to rule. As one elderly man told me, “it is the felool [remnants of the old regime] like the military who don't understand that the people don't want them. This is disgusting what is happening and we will have no more.” The question is how far they will go. How far will the military and the police go in attempting to put down the demonstrations? With tens of thousands of Egyptians on the streets, the only way to forcibly remove them would be to shoot and kill. Will they do that? Let us hope not. Saturday should be seen as the return of the middle-class to the streets of Egypt. It is a moment that may have the galvanizing force that January 28 and the police brutality of that day had which catapulted millions to the streets in anger and defiance. Now, Tahrir is gaining steam, but it is through the single voice of the middle-class that will bring change once again to Egypt, if they want. BM
