CAIRO: The boom of tear gas being fired sounds across downtown Cairo. Hundreds of black clad police storm forward, anchored by their armored vehicles, firing ever more gas at thousands of Egyptian demonstrators, who in a failed effort run onto a side street to avoid the burning sensation as the smoke rises from the street. Eyes are watering and dozens of activists are carried by fellow protesters toward a field hospital at a nearby church. This is what has come of downtown Cairo on the main Qasr el-Aini street leading to the iconic Tahrir Square. As thousands of Egyptians took to the main square on Friday afternoon following the noon prayer, Egypt's security forces upped their attacks, sending barrage after barrage of tear gas into the crowd that had gathered near a barricade on the main street leading to the square. This was where the battle to keep the police away from the tens of thousands in Tahrir came to be, and continues into Friday night. As the frontlines continued to push forward, hurling stones and Molotov cocktails at the police, new tear gas was bursting through the air, sending protesters scrambling for cover. “This is it. This is the end of [President] Morsi,” one protester was overheard by Bikyamasr.com as he moved toward the field hospital, seeking aid for his red eyes. He encapsulated those throngs who had made their way to downtown Cairo on Friday, charged by their conscience to end the regime of Mohamed Morsi, who the protesters argued had done too little to change the new Egypt. His decisions made on Thursday night angered protesters, who said it turned him into a tyrannical leader who needs to be removed. Chants against the Muslim Brotherhood president were echoing throughout Tahrir during the afternoon and into the evening. Determination is in the air, despite the massive violence being inflicted against protesters by the police. “We will brave any attempts to force us to leave,” another protester told Bikyamasr.com while watching the violence on both frontlines, Qasr el-Aini and Mohamed Mahmoud. “This is the exact same as last year,” another protester said, referring to the violence that occurred in nearly the exact same location a year ago this week that left more than 50 people dead in the worst violence since the January 2011 uprising. Few protests in recent months have captivated the country as much as Friday's, with average citizens coming out in full force to demand a change in leadership. They argue Morsi is giving in to the ultra-conservatives, and has forced the country on a trajectory that will remove the successes of the January uprising that ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak. For these protesters, dodging tear gas and rubber bullets has become and almost every protest affair, but they maintain it will not deter them from demanding change. “If we need a new revolution, then this is it. The police cannot stop us. We will bring change to Egypt,” one protester said. Once again in Cairo, it is raining tear gas.
