Marching with Shubra
I take the Metro from Attaba to Dawaran Shubra. Most people get off at Al Shohadaa, “Martyrs”. The name of the station was changed last April. It used to be called Mubarak. Only a few people are on the train now. I get off at Rod el-Farag, and walk towards the exit. The station is not really crowded. I wonder if I’ve gotten wrong information, or if the rally is facing a low turn-out. But as I see the sunlight coming in from the entrance at the top of the stairs, I can hear the drums and the chants outside. It fills the corridor with dark and shaking sound. When I step out of the subway, the crowd is not really big. There are many flags, a few different logos, and a group of leaders with loudspeakers, firing up the small huddle in front of them. I walk around them, and take photos. I do not get much attention at first. After a while, a guy tells me to stop taking pictures. I turn on my voice recorder in my pocket. I record the shouts and slogans. After a while, it feels a bit uncomfortable. It is quite obvious that I’m only there to observe. I’m being noticed. I walk away from the crowd, sitting down at an Ahwa one block down the street. The march is set to depart from Shubra at 5 pm. I have an Ahwa-Masboot, Arabic coffee with some sugar, and some nicotine. I’m used to crowded streets, suspicious Egyptians, and loud chanting. It has been going on for a week. But today feels different. It’s that feeling of… the January spirit? Is it returning?
The Ahwa owner is anxious too. He yells at his guys to get the chairs out of the street. The crowd is coming. I step out. The group of hundreds has in minutes turned in to a mass of thousands. The drums and coordinated shouts shake your gut. The old slogans are back, as well as some new ones. “El-Shaab yoreed Izkaat el-ikhwan”. The people want the brotherhood to go. Horeya, horeya. Freedom. Freedom. We march for Tahrir.
I record, take some photos, talk to people, and try to locate El-shaab Maspero in the moving crowd. El shaab maspero is the nickname of The Maspero Youth Union, formed after the massacre of 28 protestors, mostly Copts, in front of the Maspero television building in October 2011. Shubra is home to many Copts, and I suspect El-Shaab Maspero to have been central in the staging of this march. There are dozens of different banners, flags and symbols, most dominating perhaps, the ones of the Constitution Party, the party of Muhammed El-Baradei. He is supposed to be somewhere next to me in the crowd, but today, the idea, rather than the man, is important.
The rumbling noise of Tahrir hits us in the face as we walk down Kasr el-Nile street, past Groppi, and the Greek Club at Talaat Harb square. Shubra gets ignited. They shout and sing. Today we shall make our voices heard. As we turn the corner between the Egyptian Museum and Tahrir, we see that the people are here. The march of millions is a fact.
I wait by the corner of Kasr el-Nile and Tahrir for my friend Amr. Together we track down the camp of El-Shaab Maspero in the middle of the square. They tell me that they have worked in a broad coalition to stage Todays protest march from Shubra. They have a list of demands, worked out in cooperation with the Constitution party, and several other organizations. The top priority is the abolishment of the recently issued decrees by Morsy. If the demands are not met, the activists will demand the resignation of the president. The sit-in has begun. We are awaiting Friday.
Lars, Cairo