long night in Zamalek coming up

It looks like we’re headed for a tense evening of violence or near-violence outside my home. A crowd of prancing Algerian fans just came trotting down the street with their green, white, and red flags, singing a haunting and beautiful chant and staring down the Egyptian fans across the street.

The Egyptians were about to confront them, so some riot police with shields came sprinting down the street to line up in from of the Egyptians and protect the Algerians. The Algerians then went dancing and singing back down toward their Embassy, just a block up the way. Those Algerians have guts, I’ll tell you that. That Egyptian crowd looked ready to pound them to a pulp.

Now it’s just hundreds of Egyptian cars streaming by, harassing the Algerian Embassy with ceaseless honking. This is a serious match tomorrow!

I’m torn between staying here tonight just to watch, or finding a hotel somewhere far from the Embassy.

I hope these Algerians don’t do anything really stupid, like go dancing through Tahrir Square like that.