Egyptians gather in Tahrir Square 1 year later

Anniversary is both a celebration and a continuing protest

 

They're back: Demonstrators take part in a protest marking the first anniversary of Egypt's uprising at Tahrir square in Cairo Wednesday. (Mohamed Abd El-Ghany/Reuters)

Thousands of Egyptians have gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of the start of the popular uprising that toppled longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.
Volunteers were checking IDs and conducting searches of the thousands of protesters flocking to the downtown square.
There were no army troops or police in the square, birthplace of the 18-day, anti-Mubarak uprising.
Military generals took over from Mubarak when he stepped down on Feb. 11, 2011. The ousted president is now on trial for his life on charges of complicity in the killing of hundreds of protesters during the uprising. He and his two sons, Alaa and one-time heir apparent Gamal, are facing separate charges of corruption in the same case.

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Tahrir Square is packed with different groups of people, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood and those who had lost family members in clashes with security forces, the CBC's Margaret Evans reported from Cairo Wednesday.
"People tell me this is both a celebration and a continuation of the protest against the governing military regime. They want justice for the victims of violence over the past year," she said.
Egypt's military rulers pledged to release more than 1,900 people tried in military courts to mark the first anniversary of the revolution that toppled Mubarak.
Egypt's military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi decreed on national television Tuesday night that the nation's hated emergency laws would be partially lifted on the anniversary day, but said the strict measures will remain applicable to crimes committed by "thugs."

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Tantawi's decision to partially lift the decades-old laws, which give police far-reaching powers, will likely not satisfy rights groups that have objected to the repeated use by the military of the term thugs to justify crackdown on protesters.
On Tuesday, hundreds gathered at Cairo's Tahrir Square and began assembling tents at the site of last year's focal point of anti-Mubarak demonstrations. There were numerous reports on Twitter of a heavy riot police presence around the square and that police were blocking some off streets leading to the site.

CBC NEWS IS THERE

The CBC's Sasa Petricic, Margaret Evans, Evan Mitsui and Manmeet Ahluwalia are in Egypt for the first anniversary of the start of the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak's regime. Follow their reports on CBCNews.ca, CBC News Network and CBC Radio.

Angie Balata, an Egyptian-Canadian living in Cairo who participated in the protests during the uprising, said there was still "a lot to fight about" one year later.
"It's been just a lot of chaos, a lot of violence, a lot of sadness, really," Balata told CBC News Network. "I think that the year started off really great with the start of the revolution. But definitely the feeling today, and the feeling that I have personally, is that the revolution continues. We're not close to … having the demands that we wanted to be realized."
Balata said that many protesters had hoped most of the regime would be gone by now.
"Unfortunately, this hasn't happened, and we're not close to it," Balata said from Cairo. "The military has taken over, and that's a lot of the reason why there's a lot of sadness. I mean, a lot of people have died since the revolution. A lot of people are in prison."
But the protests have broken Egypt's long-standing "barrier of fear," she said.
"People do go out on the streets, and they say how they feel and they say their opinions. And they get out and they fight for their rights. And that in itself is one of the greatest accomplishments," Balata said.

'The revolution continues. We're not close to … having the demands that we wanted to be realized.' —Angie Balata, protester

Evans also travelled to Mahalla el-Kubra, a large industrial city a few hours north of Cairo that was the site of anti-government protests back in 2008, which are credited with paving the way for the Arab Spring and the Egyptian revolution.
Modaz Abdul-Hamid, a doctor in Mahalla el-Kubra, told CBC News that residents thought the changes were going to occur immediately after the revolution.
"We thought that it was going the right way, but now, you're not so sure, " he said in Arabic. "Just the president went away. All the other reforms have not happened yet.