Mubarak was nothing compared to the military
Eyewitness: Charity worker, 29
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Your support makes all the difference.I came here because nothing has been achieved. If anything things have got worse – Hosni Mubarak was nothing compared to the military council. People have been dragged to military prosecutions, people are still being tortured. There was the news some months ago that the military had carried out virginity tests on women. People are given no rights whatsoever, education and healthcare is terrible.
All the problems from the first demonstrations are still here – we don't feel free and we don't feel anything has changed. I don't think the military is going anywhere. They own five-star hotels in Egypt, build roads and bridges here. Why would they let it all go? They will fight until their last breath.
They are killing us in a way that not even Hosni Mubarak did. The violence here in Tahrir Square has been going on for three days now. I have seen a video of the army throwing bodies in the rubbish like we're not worth anything. I was on a street just outside the square when the military attacked on Sunday. But I could see the army burning tents and dispersing people violently with tear gas. I don't understand why they did it. It is just unbelievable.
After the fall of Hosni Mubarak I thought the army were protecting the revolution. I thought they would still have power but give the civilians their rights. But apparently that was just a lie. I started to change my mind about the army three or four months after the revolution. One thing led to another – the virginity tests, the military trials, the deaths in Cairo last month when the military attacked the Christian demonstration.
In the past the military in Egypt was here to defend the country, but they never dreamt of coming to power as long as they had their chief, Mubarak. But now they have power I believe they are thinking, "why not?"
I wasn't in Tahrir Square during the February revolution. I was too scared to come down and I didn't feel a true attachment to the demonstrators. I didn't share their concerns about their lives. But now I'm not sure my future children will be able to have the same chances that I had when I was young.
I'm not a political activist – just a regular woman who wants Egypt to become better. That's what I want for my country.
We have a saying in Egypt: if you walk by walls you will be safe. That's the mentality many people have.
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