Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Riots in Cairo

It's been an eventful day in Cairo. Today was a public holiday for the police, so in order to insure the police did not get their day off, there were demonstrations all around the city. From my bedroom window we could hear clearly the roar of the crowd who gathered in mohandiseen before marching into medan tahrir to make their protests heard.

At 3 am, when getting ready to leave the club we were in, after dancing the night away, in Maadi, the bar owners switched on the live TV reports and we heard of the cars being burnt out in the streets, and shots had been fired (not sure who or why) and 3 dead. Our fabulous singer (Ahmed Harfoush) took the mic and warned everyone to pay heed before heading home. The images from the square really are very impressive, on TV- I avoided going near.The evenings news gathered the crowd together as people went round everyone in the bar to check how we were all getting home and working out safest routes for us all. Amazing how horrific things often being people together in a way that great things seldom do. Thankfully the streets the entire way home were completely empty.

sorry my blogging on the subject is not more insightful politically... to be honest... i've been dancing all day, avoiding it. I am lucky. For the people who really believe this is the only way to get a brighter future for themselves and their families it is a very stressful time. I hope something positive comes out of it all. More riots are predicted for tomorrow. I am guessing it will be a stay at home day for me! will share more news as it comes in.

2 comments:

HipChristina said...

I love your comment "i've been dancing all day, avoiding it" and I think that's probably the smarter thing.

Best of luck, and stay safe!

Layla Taj said...

I worked in Cairo and Sharm from 2003 to 2008 .I got the foreign liscence pulled but nothing like this. I really saw this coming and often spoke to my friends in the hotels where I performed about it. It was just a matter of time.Being also a christian Egyptian,it's sad that so much is happening all at once. Now in New York, I'm representing Egypt for the Egyptian Authority of Tourism in New York in February 2011. I'm sure that many countries will avoid going to Egypt right now. I really have great concerns. Anyway Christina,be careful.Although our dance brings us so much joy,there are alot of people that don't share in the happiness. Thanks for keeping us tuned in. Keep well.
Layla Taj