it started out as an event on facebook,the site that all the government officials started to use to get in contact with the people after the revolution, Amr Moussa is coming to Tanta to be celebrated as a famous person who grew up in Tanta as he said,also to talk about the "post-revolution phase" as people call it.
Problems started to happen when people find out 2 days before the event that whoever wants to attend has to register first,that wasn't a problem except that..some names,who were known to be against Amr Moussa or with too knowledge and political awareness to cause trouble,were striked out. Some had their names removed the minute they wrote it.
People already began to become sceptical about the meeting, especially that the head of our university was an NDP member before it got dissolved.
So,people agreed that if any one was denied entry,a sit-in will take place till everyone gets in.
The university administration tried to make a smart move, everyone was allowed to attend, no names were checked (though the bags were searched by the security of Amr Moussa)
then we were shown to another hall, where we were supposed to see Amr Moussa through a screen, mics were said to be handed later to those who want to ask, but we didnt buy it (which turned out to be the right thing to do since no mics were handed out to those who wanted to ask in the hall where Amr Moussa himself stayed, those who wanted to ask had to shout or take it to the stage after permission).
and of course, as we went inside (and even before we went inside the conference compound) signs welcoming Amr Moussa were all over the place
So,now we are in another conference hall where we realised that we, most probably, wont be allowed to ask questions, a debate started about what we should do that ended with a decision that we'll start a sit-in till we're allowed inside the hall where Amr Moussa himself was to sit.
As we started a sit-in we noticed some people flashing certain cards,papers being checked before security let anyone inside the main hall
while they were allowing few, selected people inside,these crowds started to show discontent with what they're seeing.
mean while, the wireless Internet suddenly gets closed, we cant tweet and definitely cant stream what's going on. Apparently, a security guard over heard us speaking about using the wireless to stream the event,5 mins later.it's down.
with all these elements working together, the students started to protest chanting :"where are you freedom, the state security is between us andyou" (rhyms in arabic)
and then the students start to push against the guards to enter the hall,after negotiations of groups of students with guards didn't work out.
and we finally manage to push against the guards, once I got inside I got stunned by those lovely people holding pictures of Amr Moussa the thing that reminded me of Gaddafi's hypocrites.
we then waited for like another 30 mins inside the hall itself till Amr Moussa came (which I personally think was a disrespectful thing a politician would do).
Then,along came the champ making a nice statement that he wants to be among the youth.and of course,who is better than the head of university?especially with the enormous objection of the students on her (whenever she was mentioned in the session she was booed, and well, Amr Moussa was booed by some people too when he came into the hall).
he got so mingled with the youth,I couldn't reach him!
then he spoke, I video taped the first 5 minutes of his speech.got greatly discouraged by people around me who said :"what are video taping?he's boring!".but that was what some people thought. yet I think there are some parts of the session that should be mentioned.
he then was asked a question about the Gaza war and why he didn't ask for a no-fly zone back in 2008.
want to know what he said as a reply?that the war on Gaza in 2008 wasn't a war,it was a blockade,and the Arab league succeed at breaking that blockade..
He didn't give an answer to a single question,even one as simple as how are you going to develop Egypt..he answered:"I promise I'll develop Egypt" but didn't give any further details about what he has got in mind to do so.
He also answered that he "supported Mubarak as a person but was against his policies" when he was asked about whether he supports or opposes the fallen regime
He didn't answer the question directed to him about his stance about protesters in Tahrir when he tried to convince them to leave.he simply said:"I support democracy"
click here and here and here for the 3 parts of the session that went on
I noticed this young man wearing this shirt during the session, he was the one who collected our questions and delivered them to Amr Moussa, apparently he was a member of the campaign as he stated so himself thus proving the session aimed as presenting Amr Moussa a presidential candidate not as the Dean of the Arab league and a famous person to talk about the "post-revolution phase"
finally, he stopped answering our questions and simply took off.but not without making a dramatic scene first.(click here if the video below didnt work)
now people ask why did we run after the car..I ran to tape the video,others ran to demand their right to be heard, some to demand the right of the lady who,even though you might think she wasn't assaulted , but she got humiliated,imagine she was your mum and someone kept pushing her like that trying to silence her up.
I let you be the judge of what I put before you. Read,think and decide
