Women of Tahrir Square

(updated 28 Feb 2011)

Mona Seif - 1 Feb 2011

"We can't go. We've lost a lot of people and we've lost them for a cause. The cause is that we want Maburak to be out!" she gasped for breath. "We can't just— We owe it to them to stick it to the end. We have many injured people. It will be very hard to move them," almost sobbing, "and we know, everyone in the square knows that if we decided to give in now they will hunt us down, one by one! We've been through this. We know it!"

Mona Seif was being interviewed by Al-Jazeerah on her mobile phone. Though almost hysterical with fear and outrage she was fighting. Her weapon was her voice firing words combining the power of passion with the clear accuracy of a sniper.

"They are shooting. There are people, some of the thugs with rifles on the bridge and they shot at our demonstrators. Every couple of minutes you find the ambulance coming, carrying wounded and every now and then you find them carrying someone dead. People were just praying over one...like, the latest of our dead protesters. He was shot right through the head. I had two friends watching this happen... I just don't understand..."

Pro-dictator supporters had attacked pro-democracy protesters. A cavalry charge of men wielding whips on horses and camels followed by a phalanx of thugs with clubs had streamed into the centre of the square. The protesters retreated in shock. They had been peaceful. There were women and children amongst them. The men had no weapons but they fought back. They fought to defend each other. It was a fight between principle and power, between motives of love and of hate.

"... The ambulances are constantly here but I don't understand. The army is right where all the confrontation is happening. They can stop this. They can stop the bloodshed. Why do we have to lose people? Why is this torture getting repeated over and over again and nobody's stopping it?"

A global television audience had watched a street battle with a reluctant detachment, not knowing which side was which. First the group from the left would advance, attacking with stones, and the right would retreat. Then those on the right would advance and the ones on the left would retreat. The eye transmits to the mind but it is the ear which is the entrance to a heart. Mona's voice pierced millions.

"We are not leaving this place till Mubarak leaves. So there are only two options for the whole world to do: Either they speak to Mubarak and his regime and you lose thousands of people in this square and it does not definitely become the celebration square it becomes massacre square or whatever you want to call it or, they put an end to Mubarak and give these people, the remaining people here, a chance at living a good life."

The protesters were fighting back, driving the thugs back. They were recapturing the street while she was capturing the world. Perhaps she sensed it as it seemed that a tone of reassurance mingled with the passion of her voice.

"The middle of the square is really safe... A lot of people are here and it's safe, like you can go and sleep there and nothing will happen but this is happening because we have a lot of people sacrificing their life at the front line next to the museum. A lot of them are teenage kids and and very few of them are older than 25 and they are really in a fighting spirit, in a resilient spirit and it's very astonishing but it really is sad, because you know that we can avoid this and they don't have to waste their lives over this and you see them going and marching to it very bravely."

The interviewer had a final question. She asked Mona whether she was reassured by a statement made by Hillary Clinton that she was shocked by what was happening in Tahrir Square.

"This is the same Hilary Clinton who a week ago was assuring the world that Mubarak and his country is stable so, no it isn't reassuring. What would be assuring for me is to hear that Mubarak is about to give an urgent speach to his people now and say he is leaving."

The world's condemnation, which followed, shamed the army into separating the two sides. The pro-dictator crowds mysteriously disappeared.

An interview with Wael Ghonim aired on internal Egyptian TV , convinced the majority of undecided locals to join the protest. The protest grew until it was irresistable.

When everyone expected Mubarak to stand down he remained defiant. Mona was one of the first to expand the protest beyond Tahrir Square, going to the parliament. Later others protested at the state broadcasting centre.

Eventually protesters gathered at the presidential palace.

Nadia El-Awady - 11 Feb 2011

Nadia describes herself as a "mother, journalist, wander/traveler, diver, climber, and skeptic of everything I've learned to-date."

• Crowd at pres palace seems upper middle class and posh. Less feisty than tahrir lot.
• Pres palace is PERFECT for protesting. There's a Costa cafe just down the street. Tahrir on other hand was deprived.
• Protesters in front of pres palace just standing around socializing. This is what I get for protesting with upper middle class.
• Not a single chant at pres palace. Posh upper middle clas tires easily. We NEED tahrir lot here!
• Advice from a protester (me): never protest with the rich crowd.

Mona and Mahmoud Salem AKA @Sandmonkey (He deserves much more than this brief mention) promised to send some "real protesters" and within minutes at least 10 000 left Tahrir Square to keep Nadia company.

• Proper protesters arrive at pres palace! NOW we can have some fun!
• HUGE cheers for the REAL protesters! Time to party!

We all know what happened next.

• Do y'all think it's all right to add "toppled a dictator" to my CV? Shows I can work in teams, I'm a perfectionist, and get the job done.

The women of Tahrir Square have given a unique charm to the ugly business of revolution. It hasn't really been replicated in the other uprisings in the Middle-East. It's largely for that reason I believe the Egyptian revolution is probably the only one with the possibility for a happy outcome. The probability is small. The odds are heavily stacked against good people like Mona and Nadia.

Though the activists have achieved something which was previously considered impossible, they haven't yet managed to do much more than wipe some of the facade off an essentially military regime. In fact the military are currently the greatest beneficiary of the revolution. Mona, particularly continues to fight with incredible passion and persistence without losing any of her charm. The more effective she becomes, the more of a thorn in the side of power, the more dangerous her situation becomes.

Mona Seif - 25 Feb 2011

• Yaaay tents are back in tahrir square. (http://yfrog.com/h7tlvypuj)
• The army kidnapped Tamer sa'Id going into the ppl's assembly building coz they were blocking the way & he insisted we've the right to pass.
• Army officer talking in an extremely rude manner, insisting we leave now.
• He is out but he is beaten up.
• By kasr el 3ini st infront of parliament. Small group of ppl isolated inside the street by the army, I'm with the group standing outside.
• A guy next to me telling his friend "Of course the army isn't on our side but we still have to say that" :D
• WTF is wrong wt the Military today? Why can't they let ppl protest peacefully?
• Just received a testimony of a protester who was detained last week. Beating up, electrocution, and special sexual harassment of 2 girls.
• I am still trying to get a testimony from one of the girls who was also with them then will post it.
• Number is dramatically decreasing by the parliament and military police encircling the protesters.
• Military police prevented my mother passage to demo and encircled her.
• This is not good. They are completely & tightly circled by military police. I can't get to them.
• @ImmaculateEdits She is, she is a fighter :)
• Military police removing the tents in Tahrir square now.
• They threatened wt arresting ppl, ppl r leaving,I insisted I won't leave wt out my family, I think I will be left alone.
• Screw them! Screw the military wt all its members! Screw them 4 not tolerating ppl peacefully protesting!
• Military police detained @Sarahcarr @nickalexandra and someone else on a side street. So far they're ok.
• My mother defeated the military police and they let her pass to the demo.
• My mom is awesome! She made them let me in.
• Wow mama complained that one military guy pushed her, they send a big shot military guy to apologize to her.
• They are dispersing ppl wt violence from Tahrir square, ppl r being chased by military police.
• @cairowire @liamstack @Sarahcarr tahrir square has been completely evacuated.
• Military police r threatening us now, they have orders to evacuate, ppl should either leave or risk getting detained.
• They snatched 2 of us.
• They released the detained, and the big shot army guy is apologizing and hugging him!!!!
• The army is now asking ppl to leave, 1st nicely, then now angrily in the mic.
• Here we go again, they r pissed and they encircled us again.
• Beating and electric tasers , we've been evacuated.
• kidnapped another we insisted we won't leave wtout him, young officer was abusive then a bigger 1 came & shouted at them to get boy.
• We are safe, they released the boy, he was badly beaten up, his face was bleeding.
• We saw them kidnapping one on the side and kicking the crap out of him,we'd scream & say they r beating him they say no they aren't.
• Some protesters are injured and on the street, @RamyRaoof and other there sent out for medical help for them.
• Reminder:Protesters were out 2day becoz Shafik's Cabinet & emergency law still exist, statesecurity r back, detainees weren't relased.
• One of the detainees who was just released say they r detaining a lot of ppl. All are beaten up badly.
• The army were extremely hostile,constantly threatening us wt detention but they refrained coz we had an old woman wt us AKA My mother.
• They threatened to take my mom as well, only an older officer intervened & told him not to touch her.
• @Elazul @Trackerinblue I don't know the difference. They were like black rods, & their sound itself was scary enough
• Thats what they used RT @saversaver25 http://bit.ly/h2O8Lj that's a stun baton. similar concept 2 tasers & cattle prods.human torture device
• I translated the brief testimony of detention & torture of last week http://tinyurl.com/633z2w4.

Mona's twitter link is http://twitter.com/monasosh. Follow her. She will inspire you. One day she may need your help. Her blog is http://ma3t.blogspot.com. Her interview is on youtube http://www.youtube.com/v/LSBJwsjakcg. If there are others like her please let me know.

• I am extremely exhausted,though it hurts me to think of abandoning twitter for the rest of the day, I have to :) watch me disappear 1 2 3...

Update - 27 Feb 2011

Testimony for Detaining Amr Abdallah elBehairy Early Saturday 26/2/2011

Eye Witness : Dr.Laila Mostafa Soueif –Cairo University Professor , Pure Mathematics

Id : 25605018800105

I was in the sit-in on Kasr elAini St, when it was dispersed forcibly by police and military elements. As we were leaving , military elements abducted Amr Abdallah elBehairy , 33 yrs, from Kafr elZayat, Gharbia. They ruthlessly beat him up without obvious reason hurting him in the face we were all about to leave. But then , I objected to this practice and my friends and I refused to leave without Amr. A high rank officer calmed us down and ordered a lower rank to bring Amr , his face was severely injured. We all walked away together on Kasr elAini St., Shadi elGazaly was with us,Takadom elKhatib , assistant professor in Mansoura University and a member of March 9 movement , my daughter Mona Ahmed Seif elIslam , my son Alaa Ahmed Seif elIslam , his wife Manal Bahy elDin Hassan and Ahmed Abdallah , a relative of Amr's, he was helping Amr to walk.

As we walked along, a private car stopped, two young men (whom I didn't catch their names) offered help. We asked them to drive Amr and Abdallah. Shadi and Takadom left to take Shadi's car. My family and I passed on foot to Garden City streets. A few minutes later, Takadom called me and told me that military officials stopped them once more. We rushed back to Kasr elAini St. to find all six of them arrested , including the two young men who offered to give Amr a lift. At 4:30 am , Takadom called me , I learnt that Shadi and him were released , but the other four were still detained for allegedly having a gun in the car ( then military said that amr was possessing a sound pistol)

On Saturday 26/2/2011, at 2:00 pm, after reading the military statement #23, where they declared they will release all detainees of that morning, I called Ahmed Abdallah who told me that both young men , who were in the car were released , however he had no news about Amr.

I affirm that Amr had no weapon in his possession , other wise military officials would not have released him in the first place. Obviously , he is detained so that fabricated charges would pressed on him to cover for his injuries inflicted by military officials. My daughter, Mona, Shadi and Takadom photographed Amr's injuries and it was clear that we will report the crime.

I talked to other released detainees , they said that Amr was savagely beaten up and electrified.

Eye Witness : Dr.Laila Mostafa Soueif –Cairo University Professor , Pure Mathematics.