About 100 people gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Monday, not to celebrate those who instigated the revolt there five years ago that overthrew Egypt’s long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak but to praise the police who tried to stop them.
“We are here to celebrate with our brothers, fathers, and colleagues in the Egyptian police… who sacrificed their lives and blood for us,” said one of the demonstrators, 52-year-old home appliance repairman Refaat Sabry.
He wore a pin on his jacket depicting Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt’s latest general-turned-president, whose crackdown on the youth activists who led the 2011 revolution and the religious extremists it later brought to power has dashed their hopes for a new era of political freedom.
“Continue Mr President,” said a placard held by one demonstrator, while others handed flowers to police, who have arrested thousands of government opponents under Sisi’s rule.
The blaring siren of an armoured police vehicle sounded nearby, a reminder of the street battles of 2011.
The first democratic elections held after the revolt saw the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s oldest religious movement, emerge from the shadows to dominate both parliament and presidency.
