on the safe side

A State Security Major told me this evening that sometimes these demonstrations get violent, which explains why the park in front of Mustafa Mahmoud mosque had to be sealed off with three truckloads of riot police and a couple of gangs of stick toting beltagaya tonight. "The Muslim Brotherhood sometimes comes," he told me and gave me a knowing look.

While the two dozen mostly-familiar faces who showed up to stand for an hour and commemorate the first anniversary of the night that similar troops beat to death 28 people, including seven children, in the park didn't get too rowdy, it was good to know that reinforcements were close by just in case.