6 A.M. outlook

Battles continued throughout the night.

“This is the breaking point we were all waiting for,” said Tarek Salama, a surgeon working in the field hospital. “Getting rid of Mubarak was just the warm-up. This is the real showdown.”

The use of live ammunition is both atrocious and a possible sign of panic. As I’ve probably mentioned here already, this was completely unnecessary. The Saturday protest, which I saw while walking through Tahrir 45 minutes before this all started, was so tiny that I actually felt a sense of pity for the revolutionaries. But then the authorities decided to tear-gas the tiny sit-in, and that’s what led to a flood of new support pouring into Tahrir. And here we are now.

The question now on all minds is whether the Army will postpone the first round of elections scheduled for a week from today. They’re in trouble either way, but I think they’re in greater trouble if they try to postpone. That could spark the biggest protest crowds in the history of the city.