Live from tahrir square. 2 February - Eyewitness account

PLENTY (close to 200 I think) of photos are available HERE.

Until 4 pm, Tahrir square.

"We are a peaceful demonstration..." the man with the megaphone is louder than all, but it's easy to overlook his calls for calm above the madness happening in Tahrir square.

Pro-change demonstrators were attacked by an organized pro-Mubarak demo coming from the Corniche. They gathered by the TV building, they told me. One guy was unable to tell me what his own sign said. Many are wearing a laminated Egyptian flag around their neck. This is not only organized by the NDP (the president's party), it's terribly badly organized, too.

"Selmeyya, selmeyya..." ("Peaceful, peaceful...")
The pro-Mubarak ppl approached the square and pushed through the cordon of pro-change demonstrators, who chose to let them through to avoid clash. Their - our - commitment to non-violence is remarkable. Infuriating at times, but laudable.

The standoff began by the Egyptian museum. Two orderly lines facing. Attempts of provocation by the pro-Mubaraks - insults, "traitors! agents!".

They pushed. We pushed. It was non-violent until this point. At a secondary standoff, a pro-Mubarak person screams "I spit on you and on your mothers". A pro-change demonstrator was going to respond, but another guy grabs him -- "don't. Chant slogans instead".

Then came a second pro-Mubarak demo storming from Talaat Harb - throwing stones. And not the little kind, mind you, fist-sized stones. The first people are evacuated.

Selmeya, selmeya.."
Stones. Standoffs. We retreat. Regroup. Push forward again. Some people are panicking - rightfully. We are a mass of peaceful protestors and we're being attacked by a group of organized thugs. And it's really violent.

(Later)
I see kitchen knives. And swords. People are being attacked blindly. The back and forth, attack-withdraw-recollect-re

And - horses? Fucking horses? What is that? And the thugs riding them carry whips. Thank you, Mubarak.

5:00 - 6:00 pm.
Mayhem. Full-fledged stone throwing battle on Qasr-El-Nil bridge. The stones are ricocheting on the army tanks - I don't know where the soldiers are. Probably taking cover. Perhaps inside their tanks.
The battles are going insane. It's extremely messy in the square.
One of of the tanks was set on fire, but it was extinguished fairly rapidly. The other tank moved forward a little but then stopped.

7:00 pm
I am seeing a bunch of pro-Mubarak thugs throw Molotov cocktails at demonstrators. They broke into a shop, stood inside as they set their weapons, then would step outside and throw them.

Later (I stopped keeping track of time)
Mubarak thugs are armed to the teeth. Machetes, butcher knives. Molotov cocktails.

Fighting at its worse around the Egyptian Museum. I called a doctor who was there treating patients, and he had one word to describe the scene:

A carnage.

Midnight
Things have quieted down. Ambulances are allowed to go into Tahrir and reach patients - there are at least 1500 injured according to Reuters, and an unknown number of dead.

People are still out on the square though. I have left. The government is waging war on us, and the heroes in the square at this moment have won the battle.

I must sleep a little. God knows what tomorrow will bring. From my window I hear the noise of Tahrir square - I just heard Abdel Halim Hafez's "Khalli el sela7 sa7y". It's going to be a rough couple of days.