Raphael Thelen

“We are here to celebrate our great revolution,” says Moustafa Saad, a founding member of the Freedom and Justice Party, standing amid a crowd of people in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians thronged the square today, where exactly one year ago their country’s revolution culminated. “We had free elections, and now we have a free parliament,” says Saad, whose party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, won the recent elections with a wide margin.

The atmosphere around him is festive. Vendors sell revolutionary merchandise, popcorn and tea. Little kids gaze at the scene from their parent’s shoulders. Saad himself just led an improvised prayer in the middle of the street.

“Now we need the elections for the upper house and to write the constitution,” he says, adding: “And the military has to leave the government.” The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which took over after President Hosni Mubarak was ousted, has vowed to exit from power once a new president is elected in June. Saad and his fellow Muslim Brothers have no doubt that they will.

SCAF has declared January 25 an official national holiday. Egyptians from the Nile Delta and other surrounding cities have traveled to Cairo to take part in the celebration. Egyptian flags are everywhere.

“This day is beautiful,” says Mohammed Saad, a 29-year-old unemployed translator, standing in the tent city that the Brotherhood has set up. “I’m very happy. I came early in the morning, and we’re going to stay here till Friday.”
A couple of kilometers across the city, the mood is radically different. Thousands of people with signs and megaphones in their hands march down the streets. Angry chants reverberate: “Don’t be afraid! The military has to go!”

At the top of his voice, Mohammed, one of the protesters, joins in. The 24-year-old has a history of protesting and was imprisoned several times. He doesn’t want his full name to be printed.

After five minutes of shouting, Mohammed’s face is covered in sweat. “The elections were fake,” he says. “The only thing the revolution has achieved so far is that the military is killing even more people in the streets. SCAF is the same as Mubarak.”

In his hands he holds a spray can and a stencil. Unhurriedly he puts the stencil on a wall and sprays over it. The picture shows the head of SCAF, Field Marshall Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, and a Muslim Brother playing a game of chess. Underneath lays an activist in a pool of blood. “No power to the people,” the caption reads.

“The SCAF and the Brotherhood are playing a dirty game with the revolution,” says Mohammed. “They have a deal. The Brotherhood only works for its own share.”

Many protesters around him wear paper masks printed with pictures of the faces of protesters who were killed during last year’s revolution. Others carry sleeping bags, determined to occupy Tahrir again to make their demands heard.

“The Brotherhood is in Tahrir Square celebrating. The same square where only months ago people were killed by the military. It’s disgusting,” says Mohammed before disappearing in the crowd.

Back in Tahrir Mohammed Saad, the unemployed translator looks around at his fellow Muslim Brothers. Their recent successes and their sheer numbers instill them with confidence and calm. “I know, the young revolutionaries hate us,” he says. “But they have their opinion and we have ours. That is democracy, right?”