Tahrir Square

This article is about Tahrir Square in Cairo. For other uses, see Tahrir Square (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 30°02′40″N 31°14′09″E / 30.044422°N 31.235696°E / 30.044422; 31.235696

Tahrir Square in 1941.

Tahrir Square (Arabic: ميدان التحرير‎ Mīdān at-Taḥrīr, IPA: [meˈdæːn ettæħˈɾiːɾ], English: Liberation Square) is a major public town square in Downtown Cairo, Egypt.

History

The square was originally called Ismailia Square (Arabic: ميدان الإسماعيلية‎ Mīdān al-Ismā‘īliyyah), after the 19th-century ruler Khedive Ismail, who commissioned the new downtown district's 'Paris on the Nile' design. After the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 the square became widely known as Tahrir (Liberation) Square, but the square was not officially renamed until the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, which changed Egypt from a constitutional monarchy into a republic. The square was a focal point for the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.^[1]

Features

Tahrir Square at night with traffic circle, view northwest from Talaat Harb Street

View south towards the Mogamma building and Omar Makram statue

At the centre of Tahrir Square is a large and busy traffic circle. On the north-east side is a plaza with a statue of nationalist hero Omar Makram, celebrated for his resistance against Napoleon I's invasion of Egypt, and beyond is the Omar Makram Mosque.^[2]

The square is the northern terminus of the historic Qasr al-Ayni Street, the western terminus of Talaat Harb Street, and via Qasr al-Nil Street crossing its southern portion it has direct access to the Qasr al-Nil Bridge crossing the nearby Nile River.

The area around Tahrir Square includes the Egyptian Museum, the National Democratic Party-NDP headquarters building, the Mogamma government building, the Headquarters of the Arab League building, the Nile Hotel, Kasr El Dobara Evangelical Church and the original downtown campus of the American University in Cairo.

The Cairo Metro serves Tahrir Square with the Sadat Station, which is the downtown junction of the system's two lines, linking to Giza, Maadi, Helwan, and other districts and suburbs of Greater Cairo. Its underground access viaducts provide the safest routes for pedestrians crossing the broad roads of the heavily trafficked square.

Public use and demonstrations

Tahrir Square has been the traditional site for numerous major protests and demonstrations over the years, including the 1977 Egyptian Bread Riots, and the March 2003 protest against the War in Iraq.^[3]

2011 Egyptian Revolution

Main article: 2011 Egyptian Revolution

Protesters on an army vehicle during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution in Tahrir Square.

Tahrir Square was the focal point of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution against former president Hosni Mubarak.^[4] Over 50,000 protesters first occupied the square on 25 January, during which the area's wireless services were reported to be impaired.^[5] In the following days Tahrir Square continued to be the primary destination for protests in Cairo.^[6] On 29 January Egyptian fighter aircraft flew low over the people gathered in the square. On 30 January, the seventh day of the protests, BBC and other correspondents reported that the number of demonstrators had grown to at least 100,000,^[7] and on 31 January Al Jazeera correspondents reported that the demonstrations had grown to at least 250,000 people.^[8] On 1 February, Al Jazeera reported that more than 1 million protesters peacefully gathered in the square and adjacent streets.^[9] However, such media reports that so many people congregated in Cairo’s largest public square are believed to be exaggerated for political purposes and, accordingly to STRATFOR analysis the real number of gathered protester never exceed 300,000 people.^[10][11]

People congregated in Tahrir Square on 9 February 2011

The square became established as a focal point and a symbol for the ongoing Egyptian democracy demonstrations. On 2 February violence erupted between the pro-Mubarak and pro-democracy demonstrators here, followed by the 3 February 'Friday of Departure' demonstration, one of the named "day of" events centered in the square. Within a week, due to international media coverage, the image and name of Tahrir Square became known worldwide.^[12]

A Facebook page called "Tahrir Square" ميدان التحرير was maintained by a rotating staff of twenty during the uprising, particularly to offset the lack of and/or distorted coverage of events and responses in the state-run media outlets.^[13][14]

An iPhone and Blackberry app called Tahrir Square was launched on 6 May 2011. It offers a unique opportunity for Egyptians everywhere to provide their collective and unfiltered opinion on the hottest topics of the new Egypt. The results presented clearly in simple graphs and tables for everyone to see. The interactive mobile app will be distributed on a regular basis to over a dozen Egyptian news agencies, government offices, the military council, and hundreds of social media sites.^[15]

The 18-day revolt centered in the square provided the Egyptian Armed Forces an opportunity to remove Mubarak from power on Friday 11 February 2011, when the president officially stepped down from office.^[16] The announcement that Mubarak had passed all authority to the Council of the Armed Forces, was made by longtime intelligence chief and new vice president Omar Suleiman.^[17][18] Tahrir Square erupted in a night-long celebration after the twilight announcement, with shouts such as "Lift your head up high, you're Egyptian," "Everyone who loves Egypt, come and rebuild Egypt," and others.^[19] The next day Egyptian Cairen women and men came to clean up the square, "they came and cleaned up after their revolution," relaying 'projectiles' in the cobblestone paving and removing eighteen day's worth of trash and graffiti.^[19]

Post-revolution

Tahrir Square, with 'democracy anniversary' celebrations and visits from foreign dignitaries, continues to be a symbol of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.^[20][21] British Prime Minister David Cameron, Catherine Ashton, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State of the United States, John Kerry, Chairman of the American Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and American actor Sean Penn visited Tahrir Square after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.

One of the ships in the planned Freedom Flotilla II, intended to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, was named Tahrir after the square. Among its passengers was Haaretz reporter Amira Hass. Ultimately, the sailing did not take place.^[22]

On 29 June 2011, Egyptian police attacked rioting Egyptian youth in the square with tear gas and other non-lethal materials. The youth had been demanding that trials of senior officials overthrown in the 2011 Egyptian Revolution proceed more quickly. The Interior Ministry blamed the unrest on disruptive and subversive groups.^[23]

See also

• Downtown Cairo
• Index: Buildings and structures of the Arab Spring

References

1. ^ Vatikiotis, Panayiotis J. (1997). The Middle East: From the End of Empire to the End of the Cold War. Routledge. pp. 194. 
2. ^ "Midan Al-Tahrir, Liberation Square". Tour Egypt. http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/midanaltahrir.htm. 
3. ^ Hiel, Betsy (19 June 2005). "Egyptian reformers taking it to streets". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_345537.html. 
4. ^ BBC News: Egypt protests: Anti-Mubarak demonstrators arrested, 26 January 2011. Accessed 2011.01.26.
5. ^ "Egyptians report poor communication services on Day of Anger". Almasry Alyoum. 25 January 2011. http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/egyptians-report-poor-communication-services-day-anger-1. Retrieved 25 January 2011. 
6. ^ BBC News: "Egypt protests: curfew defied in Cairo and other cities" 29 January 2011. Accessed 2011.01.29.
7. ^ BBC News: "Egypt protesters step up pressure on Hosni Mubarak" 31 January 2011. Accessed 2011.01.31.
8. ^ Al Jazeera News: Live blog 31/1 — Egypt protests, 31 January 2011. Accessed 2011.01.31.
9. ^ Al Jazeera News: Protesters flood Egypt streets, 1 February 2011. Accessed 2011.02.01.
10. ^ STRATFOR: http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20110131-gauging-size-egyptian-protests Gauging the Size of the Egyptian Protests, 31 January 2011. Accessed 2011.06.14.
11. ^ STRATFOR: http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20110201-update-size-protests-cairo Update on the Size of Protests in Cairo, 1 February 2011. Accessed 2011.06.14.
12. ^ Al Jazeera News: "Battle of Tahrir Square" 3 February 2011 . Accessed 2011.02.03
13. ^ Fahim, Kareem and Mana El-Naggar; Liam Stack and Ed Ou contributed reporting, "Emotions of a Reluctant Hero Galvanize Protesters", The New York Times, 8 February 2011 (9 February 2011 p. A14 NY ed.).
14. ^ tahrir square, Facebook page. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
15. ^ [1] Reuters. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
16. ^ STRATFOR: http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20110213-egypt-distance-between-enthusiasm-and-reality Egypt: The Distance Between Enthusiasm and Reality, 14 February 2011. Accessed 2011.06.14.
17. ^ Kirkpatrick, David D. and Anthony Shadid from Cairo. Other reporting was contributed by Kareem Fahim, Liam Stack, Mona El-Naggar and Thanassis Cambanis from Cairo, and Alan Cowell from Paris, “Mubarak Steps Down, Ceding Power to Military” ,The New York Times, 11 February 2011.
18. ^ BBC News: "Egypt crisis: President Hosni Mubarak resigns as leader"; 12 February 2011; Accessed 2011.02.21.
19. ^ ^{a b} BBC News: "Ahdaf Soueif: Protesters reclaim the spirit of Egypt"; 13 February 2011; Accessed 2011.02.21.
20. ^ BBC News: "Thousands attend political rally in central Cairo"; 18 February 2011; Accessed 2011.02.21.
21. ^ BBC News: "David Cameron meets locals around Cairo's Tahrir Square"; 21 February 2011; Accessed 2011.02.21.
22. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/fear-and-no-clean-clothing-amira-hass-preparing-to-sail-for-gaza-1.369611
23. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/news/mideast-in-turmoil/egypt-police-fire-tear-gas-at-protesting-youths-in-tahrir-square-1.370172

External links

• BBC: Tahrir Square in wide angle images slideshow
• iPhone Tahrir Square App
• BlackBerry Tahrir Square App