28th of January, The Friday of Rage
On 26th of January, one day after the first demonstrations, I went on assignment to Sohag and Menia in Upper Egypt, accompanying a famous German choir (WDR Choir) that was performing together with an Egyptian Sufi Troupe and an Egyptian Coptic Esemble and some other famous musicians like Roman Bunka (a German Oud player who plays for decades with Egyptian superstar Mohamed Mounir). They were performing Fi Hob Allah (In God’s Love) a piece especially composed for them by chief conductor Rupert Huber. How ironic that it coincided with the beginning of the revolution where Egyptians would chant “We are one people, Muslims and Christians are one, hand in hand”. Debut performance was in Cairo, followed by a concert in Alexandria and another one in Cairo on the 25th of January at Cairo Opera House very close to Tahrir Square where at the same time the first demonstrations were taking place. But when we were leaving to Upper Egypt one day later nobody really thought that something bigger would come out of this initial protests. Only I had this weird feeling that I should rather be in Cairo witnessing the demonstrations that were expected for Friday the 28th. From Fayoum on we had to travel under police protection, a normal procedure when foreigners were going to Upper Egypt. It is always a total pain because in every governorate a different police escort had to accompany us and as everyone can guess they are always late and the vehicles with the foreigners have to wait again and again. However to make a long story short. We arrived in Sohag and the next day the concert was taking place with the governor, some Coptic and Muslim clerics among the audience, while we were getting news that the protests were spreading to Suez, Alexandria and supposedly also smaller ones somewhere in Sohag, although we didn’t witness any. I was in constant contact with my friends in Cairo. Judging by the information on the internet and what people were telling me something big was to be expected for Friday. At 1am at night my internet went off, by 2am I couldn’t send any sms anymore. At 8am Friday morning I couldn’t reach any of my friend’s mobiles in Cairo. My mobile was still working but the network in Cairo and other cities was switched off. A total communication black out. I was desperately trying to remember landline numbers of some of my friends. We were on the road again, heading to Menia, where the group was to perform this memorable Friday, The Friday of Rage. I kept telling the Germans around me in the bus that I was sure that the concert would be cancelled, but nobody really believed me at that point. Prayer time came and Egypt’s police was getting ready for the dempnstrations that were to kick off after Friday Prayer. Our police escort had grown into several cars and how tensed they were transpired when we wanted to stop for a toilet break. There was no time for peeing now we were told. People were getting nervous and we forced our bus to stop to get to a bathroom. Tensions were running high now, the police was nonstop on their walkie talkies. We were racing but it was clear there was no way that we would arrive before the Prayer had finished. Out of a sudden a sharp right turn, we left the main and direct road to Menia and were instead now driving on some bumpy dusty road. Our second bus got the order too late and we had to wait until it caught up with us. We were informed that there were demonstrations kicking off in Menia and the way to our hotel blocked. I was in the meantime receiving phone calls from friends outside Egypt who were able to watch tv and access the internet and who could update me on what was happening in the rest of Egypt.
The police in Menia coordinated with army and we were taken to the very posh (Thank you America for your billions of dollar support for Egypt’s Army) Army Hotel nicely located at the lush banks of the Nile. It was nerve wrecking, we had to stay in the hotel lobby and garden sipping cold juice while on the other side of the Nile demonstrators and police were battling.
Some of the Egyptian musicians were trying to stay calm amidst these uncertainties and worrying moments.
There was a tv in the hotel lobby and the army was not watching Egyptian state television, but Al Jazeera. Over and over again Al Jazeera was showing footage of the demonstrations in Cairo, and reporting about Alexandria, Suez, Ismailiya and also Menia. I couldn’t believe my eyes, thousands of people demonstrating, teargas, water canons, violence, the police attacking from all sides. And we were locked up in this army hotel of all places, a total surreal situation. After the demonstrations moved more inside Menia we were moved to another hotel at the Nile. I managed to sneak out and walked all the way down the Corniche till I reached the protests. Some dodgy thugs in plain clothes followed me and told me in English to turn around. But I was playing the foolish tourist who wants to see what is the action all about. As I couldn’t get rid of one particular guy I simply joined two women with their children. Maybe about 2000 protesters were playing Tom and Jerry with the police. The protesters would advance and the police retreat only to attack the next moment again. The demonstrators jumped over the low wall beside the sidewalk and ran down to the Nile banks. Clouds of teargas lingering in the air. Forth and back, forth and back. I could sense more thugs watching me and finally decided to get back to the hotel before I got the chance to check out a State Security building from inside. News coming from Cairo and other cities further north were getting worse and worse and I was terrified as we had no means of contacting friends and colleagues in any of those places. Nobody knew how many people were injured or even dead. Our concert was cancelled for obvious reasons and we were sitting together desperately trying to comfort each other.
Mubarak is still smiling down to his people ignorant to their demands.
25 January Egyptian Revolution 