Retrospective: Journal from Day 5 of the Revolution - Taking the law in their own hands; Gunshots down the block...

10:30pm

The gentlemen protecting us in the street outside have made fires to keep warm. They will remain on the streets in shifts to protect the neighborhood until this chaos is over. They are circled around the fire keeping watch, and I’m sure, discussing the incredible events of the week and the elusive future of Egypt…

  

11:00pm

Egyptians from all walks of life have been voicing their concerns and support of their fellow Egyptians on the news: actors, authors, scientists, etc.

A police officer actually dared to phone in a statement earlier this evening saying that the police did not use live ammunition, they used rubber bullets, and they retreated on their own accord. They were never ordered by Mubarak to leave the streets.

11:30pm 

Footage of civilians arresting robbers themselves, grouping and guarding them in the street, seating the criminals with their hands behind their backs. This is AWESOME!! Egyptians are taking the law into their own hands and handling things better than the government ever did! It's incredible to see the nation unite in this way, with such dignity, responsibility, and peace. AMAZING…

11:45pm

NOW I’M AFRAID: This just in – two microbuses full of robbers came to a neighborhood right next to Nasser City, carrying guns, shooting everywhere and anywhere. Civilians in the street are fighting them… WHAT IF THEY COME HERE?!?! Should we barricade the doors???

… The civilians killed one of the robbers and arrested the others – how, I have no idea, but I am so grateful, and so in awe of the bravery of our neighbors in the streets...

12:30am

We just had a scare – we heard shouting in the streets, “Get ready! Everyone come down!!” and the men were running down the street with their baseball bats and pipes. They set up road blocks with cement bricks and planks, and formed a human wall at one end of the block with more guarding the other end. After the recent reports of robbers in Nasser City, where we are, they were being extra vigilant.

We saw a bus driving towards our block, and we heard a few gunshots - the only people in cars right now are robbers with guns.

I heard what sounded like gunshots in our own block and freaked out, but Lenah (my cousin) explained that they are just noise bombs and firecrackers – like the ones my cousins and I used to set off for fun as kids – and the men were using them to sound like gun shots to make the robbers think we have guns too and scare them off. In reality, not a single man on our street is carrying a gun. 

Their rouse worked - the bus drove off before it reached the human wall.

I've never been so freaked out and elated in my life.