Tahrir Square

Coordinates: 30°02′40″N 31°14′09″E / 30.0444°N 31.2357°E / 30.0444; 31.2357

Tahrir Square in 1958

Omar Makram Statue near Omar Makram Mosque — Tahrir Square, Cairo

Tahrir Square (Arabic: ميدان التحرير‎ Mīdān at-Taḥrīr, IPA: [meˈdæːn ettæħˈɾiːɾ], English: Liberation Square), also known as "Martyr Square", is a major public town square in Downtown Cairo, Egypt. The square has been the location and focus for political demonstrations in Cairo, most notably those that led to the 2011 Egyptian revolution which led to the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.

History

The square was originally called "Ismailia Square" (ميدان الأسماعيليّة 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 an autocratic republic. The square was a focal point for the Egyptian Revolution of 2011^[1]

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

Features

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 House of Folklore, 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]

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

2011 Egyptian Revolution

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, PIK 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 one 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, according to Stratfor's analysis, the real number of gathered protesters never exceeded 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 there, 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]

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.^[14] 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.^[15][16] 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.^[17] 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 days' worth of trash and graffiti.^[17]

Post-revolution

Tahrir Square in the early morning, November 2012

Tahrir Square, with 'democracy anniversary' celebrations and visits from foreign dignitaries, continued to be a symbol of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.^[18][19] 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, Kevin Rudd Foreign Minister of Australia, 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.^[20]

The burnt-out headquarters of the NDP can still be observed from the square.

June 2013 protests and coup d'état

On 29 June 2013, millions of Egyptians converged on Tahrir Square to demonstrate against the Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, demanding his resignation from office.^[21][22] The demonstrators used the slogan "the people want the ouster of the regime," used in the protests that led to the 2011 revolution.^[23]

By the 30th, their number had increased^[24] and demonstrations were reported to be in progress in 18 locations across Cairo.^[25] On 3 July 2013, General Abdul Fatah al-Sisi announced the removal of President Mohamed Morsi and suspended the Egyptian constitution after ongoing public protests in what is described as a coup d'état by Morsi supporters and the international community,^{[26][27][28][29][30]} and by its supporters and the media as a revolution.^{[31][32][33][34]}

See also

• Downtown Cairo
• The Square, a documentary film about the square and its role in Egyptian politics
• Graffiti

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tahrir Square.

• Tahrir Square travel guide from Wikivoyage
• BBC: Tahrir Square in wide angle images slideshow
• iPhone Tahrir Square App
• BlackBerry Tahrir Square App
• "Tahrir Documents". University of California, Los Angeles. Collected from demonstrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square  2011–present