Day 4 of Protests (cont): The point of no return...

5:00pm

Things are turning violent. Footage is now showing people stealing guns from police, throwing rocks at police trucks, overturning them and setting them on fire. The air above downtown Cairo is grey with black smoke and white tear gas. I saw one man get hit by an armored truck. Some have bloody wounds on their heads. Utter chaos.

The police are now retreating. The crowds are beating them back. Trucks are literally driving backwards. We don’t know if they were ordered to retreat or if they’re running on their own motive. We also don’t know if this means the army is on the way…

Demonstrations have now broken out in Luxor, Aswan, and even Istanbul.

The head of Al-Ahram newspaper, regarded by all Egyptians as a world-class douchebag (apparently the newspaper was supposed to be reliable but it’s actually been the biggest joke ever and no one trusts it), was at first criticizing the protesters and blaming the Muslim Brotherhood, and is now taking it back and saying ‘Actually, yeah, we need change’ [actually, I’m not sure exactly when he made the latter concession, but it was earlier in the evening, and yes he’s a douchebag]

Had to go through Tanya to relay the message to home…

Had a long conversation with Mom and Dad in Arabic! They were very impressed with how fluently I was telling them about the current situation. I was impressed too. “Shaklik inti masreiya!” “You sound like an Egyptian!” “Shukran! Aiwa, wa Nabi, ana masreiya.” “Thank you! Yes, truly, I am Egyptian.”

5:30pm

It was just officially announced, while I was on the phone with Mom and Dad, that a curfew will begin in 30 minutes. The army will take over the streets. Everyone is elated – people like the army much more than the police. Apparently the army is much more diplomatic and peaceful, while the police are just brutal and brainless.

Also just announced that Mubarak will be making an appearance soon. For the first time all week. Allahu akbar! This should be interesting. Though there’s nothing, nothing he can say that would appease the people. Egyptians are past the point of no return. This will continue until he is officially gone for good. The army’s arrival should be a good sign. Ibrahim said on Wednesday that Mubarak wouldn’t turn the city over to the army unless he had no other choice, as there’s no telling whether or not the army would simply overthrow Mubarak.