Sunday, January 30, 2011

Comrade Hossam: live from Cairo

Comrade Hossam is somebody I trust and admire: he is central in the protests in Cairo (and is a fine journalists too).  Here is a sequence of his tweets:

 Hossam عمو حسام 
"There r tens of thousands continuing the protests day and night in Tahrir Sq. Yesterday we almost stormed the Interior Ministry.
The police has vanished from the streets. They r barricaded inside their Interior Ministry, stationing snipers on buildings, shooting at us.
Live ammunition was used yesterday against us in Mohamed Mahmoud Street. I saw at least one person dead.
I'm ok, I have sustained injuries like everyone else from BB bullets and rubber bullets. But my family and I are fine.
IT IS NOT TRUE WHAT MSM IS BROADCASTING ABOUT PROTESTERS CALLING ON BARADIE TO LEAD TRANSITIONAL GOVT!
My neighborhood Nasr City, my city Cairo and in all Egyptian towns, popular committees r being formed by citizens to provide security.
Barricades r up, cars r checked by the shabab. Saboteurs r beaten up immediately on the spot.
The army in Tahrir r useless pieces of shit. They r not "protecting" the demonstrators as they were claiming.
The shootings around Lazoughli and the snipers firing at protesters yesterday happened as the army sat and watch.
WE DO NOT WANT THE ARMY! THE ARMY HAS BEEN RULING SINCE 1952. THEY R NOT NEUTRAL PLAYERS.
The curfew the army imposed is meaningless. We break it every night by continuing our protests in Tahrir.
MB activists were denounced by protesters around Lazoughli yesterday when they tried to stop people from marching on interior ministry
It is not true what some MSM outlets r broadcasting about the Muslim Brotherhood and the 6th of April leading the protests. It's complete BS
The protests have spontaneous leaders in most of the occasions. We won't let this upririsng to be hijacked by anybody.
Suez workers in several factories r on strike, calling for the overthrowal of Mubarak.
Situation in Suez is catastrophic in terms of deaths and injuries. The police fought the people in the same way Israelis fight Palestinians
There r chants against Mubarak always, accusing him of being a traitor, a client to the US and Israel.
There is no love whatsoever the protesters hold towards the US govt and Obama. They r hypocrites.
The Popular Committees hold the seeds for what direct democracy could look like in the future. We need to focus on them instead of BARADIE!
Demonstrations continue in all Egyptian cities. People do not want Omar Suleiman. People want to see Mubarak on trial.
State Security Police Stations in Daqahliya, Kafr El-Sheikh, Rafah, Damanhour, and in many other places have been torched down by protesters
Pigs at Nasr City Police Stations 1 & 2 have barricaded themselves inside the stations, shooting live ammunition at proteters from inside.
I attended the protests in Nasr City yesterday b4 heading to Tahrir, and the police used live ammunition on protesters.
We need more protests abroad in front of Egyptian embassies. Pressure your govts to cut all sort of relations with the Mubarak regime.
I can't login to facebook or gmail from where I am. So anyone who is in touch with my sister Salma, tell her I and mom r doing well.
Gotta leave now and head back to the protests. Down with Mubarak. Down with Obama the hypocrite. Long live the Egyptian revolution."

PS I always teased Hossam and told him: when are you finally going to overthrow Mubarak? Well, he is finally doing it, along with the brave Egyptian people.