Tahrir tonight

Was briefly at Tahrir Square tonight. There are protestors on the grassy circle and other protestors on the sidewalks, so that traffic was flowing through unobstructed. (But given the number of downtown streets now blocked by concrete walls and barbed wire, Tahrir traffic isn’t what it used to be.)

Perhaps the most impressive thing down there right now is the riotous anti-Syria tent at the edge of the permanent construction wasteland in front of the Egyptian Museum. It sounded like an old-time religious revival inside that tent, with speeches and music obviously filled with hope for the downfall of the Assad regime.

It looks as though all my most frequented small businesses in the area survived the November events, including my favorite barber (I stopped in for a haircut just to help out) and my favorite koshury restaurant. AUC’s downtown properties are more damaged than I thought, including obtrusively visible fire damage on parts of Greek Campus.