Alan Chin in Cairo: "Yesterday I was a Demonstrator. Today I Build Egypt"

People here in Cairo continued their celebration of Mubarek’s downfall into a second day and night, and also began to clean-up. Some wore signs that read “Yesterday I was a demonstrator. Today I build Egypt.” That was an accurate sense of the mood, with swarms of volunteers wielding brooms and dismantling barricades. At times it felt that some of the work was even a bit premature, with painters touching up the black-and-white traffic markings on the sidewalk curbs while tens of thousands of people were still crowded in Tahrir Square.

Others simply exulted in the holiday atmosphere and enjoyed themselves at what has become an enormous block party. This young man was blaring pop music from his scooter’s speakers, and took it easy:

And this man was proudly holding a doll, which looked like it may have come from a wedding display. I admit I laughed out loud, and I wasn’t the only one, nor the only photographer!

The goodwill between the people and the army has been extraordinary, with many scenes of handshakes and posing for photographs next to tanks and armored personnel carriers. From the highest levels of the Supreme Command Council, it became clear that the generals were absolutely committed to avoiding bloodshed; that restraint bodes well for civil society. But underlying the fraternity is a fundamental uncertainty and fragile tension concerning how the military will rule, and what will come next.

–Alan Chin

PHOTOGRAPHS by ALAN CHIN

For the complete archive of BagNews coverage from Cairo, see: Middle-East Uprising 2011

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