Bulldozers at work in front of Cairo University, Photo by Aaron T. Rose After many weeks of being isolated from its surroundings, the cleanup of what was once the Al-Nahda sit-in is underway. Bulldozers push the remnants of tents, posters, mattresses and everything else that was used in the makeshift camp with indiscriminate nonchalance in heaps, in complete disregard of what falls under their mighty shovels. Street sweepers sort through the flotsam and jetsam, salvaging what can be of use and disregarding the rest. In between the scavenging and cleaning, they take frequent breaks, looking out over the dusty, messy square. Scaffolding has gone up around the statues in the square to make needed the repairs and clean the political slogans off the marble and granite, removing the last traces of what was only a few days ago a stronghold of opposition that strangled a neighbourhood.
