######, a 46 year old security guard at the American University in Cairo, gives his account of the 2011 revolution in Egypt. Based at AUC’s downtown Tahrir Square campus, for several days from January 25 into the second week of February 2011 he was assigned security shifts at the building at 5 Youssef El Guindi Street, a side street off Mohamed Mahmoud Street. During this time he tells of being able to “hear everything but see nothing,” and about the conversations he had with police officers stationed nearby. He reports on what the police had to say about the events at Tahrir Square, for example their not expecting significant demonstrations on January 25, and recalls meeting police officers who had not slept for four days after the 25th and who feared losing control of the protests. Some police officers and military personnel he spoke with revealed that they did not oppose the uprising against the government.
######, a 37 year old staff member in the American University in Cairo’s library, describes his experiences during Egypt’s 2011 revolution. He relates witnessing the looting and burning of the police station in Moqattam, his neighborhood, on January 25. Although aware of many Egyptians’ discontent with their government, he did not expect the protests of early 2011; he comments on the course of the revolution, emphasizing the importance of the first three days and the early participants. According to ######, the revolution served as a unifying force for the university’s student body in a way that he had never seen before.