CAIRO -

With its four lions sitting on its outskirts, the Qasr al-Nil Bridge, which connects the two banks of the Nile, in the center of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, tells a history of the political and social events that the country witnessed.

On this historic bridge - or "the bridge" as the Egyptians call it - the head of the royal court was killed in the forties following a mysterious accident, and more than 6 decades later witnessed the fiercest confrontations of the January 2011 revolution between protesters and security, and from above it dozens ended their lives as an expression of distress The situation and the absence of social justice.

The sixth day of June witnessed the second opening of the bridge, after King Fouad I modernized and opened it in 1933. In this report, we interrogate the historical building to tell us some of what happened on its surface as a witness to the modern history of Egypt.

Qasr al-Nil Bridge in Cairo in 1906 (Egyptian press)

between two eras

Egyptians today know the Qasr al-Nil Bridge as the most famous and oldest crossing that connects the two banks of the Nile in the heart of the capital, and the park that simple people resort to in the summer to escape the heat of the weather and the high cost of summer vacations. However, many do not know that the existing bridge is not the same one that was built by Khedive Ismail and opened in 1872.

Khedive Ismail dreamed of transforming Cairo into a European-style city, and he actually embarked on several major projects, including the project to build a bridge linking Ismailia Square (currently Tahrir) and the Gezira area on the west bank of the Nile, facilitating the crossing of pedestrians and animals between the two banks of the Nile.

The project was entrusted to the French company "Vive Lille", which began work on the construction of the bridge in 1869 and lasted for nearly 3 years, to be opened on February 10, 1872, at a cost of 114,000 Egyptian pounds.

The bridge - 406 meters long and 10.5 meters wide - became the first bridge on the Cairo Nile, and was famous for the four bronze lions that were placed at its edges.

At the time, the authorities decided to impose transit fees of different values ​​on pedestrians, animals, and carts, with the exception of children under the age of six, provided that these fees would be allocated to spending on bridge supplies, as stated in the text of the decree published by the newspaper “Al-Waqa’i al-Masryah” on February 27, 1872.

second building

The bridge remained steadfast for about 60 years, until there was a need to develop and expand it to meet the increasing transport operations and modern loads, so it was decided to demolish the old bridge and build the last one in its place.

The task of constructing the new bridge was assigned to the English company, Dorman Long, at a cost of 308,000 Egyptian pounds, according to the Egyptian writer and historian Abbas Al-Tarabili in his book “Streets with a History… Tourism in the Mind of the Nation.”

King Fouad laid the foundation stone for the new bridge on February 4, 1932, and inaugurated it on June 6, 1933, and named it after his father, Khedive Ismail. Height is lower than its predecessor.

naming by the people

The name Qasr al-Nil, which the bridge carried to this day, is due to its presence next to a large palace built by Muhammad Ali Pasha for his daughter Nazli Hanim on the coast of the Nile. They kept the name Qasr al-Nil.

Although the bridge bore many official names, from the Ismail Bridge to the Tahrir Bridge and the Gamal Abdel Nasser Bridge, its most famous name, "Qasr al-Nil", remained steadfast because "people's decisions are stronger than any government decrees," according to Abbas al-Tarabili.

Pasha's murder

The long history of the bridge made it a witness to major events in the history of Egypt, including the murder of Ahmed Hassanein Pasha, head of the royal court during the reign of King Farouk in 1946, which still raises controversy to this day.

Ahmed Hassanein Pasha was not an ordinary figure in the history of Egypt at that era. Many historians believe that he was the most powerful man in the royal court, and the planner and motivator of many of King Farouk's policies.

The man's end came on February 9, 1946 over the Qasr al-Nil Bridge, when his car collided with a "lorry" belonging to the British occupation army, to be taken injured to the hospital and breathed his last.

Doubts remained about the incident, and some newspapers at the time pointed the finger at the British ambassador to Cairo, Sir Miles Lampson, because Hassanein Pasha had caused his transfer from Egypt after the famous incident of February 4, 1942, when the British army besieged King Farouk and asked Lampson to relinquish his The throne or assigning the leadership of the government to the leader of the Wafd Party, Mustafa Al-Nahhas.

Friday of Rage

More than 6 decades later, the Qasr al-Nil Bridge was the site of one of the most famous confrontations of the January 25 revolution between peaceful protesters and security forces on January 28, 2011, the famous Friday of Rage.

On that day, crowds of demonstrators calling for the fall of the regime of President Hosni Mubarak, after Friday prayers, went out from across the capital on their way to Tahrir Square, but the security forces confronted them on the Qasr al-Nil Bridge.

With the continuous attempts of the demonstrators to reach the square, the security forces resorted to disperse them with tear gas and water cannons.

However, the demonstrators became more resilient and determined to reach their goal, so the security forces resorted to the use of rubber bullets and live bullets, according to the testimonies of many activists participating in the demonstrations, and the armored vehicles began to run over the demonstrators.

The confrontations between the two parties continued on the Qasr al-Nil Bridge for several hours, and with the last lights of the day the security forces were retreating after realizing that they would not be able to withstand any longer in the face of the waves of demonstrators.

After being the scene of the steadfastness of the demonstrators, the Qasr al-Nil Bridge represented a crossing point through which thousands of revolutionaries flocked to Tahrir Square to begin the open sit-in that ended with Mubarak’s resignation on February 11, 2011.

Watch the class

The Qasr al-Nil Bridge was not only a witness to political events, but it was the focus of several social incidents, which some considered evidence of class and the absence of social justice.

The most famous of these incidents was the suicide of the outstanding young man, Abdul Hamid Sheta, a graduate of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science in 2003, after he failed to achieve his dream of joining the diplomatic corps because he was “socially unfit” according to the justifications for his refusal.

Sheta struggled in college to graduate with a very good GPA, and persevered to gain more skills and languages ​​to realize his dream of joining the diplomatic service.

With the announcement by the concerned authorities that the door to apply for the dream job awaited by Winter was open, he rushed to take the tests and passed them with superiority over his peers of job applicants, most of whom are children of diplomats and mediators, and some Egyptian newspapers published at the time.

But Sheta's dreams were shattered when he found the phrase "rejected" in front of his name, and the reason was "socially unfit", a phrase that refers to the simple condition of his family supported by his simple working father.

The world darkened in front of Sheta, and his feet led him to the Qasr al-Nil Bridge, to throw himself in the Nile in protest against the injustice he was subjected to, and his life to a tragic end, and the Qasr al-Nil Bridge became a witness to the injustice of the class that governs taking jobs in Egypt.

Poor People's Refuge

Just as he ended his life to escape social injustice, many people followed his path to escape poverty and hardship.

Despite this, the Qasr al-Nil Bridge remains a haven for simple people to stroll and enjoy the refreshing summer breezes, preserving the memories of a people and a nation's history of political and social transformations over the years.