The Star in Egypt: A day in Tahrir Square

www.thestar.com

Published 18 minutes ago

Egyptian protestors take part in a demonstration on February 1, 2011 at Cairos Tahrir Square as massive tides of protesters flooded Cairo for the biggest outpouring of anger yet in their relentless drive to oust President Hosni Mubarak's regime.

MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images

Jayme Poisson Staff Reporter

CAIRO—Nahad Hafez’s head pokes through a group of people gathered around four rows deep.

In the frenetic chaos of Cairo’s Tahrir, also known as Liberation Square — where hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered Tuesday in the largest day of protest — everyone clamours to say their piece.

“I’ve got something to say” is how it often begins, before they launch into careening breathless sentences, talking about their frustrations but also their hopes for Egypt.

They chant: “Why doesn’t Mubarak leave already”.

They beat drums.

They dance in the streets, waiving their colours — red, white and black.

Before the Internet was shut down, Hafez, 27, was organizing on Twitter, Facebook and by text message.

“Where are you from?” she said.

Canada.

“Are you actually interested in our news there?”

The world is watching Egypt, the most populous Middle Eastern country, because it is considered a fulcrum of the region.

“I want to say to the world: we need one chance to prove ourselves, then our destinies can be created.”

Eight days of instability has given birth to intimidating groups of vigilantes armed with rifles, large sticks and whips. They have set up check points around the city to protect neighbourhoods from looting.

Checkpoints at the protest in Tahrir Square were different. There, people held hands forming a human chain. They check all those coming in for weapons, demonstrating the intended peacefulness of the rally.

Some even picked up garbage off the street.

“They have been saying the Egyptians are lazy but we are cleaning up our garbage and directing our traffic,” said Hafez.

At dusk, evening prayer came and many turned to Mecca. A witness told the Star that Christians on the street vowed to look out for the Muslim brothers and sisters while they prayed.

“In a time like this we come together,” said Ahmed Mosallam, 39, an Egyptian-American who offered to help translate.

At one point, Mosallam ran into a friend he had gone to college with 20 years ago and hadn’t seen since. It had been so long — since they had seen each other and also for this day to come.

Hamadan Manuser, 50, was also recalling the past.

He waved a crumpled piece of paper, a record of his arrest 20 years ago for, he says, growing a beard and praying too much.

His left forearm is marred by a deep scar and he has two crippled fingers from the time black-clad police shot him, he said, maintaining he was unarmed at the time. He also adds the shooting happened in front of his seven children.

Manuser said while he was locked away in a solidarity cell for 18 years, he dreamt of political and religious freedom, a good economy and no corruption.

Today, Manuser said he can’t feed his seven children. Still, he has hope in the revolution happening around him.

Into the evening, thousands slept covered in blankets, hovered around burning logs, sharing trays of Chai to keep warm.

Among them is Sahwel Adbel, who is 14. He said he wanted Egypt to return to the days when it was “the mother of the world.”

Adbel said the streets are rife with thieves, thugs, drugs and police. A lone tear gas can and empty metal shell casing were saved by some demonstrators, remnants of Friday’s clashes.

Adbel wants change.

He is not the only youngster in the Square.

“I want them to live this moment,” said Ola Muhammed, 47, of why she brought her two young daughters to the demonstration Tuesday.

Clothed in a black niqab, she expressed frustrations over unemployment and lack of housing in the sprawling city.

“I’ve never experienced freedom,” she said.

President Barack Obama spoke briefly on the uprising in Egypt Tuesday. Obama said he spoke by phone with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and told him that an orderly transition in Egypt must be meaningful, peaceful and begin now. (Feb. 1)




Oil prices have rocketed in response to continued unrest in Egypt.

Protests in Egypt Pay Off But Not For Crude

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

SUSIE GHARIB: Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak said today he will step down from power and he set a date. It's September of this year, right after Egypt's elections. But that announcement did not quell protestors. They want the president to resign immediately. Despite the continuing uncertainty in Egypt, U.S. markets rallied today with the Dow closing above 12,000. In the oil markets, prices dipped a bit, but they're still at the highest level in three years. Erika Miller looks at where crude prices are headed from here.

ERIKA MILLER, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Anti-government protests continue to heat up in Egypt and that's heating up trading in the New York oil pits. Light sweet crude has jumped about 6 percent in less than a week. Traders worry strikes in Egypt could shut down the Suez Canal, as well as the pipeline that connects the Gulf of Suez with the Mediterranean Sea. Roughly three million barrels of oil a day -- about 2.5 percent of global production -- pass through those two points. A paralyzed canal would force tankers to go all the way around Africa, boosting transportation costs and raising prices. But trader Peter Donovan says there's a far bigger fear in the marketplace.

PETER DONOVAN, OIL BROKER, VANTAGE TRADING: The real problem is the contagion effect, if this spreads to oil-producing countries. Libya is right next door; certainly Iraq, Iran not too far. And it's a very unsettled environment, as it is in the Middle East.

MILLER: Many traders say they're not particularly reassured by OPEC's promise to open the spigots if trouble in Egypt affects global oil supplies. Oil prices were already on the rise, even before the political unrest in Egypt. Since the summer, oil futures have surged 30 percent and many industry experts expect prices to continue to climb. The European oil benchmark -- Brent North Sea crude -- is already trading above $100 a barrel. Analyst Fadel Gheit says U.S. crude futures could soon hit that level, if turmoil in the Middle East escalates.

FADEL GHEIT, SR. OIL ANALYST, OPPENHEIMER & CO.: That is the biggest fear that the market has. That could have the possibility of supply disruptions. And in that case, oil prices above $100 will be only the beginning.

MILLER: On the other hand, if the situation in Egypt is resolved quickly and peacefully, traders predict oil futures could plunge $6 or $7. What's clear is that the direction of oil prices could have big implications for the global economic recovery.

GHEIT: Rising oil prices will definitely stifle consumer spending and consumer confidence and that is negative for the economy.

MILLER: According to one estimate, a $1 increase in a barrel of oil for just one day takes $12 million out of the U.S. economy. By that calculation, a $5 increase for three months would cost the U.S. economy $5 billion. Erika Miller, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, New York.

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