Browsing Tags day of rage
Egypt’s 2nd Anniversary
A survivor from the Day of Rage protests holds up an X-ray showing the shotgun pellets that are still inside his body.
Today sees the second anniversary of the Egyptian revolution. Again Tahrir Square is a mass of protestors, not celebrating the revolution, but calling for the downfall of president Morsi.
Twitter feeds from Cairo have reported major clashes all day and there are widespread reports of women being attacked in Tahrir by groups of men.
Latest reports state the army has deployed tanks to Cairo, Giza, Suez, Ismailia and Port Said.
Report Digital has uploaded three new video rushes today.
Jet Fighters Skim Tahrir Square
Military arrests during Cairo occupation
Blog: One Year On (Original Vimeo Links)
Jess Hurd Egypt Revolution Gallery
Jess Hurd Uprising Against Egyptian Military
Footage is available from reportdigital.co.uk
© Jason N. Parkinson/reportdigital.co.uk
The Battle for Cairo
Following three days of peaceful mass protest, which ended in as many as eight million marching across Egypt and President Mubarak announcing he would not stand for re-election in September, Wednesday 2 February became the defining day for the Egyptian revolution.
Thousands of pro-Mubarak supporters massed outside the heavily defended state television centre. All the video I shot of the pro-demonstration was taken from the bridge due to the hostility of the crowd.
When we arrived there I was grabbed by one supporter, who tried to force me to pray to Allah. When I refused he accused me of being Israeli. This drew the attention of other supporters around him and it looked like I was about to be lynched, so we made a swift exit.
And it wasn’t long before the pro-Mubarak supporters were lynching people. As their march reached our hotel we tried to exit to start filming. Within seconds a group of 20 protestors started attacking a small group of women. One woman started running for the hotel door. We were pulled inside by the door security and they locked the door. We saw the woman’s screaming face smash into the glass. Arms and legs lashed out at her and she went down. The punches and kicks continued. The image of her terrified face is something I will never forget.
That incident also led to the initial coverage of this event from the hotel room with a barricaded door, as the area surrounding the hotel was swarming with thousands of Mubarak supporters. And we had already been pointed out as anti-Mubarak at the beginning of the protest, by a gang of what we believed were plain clothes police.
After several hours of fighting the pro-Mubarak protestors were pushed back and the Tahrir Square protestors quickly erected barricades. By nightfall elements, now known to be police, in the pro protestors opened fire with automatic rifles. The all too familiar crackle of AK-47 rounds sounded just 200 metres down the road as the battle went on into the night. More than a thousand were injured. Seven people were beleived to have been killed, all by gunfire.
1024X576 footage © Jason N. Parkinson
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Battle for the Interior Ministry
Battle for the Interior Ministry
Saturday 29 January 2011: Following the Day of Rage the police advanced from the streets surrounding the Interior Ministry into Tahrir Square early in the morning, firing whatever ammunition they had left into the gathering crowds.
This was by no means an attempt to regain the square, the police numbers clearly could not have made a dent in the protestors resilience, as the numbers of the crowds marching on the street after the attack indicated. The more the authorities hit them, the more they massed.
That night I learned the true extent of the secret police operation, according to several local journalists. The morning attack on the square was to direct the same outcome as the plain clothes officers in the square that day – to urge and encourage the protestors up the street towards the Interior Ministry, where police snipers were waiting, overlooking the street.
The bodies of the dead and injured poured into a backstreet mosque that had been turned into a makeshift hospital. By the end of that day local reports said 15 people were killed and the nearest hospital to the Downtown district had recorded more than 550 injuries.
1024X576 footage © Jason N. Parkinson
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These video are for viewing only and may not be embedded or otherwise published without permission. www.jasonnparkinson.com
For full Terms & Pricing contact: jasonnparkinson@gmail.com
Night of Rage – Cairo
Following the afternoon’s narrow escape from the secret police and feeling the Tahrir protest was surrounded and most probably doomed, we decided to return to our hotel. Little did we know the next 12 hours of uprising would pan out right outside our first floor window.
This video rush shows the chaos and confusion that spanned that night of Friday 28 January, 2011. For us it was hard to understand, as the military were first greeted with burning barricades and stones, then with cheers and applause. Then ambulances were attacked and tanks charged at crowds of protestors while Mubarak’s party headquarters burned.
By Saturday night these scenes made more sense, as local journalists explained what had happened. Although the army were predominantly neutral to the Mubarak regime, there were certain elements that were supportive of the regime. Some tank brigades were part of this support, the Presidential Guard certainly were behind Mubarak. And it was these APCs and tanks that had charged the barricades to deliver more ammunition to the riot police still trying to hold Tahrir Square.
This was also the reason the ambulance was attacked, we were told. Protestors had checked the ambulance only to find boxes of tear gas inside. The boxes can be seen being lifted into the air following the attack on the ambulance.
For our team it was a tense and uncertain night, not knowing what the outcome would be or where the military stood. But we knew if the police won we were truly done for. So when they advanced and started firing again in the early hours of the morning we thought that was it. Not only did they shoot with tear gas and rubber bullets. Also sporadic AK-47 gunfire, that shot out our window sill and sent bits of concrete ricocheting around the room while we clung to the floor in gas masks. That was not the only night we barely slept.
1024X576 footage © Jason N. Parkinson
Terms
These video are for viewing only and may not be embedded or otherwise published without permission. www.jasonnparkinson.com
For full Terms & Pricing contact: jasonnparkinson@gmail.com