Tahrir Square ... obliterating the revolutionary identity in Egypt under the banner of renewal

Doaa Abdel Latif - Cairo

"The cruel hour rang, and
stood in its squares of empty
hell, and turned on the steps of the monument, a
tree of a flame
blowing wind between its leaves and the
proximate juvenile groaning: My country .. my country ... my far country" ..

Thus, the Egyptian poet Amal Dongel in his famous poem "The Stone Cake" described his feelings towards the student demonstrations that erupted in 1972 to demand the fight against Israel, which centered around the memorial in Tahrir Square, central Cairo, as the kiss of the revolutionaries.

For nearly a century, the Tahrir Square, specifically the memorial - made of granite and taking the form of turning like a cake - was the goal of the Egyptians to centralize during their protests, from the revolution of 1919 to the revolution of January 25, 2011, so it seems understandable that the current authority aims to obliterate the revolution of the field .

Accordingly, news of the government's beginning to "develop" the field - according to official officials - has been routinely passed on to the Egyptians over the past years after it became repeated, and people understood that the aim was to close the square to any opportunities to demonstrate or even gather.

A few days ago, we were informed by the Egyptian media of the news of the government contracting with a security company that takes over the work of developing and guarding Tahrir Square, and quoted statements by the Minister of Local Development, Major General Mahmoud Shaarawi, during which he stressed dealing decisively with any violation by citizens.

The Minister spoke in a broad-based tone, as he confirmed the installation of surveillance cameras throughout the field, and will be emptied in the event that there is any work that harms the development work taking place in the Tahrir area.

This comes after the completion of the installation of a pharaonic obelisk of King Ramses II in place of the memorial with a length of 17 meters, and the establishment of four bases that are supposed to carry four rams that will be transferred from the Karnak Temple in Luxor to settle around the obelisk in the heart of Tahrir.

The pharaoh obelisk belongs to King Ramses II, the most ruling pharaoh of the country, as he remained crowned on his throne for about 67 years.

Extended History
The history of Tahrir Square dates back to the period of Khedive Ismail's rule (1863-1879) who established the Khedive Cairo along the lines of the French capital Paris, so the field was established to be a link between the Barracks and the Nile Palace Bridge and the Palace of Government in Abdin.

Soon the new field - which was named "Ismailia Square" after its founder - entered the Department of Power and Control. After the British occupation of Egypt in 1882, the British army took the liberation square as the headquarters of its military barracks, in symbolism of control of the palace and parliament.

The square was considered a kiss for demonstrators in important events in modern history, as it witnessed confrontations between revolutionaries and the occupation forces during the 1919 revolution, as well as during demonstrations in 1935, and then protests in 1946 against the English occupation.

After the signing of the evacuation agreement between Egypt and Britain in 1954, the domain name was changed from Ismailia to Tahrir.

During the eighth decade of the last century, the Egyptians returned to the famous square to demonstrate against the situation of Islam and war before the October 1973 war, and then during the bread uprising that broke out on January 18 and 19, 1977.

In 1982, as excavation work began on the subway project, the memorial was removed and trees planted in its place.

Depending on its history and location in the heart of Cairo, it was logical for the demonstrations that started from the streets and the square of the capital to gather in the field with a long history, so that the revolutionaries announced a sit-in in it for 18 days during the January 2011 revolution.

The historic square is connected to a number of main streets in the capital, including: Talaat Harb, Qasr Al-Aini, Al-Galaa, Ramses, Tahrir, and Al-Falaki. It also leads to 18 government ministries and the Egyptian parliament building, and it hosts the largest building that includes a number of government departments, which is the Liberation Complex.

It is surrounded by buildings that have a historical, political and social weight, most notably the Egyptian Museum, the League of Arab States, the American University, and the Omar Makram Mosque, as well as its proximity to the headquarters of the Egyptian Parliament and the Church of the Dubara Palace and the headquarters of dozens of foreign embassies.

Restricting the field.
After the use of Tahrir Square in the June 30, 2013 demonstrations that were followed by the July 3 military coup led by incumbent President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi while he was defense minister for President-elect Mohamed Morsi, the most famous square became a focus of concern for the ruling regime.

Therefore, the authority used to close the entrances of the square with barbed wire and surround it with armored vehicles, army vehicles and police cars on the anniversary of the January revolution, and before occasions with which anger of popular anger was expected, along with the closure of Anwar Sadat metro station, which opens its gates on Tahrir Square.

For years, the concrete barricades continued to block the streets leading to the Ministry of Interior and Parliament building, and the raid of popular cafes near the square became a regular matter.

In addition to the security closure of liberation, there was another kind of movement to obscure the features of the field from the revolutionary sentiment.

Over the years, the authority made changes to the shape of the square, wiping the graffiti illustrations of the revolutionary act, which were adorning the walls of the buildings of Mohamed Mahmoud Street leading to Tahrir.

And it changed the garden, which mediates the heart of the square more than once, and then laid the foundation stone for building a memorial in Tahrir Square at the end of 2013 "in commemoration of the 25 January and 30 June revolutions," according to government officials at the time.

And for no apparent reason for public opinion the memorial of the martyrs was not fully built, and instead it was erected in January 2015, a flagpole of 45 meters long, to be removed later and new development work to begin.

In the same month, the liberation garage was opened in the presence of the then Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab, at a cost that exceeded 675 million pounds (about 43.5 million dollars) and over an area of ​​20 thousand square meters, 4 floors below the ground of the field.

In August 2015, Cairo Governorate demolished the building of the dissolved National Party overlooking Tahrir Square, which was burned during the January revolution, as the party served as the political arm of the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak.

The last change
After about a month of the protests that took place last September 20, in response to the invitation of the contractor and artist Mohamed Ali, government officials made statements about a new "development" of the Tahrir Square at the invitation and sponsorship of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

Newspaper reports linked the change work in the field that Sisi demanded and supervised by several ministries, and the Cairo Khedive Development Initiative that started in 2014.

The changes to the field included painting the facades of the buildings overlooking the liberation and illuminating them with a uniform color, in addition to paving the traffic lanes and afforestation of the gardens with palm and olive trees, with the removal of all the billboards, and publishing seats to sit along the gardens in the field.

The cost of lighting the Egyptian Museum, facades, the outer wall and the museum garden is about 16 million pounds, while the cost of lighting units for the Tahrir Square is in the range of 3.5 million.

In addition, work is underway to construct a circular fountain in the vicinity of the Pharaonic Obelisk and the four rams in the heart of Tahrir Square.

The announcement of the transfer of Pharaonic rams to the field was rejected by several parties. Parliamentary deputies presented an urgent statement to the Prime Minister protesting the transfer of the four statues from Karnak Temple to Tahrir.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) also objected, and the head of the Arab Center for World Heritage of the Organization, Sheikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, sent an official message to the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities saying that the transfer of pharaonic statues in this way is contrary to the operational guidelines of the World Heritage Convention.