from a well-informed foreigner in Cairo

“Well, the protesters aren’t in much danger, I think. The only way to get the hardcore group out of there will be to Tiananmen the place, and if that happens Mubarak will be toast anyway. There are still thugs about, but you’d have to be very unlucky to run into them. The main issue is the curfew — no one can be out after seven — which is lightly enforced but still a hassle (and completely the fault of Mubarak, who is generating chaos and inconvenience and blaming it on the protesters).

The square itself has a bit of a Woodstock feel (PA: ‘ladies and gentlemen, we have some reports of bad fuul [bean paste] going around; please stay away from the fuul’).”