The demonstrations began this week on Tuesday, January 25, Egypt’s second annual “Police Day”. The Egyptian people were appalled by the founding of “Police Day” in Egypt, in the first place. A day set aside in Egypt, to honor the police force? We are talking about an organized group of people, controlled by the infamous Mubarak, who patrol the streets as predators and are mostly known for their brutal harassment of people in communities, and especially in prisons. Although the Egyptian government constantly denies such abusive acts by their police force, the memories of torture to the people are still fresh on many Egyptian’s minds. Given this, January 25th seemed more than appropriate to commence such a movement.
It is currently 7 pm on Friday, January 28th, and we are amidst the fourth consecutive day of protesting here in Cairo. We are huddled around the TV in Patrick and Haley’s apartment anxiously awaiting Mubarak’s address to the nation which is said to be any minute now. As of about 11 pm last night, all mobile phone networks, land lines, social networking sites such as facebook and twiitter, and now all Internet access in Egypt, has been completely suspended. There is absolutely no way to communicate across the nation, much less with our families at home in the US. In addition, the entire nation was issued a strict curfew of 6 pm tonight in hopes of repressing protestors. The Egyptian military has been released in order to enforce this curfew Mubarak set into place a few hours ago.
We just listened to Hillary Clinton’s live address from Washington, in which she confirmed the United States’ support for human rights in Egypt, and the need for “reform” in the Egyptian government. She encouraged the government to make a move quickly in response to the wishes of the Egyptian people, also urging the Egyptian government, army, and police force, to refrain from violence and let the protestors express their desires while also urging the protestors to keep their demonstrations peaceful as well.
Now it is 8 pm and the fires that began in downtown Cairo, at the NDP building, which the protestors set ablaze a few hours ago, are spreading rapidly. Many fear the fires will spread to the Egyptian National Museum which is next door. There are also unconfirmed reports of clashes between police forces and military. The protestors are not letting up and Mubarak has yet to speak to the nation.
Over the past four days, the Egyptian people have banned together in such a way that hasn’t happened in decades. What started out as underestimated demonstrations in which the national and international officials had taken very lightly, has turned into violent rages throughout all of Egypt, proved shocking to most people, and sparked much concern across the globe. Today has been deemed “The Day of Rage”. Protestors began around 2 pm this afternoon, shortly after prayer, by gathering in front of local mosques, as those were the safest places in the city. The people marched to prominent places throughout Cairo, including Medan al Tahir, October 6 Bridge, The People’s Assembly, major intersections, government buildings, and all other prominent city icons. The police forces, dressed in full riot gear, have spent the entire day trying to deter protestors by releasing tear gas and firing water cannons which are said to burn the skin. They are also sending undercover officers into the streets with batons to beat and contain any and all protestors possible. The protestors continue, ripping down posters of Hosni Mubarak and his son Gamal, and setting them on fire. Earlier today there were reports of the police forces resorting to live ammunition if protesting didn’t cease, and now those reports have been confirmed. The protestors have welcomed the military forces, cheering them on in the streets, while continuing to demand Mubarak step down and leave the country.
It is now almost 11 pm and Michelle and I just returned to Patrick and Haley’s apartment. We snuck out long enough to go to our apartment a few blocks away to get a bag together so we could stay the night here. As we were walking, the intensity of the situation hit us in the face like a ton of bricks. Our neighborhood looks like a ghost town with only a few police men on the corners, and one homeless man outside. Michelle and I locked arms and walked briskly in silence the rest of the way to our place, hoping we wouldn’t get stopped by an officer for being out past curfew. When we got there we tried to get our TV working so that just in case the Internet service came back on, we could stay put since Patrick and Haley didn’t have Internet in their apartment. After several failed attempts, we decided to give up and pack our bags. 20 minutes later I looked at Michelle and said, “This might sound weird... but we should go ahead and pack our bags as if we aren’t coming back.” She agreed. We didn’t know what to expect but we wanted to be prepared for any and all situations. And if the US decided to evacuate American citizens, we would be ready to go. If they didn’t evacuate us and we were confined to the house, we would also be prepared. It’s a good thing we stocked up on food and water earlier this morning. We brought as much with us over here to Patrick and Haley’s as we could. We also have extra batteries, a flashlight, candles, matches, and a few other miscellaneous things just in case.
We are glued to the TV to make sure we are updated on any and all breaking news. Currently, Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary, is hosting a press conference. They have addressed the issue of Americans here in Egypt a few times and are considering an evacuation of American people, yet haven’t confirmed a decision. We were all disappointed with Mr. Gibbs’ extremely poor press conference. He made a complete fool out of himself on international television. I realize many of the questions posed were ignorant, but he didn’t even have answers for the legitimate ones. So once again, we were left with no useful information from the US as to what would be in store for us Americans.
The feeling I have right now is so surreal. I didn’t get worried until this evening when all communication lines were still suspended, making it almost 24 hours since I was able to call home. I also couldn’t do any research online for possible evacuation plans if it came down to me deciding for myself I was ready to get out. And although the US is encouraging the communication ban be lifted, we haven’t seen any hopes of cooperation. It would make matters much better if I could call home and tell my parents I am ok, but then I ask myself... Am I ok? I really didn’t know anymore. The way things are looking, this situation is going to get much worse before it gets any better. The four of us UNT alum are staying together, putting our trust in the US government, and awaiting the possibility of any word or direction for American citizens here in Egypt.
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We spent the rest of that Friday night wide awake, tossing and turning in our beds, looking at the clock, and checking our phones sporadically in hopes of communication abilities. I really wanted to call home. I knew my parents were getting worried. I hadn’t talked to them in 2 days and the last thing I said was, “I will call you back later tonight.” I also didn’t know how informed they were or weren’t of my situation because the Egyptian government was doing everything in their power to prevent news reporters from getting too much information on national television, much less international television. I prayed western media had efficient and accurate information for our families.
I rolled out of bed around 8 am on Saturday morning and peered out the window to a seemingly normal Cairo. I was hopeful and a little relieved. We watched the news for a little bit to see if there were any new reports, but the only thing we gathered was the fact that Saturday’s protests were supposed to be bigger and crazier than the day before. We decided to go out and stock up on more food and water just in case we were house-bound for even longer. Mubarak had issued another nation wide curfew but this time it started earlier and ended later, and again, we wanted to be prepared. It’s definitely a new feeling to me to be afraid of walking outside my front door. We made our journey outside as quickly as possible and things were actually much better than we had imagined. Saturday afternoon we finally got the TV working in our apartment so the four of us moved our set up and agreed to stay at ours because it is much bigger. At this point we were actually feeling a lot better. The streets were fine, we didn’t have any trouble getting things we needed from the store, and our TV was now working so we felt hopeful. However, in just a matter of minutes that feeling of hope and comfort took a downward slope into complete distress and fear when we suddenly heard gunshots from outside our window. We ran to see what was going on only to find out that what had once seemed so unlikely it was impossible, had finally happened. The ramifications of the demonstrations in Cairo that had begun in the downtown area and near government buildings, had reached our residential street. Looking out of our living room window down the street to the right was a military blockade preventing protestors from getting through. There were 2 massive military tanks with armed soldiers as well in hopes of deterring any looters and anyone else who posed a threat to the community. Looking straight down to the street right below our window were gangs of youths carrying a wide variety of weapons. These guys were inhabitants of our neighborhood who had come together to form an alliance in order to protect themselves, their families, and their property. The men had utilized each and every resource they could. They decided to cut a white bed sheet into thin strips so they could each tie a piece around their arm in order to distinguish between the criminals and the residents. And in case anything went down, they would know who was on what side. The men were armed with anything they could find such as baseball bats, heavy metal chains, knives, canes, sticks, and pieces of cars. One man had a pair of num-chucks. There were also men with samarai swords riding around on vespas. The men built three huge bonfires on our street. One on each end of the street as to prevent any traffic - cars or gangs of thugs - from entering onto our street. The third fire was in the middle of the street. We were given strict instructions from the neighborhood watch guys and then again from advisors on the news to turn off all lights in our apartment, close the curtains, lock all doors and windows, and be quiet. We heard sporadic disturbances of loud whistling and yelling, usually followed by live gunfire. The whistling and yelling was a chain reaction from neighboring communities in order to alert the watch guys on our street that danger was either close or here. I was so thankful for the men on our street as they showed an immense amount of bravery and dedication to their families and communities. When I moved to Cairo, into my Nasr City apartment, I never imagined that only weeks later I would be listening to live news reports a few blocks away of violent looters running through the streets torching vehicles and breaking into homes robbing the inhabitants of everything they could. As the sounds got louder and louder throughout the night, and the gunshots more frequent; Michelle, Patrick, Haley, and I decided to act fast and try to stay as calm as possible in hopes of not further escalating the anxiety. We did as we were told by closing all curtains and turning out the lights. We kept the TV on at a low level and lit a candle. We barricaded our front door shut with the couch, topped by the huge sitting chairs. We put kitchen knives in our rooms and when we finally laid down in bed around 4 am, we clenched them all the way through the rest of the night. We lived like this for a few days. Late Sunday morning we noticed the mobile phone service had finally been reactivated. We still had no Internet, but my Egyptian phone was now working again. Since it was about 11 am and the curfew had already been lifted, Michelle and I walked to the closest place possible to buy more minutes for our Egyptian phones so we could get a call out to our families. I finally got in touch with Mom and Dad long enough to say I was ok and could they please call me right back on this number so I wouldn’t lose all my minutes and get disconnected. Right after I got that out, Mom was no longer on the other end of the line. Luckily, I heard from her again about an hour later.
Although I had already decided in my head that I needed to get out of Egypt asap, I didn’t tell Mom and Dad. I simply let them know I was ok and that I was monitoring the situation, looking at all options, devising a contingency plan, and making sure I was prepared. I had packed up my entire apartment so that I would be ready to leave if and when I was able to. At this point, the Cairo International Airport was complete and utter chaos. Most airline companies were canceling all flights going in and out of Egypt. The planes that were already there were being grounded. No ticket sales were successful. The thousands of foreigners that were trying to leave were being turned away and left stranded at the airport. The few flights that were scheduled to leave were either delayed or cancelled. Not to mention the fact that all public transportation had been shut down. Very few cabs were running and the ones that were definitely didn’t want to go to the airport. Even if it was possible to get transportation to the airport, I knew I would be taking a risk by being on the streets. On top of that, I had zero Internet access to even research any information on the slim possibility that I might be able to flee. However, I knew I had to get out of there and although I had all forces working against me, I was going to try like hell. Michelle and I stayed up all night again on Sunday night trying to get a plan worked out. Michelle’s boyfriend, Nelson, was our saving grace. He stayed up around the clock once we finally got our phone lines working again and called every airline, every airport, and all the necessary officials, and kept us informed. He searched every website and finally found a flight with Ailitalia to Milan, Italy, that was leaving the next afternoon at 1:20 pm. We took it. We realized the stakes were very high. There was a good chance we wouldn’t be able to get a cab to the airport. There was an even better chance that once we got to the airport, we would be denied a boarding pass. And there was the almost definite chance that once we got our boarding passes and went through security, our flight would be delayed or cancelled. We also knew that if that happened, we would be stuck at the airport for the entire night, and possibly several days if flights didn’t start running again.
It is only by the grace of God that Michelle and I got out when we did. We each had to leave our big suitcases full of personal belongings behind in our apartment along with our bedding. The only way we could have taken all of our things is if we took two separate cabs. We knew that wasn’t happening because it was hard enough to find one cab. Even if we were successful in finding two cabs we could have gotten separated and who knows what would have happened then. We took the hit by leaving our things in Egypt, and found a cab after about 30 minutes of searching in hopeless agony. We paid the driver 4 times the amount it normally costs to get us there. The 20 minute drive took about an hour and a half. We had to drive through downtown first to drop off a different passenger. The streets were quite different than they were when we first walked them the first week in January. The mass crowds of people that were once walking the streets in a fury to shop in the suq and sit at cafes with friends were now walking the streets in a fury to get away from violence.. or get a point across to the government depending on which group of people we’re talking about. Every intersection and street corner was manned with a military tank full of armed men. There were burned vehicles everywhere and several police tanks that were torched the night before as well. The barricades and blocks neighborhood watch groups had built the night before were still up and the damage to the NDP building was more than apparent. And until we got to the airport, there was very little traffic.
Thanks to our cab driver, we were able to get to the front door of the airport. He put his car in park in the middle of bumper-to-bumper traffic and prevented the traffic to continue, however slowly it was, and created a gap big enough for Michelle and I to squeeze through with our bags and get to the front doors. We had to bribe a man to get us inside the airport past the mob of people swarming the exterior. Once we got in, it was another journey in itself. We waited in line for hours, staring at the screen full of delayed and cancelled flights, but still wanted to try. We finally got our boarding passes and went through security. Our 1:20 pm flight finally took off at about 4 pm - Praise the Lord.
