الغسق - 4 فبراير 2012 - يحمل متظاهر علم مصر وتحيط بها البحار من الغاز المسيل للدموع
Dusk 4 February 2012. A protester defiantly waves an Egyptian flag with the emblems of Christianity and Islam ( the cross and the crescent ) added - a message of religious unity. Clouds of tear gas are lit up with an eerie glow by the sinking sun.
He is standing in Mansour Street near to the junction of Mohammed Mahmoud Street in Downtown Cairo and was said to have been a relative of one of the 28 Christian demonstrators who were shot, stabbed or run down by armoured military vehicles outside Cairo's state media building in Maspero in central Cairo on 9th October 2011.
He is only about two hundred metres away from Egypt's notorious Ministry of Interior building - which had become a sort of Bastille like symbol of police repression. Facing him stand hundreds of heavily armed riot police and soldiers - but they are out of sight - hidden by the clouds of gas.
You will notice the Islamic Crescent and the Christian Cross drawn together on the Egyptian flag - to the other side of the central Eagle is the Arabic letter Y which taken together can be read as indicating "Egyptian" - the inference being that Christians and Muslims are first and foremost all Egyptians.
This photo is one of the last I took and uploaded to Flickr on the day before I was arrested.
Unlike photo 1 this one has been slightly and somewhat crudely photoshopped to remove a photographer who was nearer the flag holder than I was although unlike myself (an amateur snapper) and most of the protesters he was sensibly equipped with a gas mask.
The protesters were demonstrating over the death of 79 football fans, 72 of them Al Ahly supporters, during a match at Port Said on 1st February 2012.
When Al Masry supporters stormed across the stadium, the visiting Al Ahly crowd couldn't escape since, according to witnesses, police kept the stadium exit doors locked. Vastly outnumbered by the home crowd many of whom had managed to smuggle knives and other weapons into the stadium, Ahly supporters were clubbed and stabbed while others were killed in the stampede to escape.
There was a widespread perception of the involvement of some elements in the police and security forces in their deaths. Al Ahly Ultras ( who suffered the majority of the fatalities ) were said to have been targeted because they had been one of the most organized and effective youth groups involved in the protests in 2011 which led to the overthrow of Mubarak.
Update April 2020 -. If anyone is interested in the forgotten history of British imperialism and how it impacted the lives of millions of people around the world including Egypt from the 1700s until today - I've posted over 600 short articles on the following website. roguenation.org/ including the following page where you can select from over 600 pages according to country - roguenation.org/choose-by-country
