The Tahrir memorial which was inaugurated yesterday morning to honour those who lost their lives during the 25 January 2011 and 30 June 2013 revolutions was in the evening attacked and dashed to pieces by demonstrators of unknown identity.
A picture of Gaber Salah, better known as Gika, a demonstrator in his twenties who died during clashes between the police and demonstrators then attempting to break into the Interior Ministry in Muhammad Mahmoud Street a year ago was raised on the dashed memorial.
General Yassin Abdel-Bari, head of the West Cairo district, said the demonstrators had smashed the marble side of the memorial which held the names of President Adly Mansour and Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi, and placed posters and wrote graffiti that criticised the army and Mubarak loyalists. He said the governorate would repair the damage.
A delegation representing the Coptic Orthodox Church had yesterday participated in the ceremony in Tahrir Square in Cairo to place the foundation stone for the memorial.
To music of patriotic songs including ++The loveliest name in the universe is ‘Egypt’++, Cairo Governor Galal Said stood next to Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawy as he placed the foundation stone; in attendance were a number of cabinet members and State representatives. Mr Beblawi gave a word in which he said that the memorial was to commemorate every individual who lost his or her life in order for Egypt to cross over to a new era where the people would be the sovereign power: those who died in Tahrir, Muhammad Mahmoud, Kirdasa, Umraniya, and everywhere in Egypt, no matter what their affiliation.
The memorial is built of stone with a marble monument in the middle, inscribed with the names of the dead.
Watani International
19 November 2013