Snakes, Men and Cats Among Ruins

[Amman, 7/5/25]

Arriving in Cairo just before New Year’s Day of 2021, I noticed many armed soldiers around Tahrir Square. Prisoner transport vans were visible. With large crowds surging through downtown, this made enough sense, I thought. Later I realized they were always there, with plainclothed cops also lurking. Every so often, you can see them chatting with the uniformed troops. Tahrir Square had long been the site of protests.

Amman’s Grand Husseini Mosque was where worshippers would protest the Gaza genocide. This happened weekly after their midday Friday prayer. This last Friday, I was eating ground beef with tomato at this eatery on King Ghazi Street when its cooks, waiter and delivery boy rushed off to prayer. After finishing my meal, I also headed to Grand Husseini Mosque to find hundreds of worshippers lined in rows outside. Many without prayer mats used pieces of cardboard. Dozens prayed at surrounding stores. Just as at Cairo’s Tahrir Square, there were security men and prisoner transport vans. No protest happened afterwards, however. Later at a café, I was told enough people had been arrested to warn the rest.