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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 April 1999 Issue No. 425 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 April 1999 Issue No. 425
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Al-Ahram:
A Diwan of contemporary life (281)
Mosques traditionally have been hot spots in Egypt's popular struggle against foreign occupation. This was true of Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque in the resistance movement against French occupation in 1798 and in similar agitation against British occupation in 1919. In the latter protest action, Alexandria's Sidi Al-Mursi Abul-Abbas Mosque, the biggest in the port city, was similarly the starting point of violent anti-British demonstrations between March and November in 1919. Some of the biggest demonstrations were staged by stone-throwing children and teenagers. Dr Yunan Labib Rizk * tells the story of the "stone children" from reports published by Al-Ahram
Sidi Al-Mursi Abul-Abbas, Alexandria's most famous mosque, was to Alexandria what Al-Azhar was to Cairo -- a symbol of popular resistance against foreign occupation, whether at the time of the French expedition in 1798 or of the 1919 revolution. Yet, while the role of Al-Azhar in the 1919 revolution has received its due share of scholastic attention, the same cannot be said of Abul-Abbas. It is not that commonly known, for example, that in October and November of that year, the entire country was riveted to the events centering around that mosque. For a period of four weeks, from 24 October to 21 November the mass demonstrations that began following the Friday noon prayers in that famed mosque and the related revolutionary activity were a constant nightmare for the British occupation authorities.
Not that Alexandria was a late-comer to the 1919 revolution which began in March that year. As in Cairo, workers and student protest rallies were precipitated by the banishment by the British authorities of nationalist leader Saad Zaghlul. In Alexandria, confrontation with occupation forces in March resulted in 14 dead and dozens wounded. Yet, while autumn brought relative calm to the rest of Egypt, in Alexandria the atmosphere was still charged.
illustration:
Makram HeneinAs for Abul-Abbas, not only the largest but one of the oldest Alexandrian mosques, it was situated in the heart of the popular quarters in which Egyptians constituted the majority of the population. Its historical and religious status, in conjunction with its location made it a natural hub for popular activity. A prelude of the events spawned from this mosque occurred on 10 October. Following Friday prayers that day, as Al-Ahram reports, "a large procession formed up in front of Abul-Abbas and, bearing Egyptian, French, Italian and American flags, marched through the streets and came to a stop before the stock market building. The air was filled with chants and cries. Soon the rally was confronted by the mounted police and the demonstrators dispersed."
It is doubtful that security forces were particularly alarmed by this demonstration. Perhaps they even saw it as a dying gasp now that calm had prevailed all over the country. Certainly, the presence of ships from the British fleet in the port would have fed their complacency. As events two weeks later would prove, this confidence was misplaced.
In late October Al-Ahram reported the opening shots of these events. Quoting a bulletin released by the governor's office in Alexandria, the newspaper said, "On the 24th of this month at 12.45pm, a demonstration took place in the vicinity of Sidi Abul-Abbas Mosque. When the police moved in to maintain order, the demonstrators attacked them with stones and qulal (singular -- qulla -- an earthenware water jug). Orders were issued to a squadron of guards to stop the assault, but the demonstrators became more violent. When it became clear that the Egyptian force present at the scene was insufficient to restrain the demonstrators, British forces were called in. The demonstrators persisted and the clashes resulted in the wounding of 26 policemen and 10 civilians, three of whom died. The disturbances lasted until nightfall."
Al-Ahram's correspondent in Alexandria, signing himself Abbas, added, "These unexpected disturbances, which have worried many people, are the sole topic of conversation in the city. The authorities will undoubtedly take all measures necessary to restore transportation and traffic to normal."
That evening, under the headline "Demonstrations in Alexandria -- an extraordinary and disturbing situation", Abbas telegraphed a second dispatch. At 8:00 p.m., he wrote, "the situation in the area of the customs department is tense as a result of the disturbances. When I went there I found armed patrols of British soldiers. Some of them were also stationed in the nearby alleyways and at the crossroads. The warehouses are still closed while a throng of demonstrators has rallied before the old governorate building. Earlier today, the demonstrators smashed a British military vehicle and this evening approximately 50 people returned to complete its demolition. A police officer informed me that the demonstrators had broken into an abandoned home in front of the governorate building in order to collect wood to pile on top of the vehicle."
Two and a half hours later, Abbas dispatched his last telegram for that tumultuous day. Hassan Pasha Abdel-Razeq, the governor of the port city, had called an urgent meeting of city notables and "discussed with them at length the prevailing turmoil and anxiety. When he requested them to appeal for calm and maintain order they all voiced the opinion that the British forces must be withdrawn from the Egyptian quarters."
If any action was taken, it had no effect, for by the following day, the inhabitants of these quarters had taken matters into their hands. Moreover, the most important players in the ensuing events were children who decided to continue the resistance, thereby opening a unique chapter in the history of the 1919 revolution.
The young did not sleep on the evening of Friday 24 March. Between nightfall and the next morning they made preparations for sustained warfare with stones and qulal. This latter weapon, a purely Egyptian product, has never been used in children's uprisings outside of Egypt. Al-Ahram reports that, before prayers on Friday, "the qulla sellers had placed their wares on either side of the street in front of Abul-Abbas Mosque to sell to worshippers and passersby." During the confrontation with the police, "the demonstrators snatched up the qulal and started throwing them at the police."
Abbas reports that during the night the neighborhood children and youths, aged between nine and 18 years, built barriers and trenches across the roads leading into their quarters to ward off the police and soldiers. "These barriers are most amazing. They extend the full width of the streets, which are between 14 and 16 metres wide, and are over a metre high." The young revolutionaries had built three such barriers. They had also dug a half-metre wide trench behind the second barrier.
The mosque of Sidi Al-Mursi Abul-Abbas has always had a special meaning for Alexandrians, much like Al-Azhar for the Cairenes. First built by the sea, the original mosque was replaced by a more elaborate one in the 1930s
Al-Ahram's correspondent continues, "And just as the authorities stationed guards and lookouts in the eastern port, so too did the Egyptian nationals station guards and lookouts at their barriers, each carrying an Egyptian flag, in order to prevent automobiles and other vehicles from passing beyond their lines. Whenever a British military vehicle approached, one of the guards would raise his hand, shout in English, 'Halt!' and signal to the driver to turn back." The barriers also brought a stop to the tram service in the area.
The developments had the British authorities shaken. A contemporary related that when meeting with the British police commissioner, the latter expressed his disbelief that children, no older than 12 or 14, could have been solely responsible for the previous night's undertaking. "Every street from France Street to Ras Al-Tin in the eastern port has been blocked by barriers and 10 more have been built between the Manshiya Courthouse and the Nile Pharmacy."
The area was poised for battle and it did come on Saturday. Abbas relates: "By 8:00 this morning the streets and squares were filled with children, too many to count. Merchants have closed their stores and journalists have spread out to cover the painful events." By noon, the British had brought in two more infantry companies, a cavalry company and eight guns. "This build-up was in response to the growing number of children confronting the great British forces," commented Abbas wryly. He proceeds to describe the fighting that broke out between the "two armies -- I say two armies because it would not serve the truth to say otherwise, for the children had erected dirt fortresses and hills made from the bricks and large stones and had dug trenches into which they could duck in order to escape flying bullets and out of which they could pop up to throw stones at the soldiers and then disappear again." The children's army was clearly well-organised. While one team of children was charged with collecting stones, another would carry in dirt and sand in their galabiyas while a third team kept watch over the back roads.
These strategic hills were the prized objectives of battle. Abbas recounts that one of the hills built by the children kept changing hands between the two sides. By nightfall, the situation was at a standoff and would require the intervention of a third party. That evening, a meeting was held by city notables in the governor's office. Al-Ahram recounts that the notables protested that the sorrowful events of the previous two days were not caused by the demonstrators, but "by others." Unanimously they insisted that "the British soldiers being used to maintain order in the popular quarters in which the demonstration took place should be withdrawn because, in their ignorance of the customs and behaviour of the people and with the demonstrators' zeal at its highest pitch, the very presence of these forces can provoke regrettable incidents." At the close of the meeting, the governor pledged to do all in his power to persuade the British to withdraw their forces while the notables, for their part, would create "local committees to participate in the preservation of peace and the restoration of public order."
The following day, a group of the Alexandria notables formed two committees to mediate between the army of stone-throwing children and the representatives of the forces of the empire upon which the sun never sets. The British forces garrisoned in the port had been asked to cooperate with the mediating committees.
Negotiations with the children's army opened in Cinema Abbas located on the eastern pier. The children aired their demands. These included the release of those who had been arrested during the demonstration and subsequent skirmishes, a halt to the use of live ammunition against them and the withdrawal of the British force stationed in the port. The committee took these demands to the officers who were negotiating for the British. They agreed to withdraw.
The children had other demands, but the negotiating committee advised them to first remove the barriers they had constructed as a sign of goodwill. Within hours, the barriers were down. Afterwards, a delegation went to the governor's office to present their other demands which included permission to stage a funeral procession for the Egyptians who had been killed during the uprising.
However, tranquillity was not to prevail. True to the character of occupying forces, the British did not keep their word. On that Sunday afternoon, the British forces moved back in to the eastern port "and set up artillery positions in the area between the post office and the demolished Pyramids Coffeehouse." Ostensibly they feared that the demolished building furnished an ample supply of stones and rubble with which the children could arm themselves. The children, in response, collected before Al-Abasiri Mosque at 3.00pm. When the British soldiers moved in to disperse the rally, they were pelted with stones.
The soldiers opened fire on the children wounding 14. "Two of these sustained serious injuries, but the remainder were able to flee to their homes because they suffered only minor wounds."
True to form as well, British authorities unleashed a campaign of arrests, taking into custody 44 people, "most of whom are young boys from the popular class." They also removed the remnants of the barriers. However, tensions would not subside so easily. On 28 October, a delegation of students from the Rateb Pasha School called at the offices of Al-Ahram in Alexandria. The students, "none of whom were older than 13", informed Al-Ahram that they had gone on strike to protest the maltreatment of the people of Ras Al-Tin by the occupation forces.
Also, that week, the lighthouse workers sent a telegram to the prime minister to protest "the enormous force armed with rifles and guns that was brought against defenseless youths, children and women." This was only one of the dozens of protests that rained in from all areas of the country.
Also, for four subsequent Fridays, Abul-Abbas Mosque would serve as the staging ground for further protest rallies. On Friday 31 October, the governor of Alexandria appeared personally in order to forestall the demonstration for fear of an inevitable clash with British forces stationed nearby. When it appeared that the mood of the crowd was not receptive, he granted them permission to wage a peaceful march. The march did indeed proceed peacefully, gathering in numbers on the way. However, as Al-Ahram's correspondent on the scene reported later that day, the situation exploded when a British army vehicle charged into the demonstrators killing two and causing numerous injuries. The ensuing clashes lasted until 5:00 that evening and claimed five dead and 40 wounded.
By Friday 7 November the authorities had taken more precautions, stationing an Egyptian army company near Abul-Abbas Mosque. One of the worshippers that day tried to exhort the people not to demonstrate in order to avoid further losses. "A large gathering had assembled in the mosque and opinion was divided between those who advocated going ahead with the demonstration and those who advised against it. In the end, the latter opinion prevailed and the assembly dispersed to cheers for Egypt and independence."
The plea for calm would not prevail the following Friday. On that day, police once again clashed with the demonstrators, wounding 14 and putting 102 under arrest. On Friday 21 November protesters met, but never left the mosque. Instead, they listened to passionate speeches inside the mosque as British armoured vehicles patrolled the streets outside "in order to disperse any group attempting to organise a protest march." Following this, the stones and qulal were left to perform their customary mundane functions, at least for a while.
* The author is a professor of history
and head of Al-Ahram History Studies Centre.
