HUNDREDS OF thousands of Egyptians flow into the square in the biggest demonstration since the ousting of president Hosni Mubarak in February.
Individuals arrive chatting to companions. A fashionable middle-aged woman in a red turban is carrying a folding chair to sit on during her stay. “I will remain until I get tired or it becomes too crowded,” she remarks.
Marchers formed in ranks behind flag and banner bearers stride into the square across Qasr al-Nil bridge, which connects the river’s western and eastern banks. Just beyond the gilded gates of Arab League headquarters, tents have been erected by Syrian and Bahraini activists who have thrown in their lot with the Egyptian revolutionaries.
Long lines of men are compelled to pause for security checks by self-appointed guardians of the square, determined to exclude thugs with weapons who have wreaked havoc during previous demonstrations. A large, burly man in a tight T-shirt asks why I do not have a bag but when he sees my press card, waves me through.
The square, bracketed by Cairo’s monumental grey administrative building and the elegant rose-coloured Egyptian museum, rings to chants of “Tantawi leave, Tantawi leave.” A cheerleader with naked torso on the shoulders of friends leads the call for the ouster of field marshall Muhammad Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling military council. His appointment late on Thursday of former Mu- barak premier Kamal el-Ganzouri to head an interim government is met with derision. “Illegitimate, illegitimate,” shouts the cheerleader.
Men and women wear headbands in black, red and white, the colours of the country’s flag; children have small Egyptian flags painted on their cheeks.
Youths proudly display bandages on wounds sustained during the battle for the interior ministry, largely quelled late on Wednesday. A few men sport eye patches worn in solidarity with protesters who have lost an eye or been blinded by hard rubber pellets and birdshot fired in their faces deliberately by interior police.
“We insist [on] the prosecution of officers responsible,” states one man, his head wrapped in a thick bandage. “I was hit by a tear gas canister.” Outside the small mosque on the edge of the square, doctors at an emergency medical station say they have not seen any major injuries for more than 24 hours. On blankets on the ground are piles of medications.
Lamia, a young woman collecting money for supplies, says: “The wealthy are donating thousands, not hundreds, of pounds for medicine.” Newspaper columnist Mona Anis, who deferred a trip to Alexandria to be in Tahrir, says Egyptians from all backgrounds “are divided over many issues but not human dignity. We are no longer prepared to take it lying down.
“We want social justice. Nine months have passed and we’re back to square one. The military uses the same phrases, the same words as Mubarak. We are suf- fering from deja vu.”
Two boys and two girls carrying cartons of juice go from one medical station to another searching for people in need of a drink.
Entrepreneurs from every corner of Cairo are in the square selling soft drinks, cooked food, popcorn, bread, woolly hats and puffy loaves of bread. A tea vendor from the distant suburb of Helio-polis has brought plastic chairs so customers can sit for a few moments. He will not vote in Monday’s parliamentary election. “I am confused and I don’t like any of the candidates.”
When he arrives for noon Muslim prayers, Nobel laureate and presidential candidate Muhammad Elbaradei is mobbed as bodyguards clear a path through the people. Blocks of devout men facing Mecca form on the pavement outside a mosque and in front of a fast food outlet to perform the weekly communal prayer. In the sermon, Shaikh Mazar Shaheen calls upon Egyptians from all walks of life to realise the vision of the revolution.
Cries of welcome greet presidential hopeful Abdel Moneim Abul Fattouh, an opponent of the military council who was expelled from the Muslim Brotherhood when he declared his candidacy. Party flags, slogans and electioneering candidates are banned from the square, but many ensure they are seen in Tahrir.
Brotherhood backers are not here in great numbers. The movement and its radical fundamentalist allies had threatened to deploy thousands of supporters and call upon protesters to leave Tahrir. Fearing clashes, brotherhood activists circulate on the outskirts of Tahrir and press Egyptians to vote.
When on Thursday the military council announced the election would be held on time, fundamentalists withdrew their plan to challenge the largely secular protesters in Tahrir, who say the election cannot be held under military rule. The brotherhood, which opposes postponement of the poll, believes it will win a solid bloc of seats in parliament.