CAIRO - Revolts in some countries bring freedom, destruction in others. In Egypt's case, the anti-Mubarak popular uprising brought money, particularly to the owners of apartments overlooking Al Tahrir Square, the seething point of anger against the regime of former president Hosni Mubarak in January. These owners are finding in the massive gatherings that happen on the square almost every Friday a good chance to make money. They charge cameramen and photojournalists desperate to get the best view of square gatherings for allowing them into their balconies and rooftops. The fee can be as much as $100 per each two minutes for Egyptian photojournalists. “Time is becoming very precious on the balconies of the houses overlooking the square,” said Saeed Shahat, a photojournalist from the Arabic language daily Al-Gomhouria. “I was asked one time to pay 400 Egyptian pounds for spending two minutes on the balcony of one of the houses. This went with discount by the way,” he told The Egyptian Gazette in an interview. Other photojournalists and cameramen and women tell similar stories about the balcony business in Al Tahrir Square. They say the residents of the square are suddenly discovering the lucrative side of owning a residence close to the launch pad of the Egyptian revolution that put an end to Mubarak's 30-year autocracy in February. “It all depends also on the importance of the day,” said Iman Helal, a photojournalist from the independent daily Al Shorouq. “The fee is as big as the events of the square themselves,” she added. Helal said balcony owners charged journalists even more money when there was a large number of demonstrators in the iconic square. During Egypt's 18-day revolution, the business side of square housing was even more clear when TV crews sought to get the best view of the demonstrators who camped there. Rooms overlooking the square in hotels close to the area were rented for higher rates than others which had another view. In early February, a British TV journalist had to pay hundreds of pounds to rent a room in a low standard square hotel in order to get a good view of the square. Even with this, none of the square apartment owners are ready to be open about the new business horizons the revolt has opened to them. “These reports are not true,” said a gatekeeper in one of the buildings in the square. As ancient as the building he guarded, the doorman darted a look of suspicion at every passer-by. He said none of the apartment owners in the square leased their balconies to newspaper or TV people. But, Essam Atta, the manager of a nearby hotel, is more open to discussions about the revolution business. He says his hotel has the right to make money from the privilege of being at the centre of events. “During the revolution, the rooms overlooking Al Tahrir Square were in high demand,” Atta, 50, said. “We had to benefit from this situation,” he added. Saeed Shahat, the photojournalist from Al-Gomhouria newspaper, kept haggling with the balcony owner until he brought the 400 pounds down to just 100. The owner even asked him not to tell other journalists about the special price he got for using the balcony of his apartment to get photos of the square. “Even with this, I ended up by not paying anything at all for snapping the protests on my camera,” Shahat said. “There was a long line of other journalists who wanted to use the balcony. I seized the opportunity and escaped,” he added before he laughed.
