Thursday, April 28, 2011

Protest against Israel’s embassy in Cairo



By Hossam El-Hamalawy

April 29th, 2011

"On Wednesday around 300 students, largely from Cairo University, held a march and a protest in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo.

To be honest, it was very weird marching without the Central Security Forces being around or cracking down. At some point when we were standing in front of the Israeli embassy I had to pinch myself, to make sure I’m not dreaming. The last time I took part in an attempt to storm that embassy was in 2002. We were brutally crushed by the police on that day, and I was injured in the back and foot.

Over the following years, there were several attempts by activists to hold protests there, but the closest one could get was the Nahdet Masr statue in the square (half a km away?), before risking live ammunition.

And here were we were on Wednesday, standing over the destroyed Police Special Forces station that used to protect the embassy, right in front of the building. It felt liberating, even when the protest was small.

And in related (fantastic, thrilling) news…

Egyptian FM tells Al-Jazeera that preparations are already underway to permanently open Rafah border crossing, which would allow goods and people in and out of Gaza with no Israeli supervision."

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