The road from Egypt's slums to Tahrir square

Four years have passed but not much has changed. People are older. A seller harangues passersby to buy his goods, his sunburnt face evidence of the long time he spends waiting for customers. An old woman crossing the street almost gets run over by a speeding car. There are no policemen around to control the traffic.

Four years ago, the area reverberated with voices demanding a "decent living", but the calls for "bread,

I don't trust protests anymore. The situation needs to calm down. - Imad, breadseller

freedom, social justice, and dignity" that raised hopes and expectations on January 25, 2011 have since been dashed.

Making ends meet

Imad Mohammed was busy giving a customer his order of bread. He glanced anxiously at his watch. He had to leave soon to begin his shift at his second job, at a restaurant on Gameat al-Duwal al-Arabeya Street near his home in Nahia, a slum in Cairo.

The young thirty-something Egyptian has to work a second job to be able to support his wife and young daughter.

"I start my job selling bread at six in the morning and finish at 12. I then rush to start my second job on Gameat al-Duwal al-Arabeya Street", Imad explains.

Obviously exhausted, he continues "I earn 700 Egyptian pounds a month selling bread. I had to get a job at a restaurant in the afternoon to be able to support my family. It's tough making a decent living."

The chants for "bread, freedom and social justice" struck a chord with him four years ago. The call for bread and dignity prompted him to go Tahrir Square on January 25, 2011. But it was also the reason he decided to vote yes to the constitution prepared by the committee of fifty, "for the sake of stability in the country", he said.

The young man remembers the day. "At noon on January 25, 2011, I was surprised to see a group of youths assembling in front of the (al-Sannieh) mosque opposite the bakery I work at, chanting 'bread, freedom, social justice'. I felt they were chanting for me. My wage was low and does not last until the end of the month."

The protest marched from Nahia Street and crossed the Bulaq Bridge peacefully.

"But the battle began as soon as it got to Gameat al-Duwal al-Arabeya Street, where the security forces fired tear gas and pellets to prevent it from joining the protesters who had assembled outside Mostafa Mahmoud Mosque."

He continued. "The security forces failed to stop the youths. The numbers that came from Nahia were huge. The protest then joined up with the one outside Mostafa Mahmoud Mosque in the end, before moving towards al-Batal Ahmed Abdel Aziz Street and from there to Tahrir Square via Dokki Square."

He added: "I could not take part because of my job. I followed them at night to the Square. I went there every day, and found thousands like me who felt they were wronged. We all had hopes for a decent life and a country that would respect us."

Beaten by police

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Officers from the Dokki Police station had assaulted Imad and his younger brother two months before, and this was one of his main motives for taking part in the revolution.

He gives an account of the incident, saying "We were taken from the street and beaten at the precinct. One of them slapped me on my face when I tried to resist and took the money I had with me."

He continues "I did not say anything because they were of the authority. They let us go after detaining us for hours, without giving us a citation because there was no charge to begin with. I felt humiliated."

Imad adds "We felt great joy when Mubarak stepped down. We had new hopes for change and for hopes for a new president who would sympathise with helpless simple people like us."

Sadly, he said "No way, though. None of that happened."

The revolution brings hardship in its wake

"The revolution caused us losses. There was a lot of thuggery and many tourist enterprises had to close down. I worked at one in the afternoon, before I and all the other workers were sacked. I worked just selling bread afterwards," said Imad.

He pauses to give someone a couple of loaves of bread before continuing. "The revolution brought ruin to simple folk like us. We did not feel any change and our conditions did not improve. No one cared about us. Things are going from bad to worse. Prices continue to rise and the country is losing. In addition, we don't feel safe anymore."

Nahia Street, where Imad's bread shop is located, sees protests from time to time calling for an end to the coup. But Imad said "I don't trust protests anymore. The situation needs to calm down."

In a hopeful tone he says "I voted yes to the constitution because the economy is collapsing."

Imad said he would participate in events commemorating the fourth anniversary of the January 25 revolution, but to demand stability rather than a change in the regime.

Imad's attitude was predicted by former member of the Youths of the Revolution Coalition, Mahmoud Sami, the man behind the "snowball" protest tactic of starting off from places like Nahia and popular regions toward Tahrir Square.

"Unfortunately, all the regimes that ruled after February 11, 2011 were not interested in economic reform and made people loathe the revolution," he said. "If we polled people's opinion in Nahia now, I predict they would not respond to our call again."

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.