Euroradio in Tahrir Square! (PHOTO REPORT)

You'll see a series of reports from Egypt, starting from an extreme walk in Tahrir Square, where mass protests have been taken place for more than a week already. The first democratic parliamentary election has been appointed on Monday and Tuesday, while there are many grounds for being dissatisfied: the laws are being changed "on the run", in the last days and hours before the election, and the personnel in the local administrations is not ready for the new form of the election yet. There will be no transparent ballot-boxes, and no control over the vote counting procedure and over the ordinary mathematics at the polling stations, like how many people voted, how many ballots there were, how many ballots were spoiled and how many times a person voted. Please see the details in our next report.

Tahrir has not been hospitable: there was a preliminary warning for girls not to walk alone, especially for those who arrived from abroad, and this atmosphere seized us from the very first steps in the square, enclosed by self-organized block-posts. In the entrance there are youngsters of 17-18 years old, they check the documents and the bags for weapons. Besides, you can buy weapons anywhere for 10 dollars here now, it is also easy to buy a respirator and an eye-mask to protect yourself from tear-gas (2 dollars). Margaret and John, independent observers from the USA, have nearly been shot in one of the touristic streets: traders from the neighbouring shops couldn't divide the territory and started the fire. "This is abnormal, we have never had anything like this before," - says Mosri, a human rights activist from Cairo, - "However, there's nothing surprising about this as the police are busy guarding the Tahrir Square".

A view from the window of the hotel where journalists of international TV-channels live.

There were about 40 000 people in the square on the day of our walk: people were campaigning for different parties and candidates all over the square, all kinds of chants through megaphones were heard, people were lying on the concrete pedestals in blankets all over the place, and there were a dozen of white tents in the very center. "Many people stopped their studies and work and live here, and some come here right after their daily occupations and leave late at night", — says Ahmed, an activist.

"Stay in a group! The military are now provoking the foreign press representatives thus forcing them out of the square - you've heard the stories about raped journalists and beaten operators, haven't you?" — says Mosri, an Egyptian who agreed to accompany Euroradio's correspondent, as well as a human rights activist from Estonia and a journalist of the British radio in Tahrir. In the center of the square, we were surrounded by local inhabitants who started shouting something to Mosri in Arabian. About 30 people ran up and encircled him. "What did you bring them here for?" - the youngsters shouted. "This is our square! There's no place for them here! Only Egyptian journalists can stay here, we do not need spies!" The crowd was getting bigger and noisier, we didn't know where to run as it was equally far to any of the square's edges, and there were too many curious and aggressive people on the way. In the end, after long negotiations, the crowd let us go and ordered to leave immediately.

Field hospitals are located around the square: one in the mosque, one in the school building, and there are several more, including the one in the Christian church, which the police shot with tear gas during one of the clashes. "The people dislike it when a foreigner films them, this square is something very intimate for them...", says a doctor of one of the field hospitals.

A burnt building of Murabak's party's office is located not far from Tahrir, on the way to the bank of Nile. The protesters say that they will ask the new authority not to restore or demolish the building and to keep it as a monument to revolution to frighten the dictators all over the world.

To be continued. + listen to live switchings from Egypt on Monday!