Girls wearing the Egyptian flag instead of the veil danced among tens of thousands in the streets of Cairo on Sunday night after their national team won a record-breaking sixth Africa Cup of Nations.
Crowds of people wearing the national flag colours of red, black and white erupted with screams of joy as the final whistle blew, some lighting handheld fireworks, others crying tears of relief.
”Finally something joyous happens to us, finally something happy happens to us,” said Mohammed Said, sporting an Egyptian flag instead of his traditional galabaya robe.
He was one of thousands who had gathered to watch the match between Cairo and Cameroon on giant television screens on the central Mustafa Mahmud square.
”With the government we have everything is sad, the prices, the boats sink and trains crash. This is the only thing that gives us joy.”
Policemen forming part of the heavy security presence on the huge square danced and hugged their countrymen, crying the name of the final’s only goalscorer, local Giza native ”Mohamed Aboutraika — Goal!”
Supporters young and old carried aloft posters of Aboutrika alongside goalkeeper Essam al-Hadary, known locally as ”The Wall”.
Aboutrika hit the headlines during the African competition for revealing a T-shirt with ”Sympathise with Gaza” emblazoned on it after scoring a goal, and the giant screens relayed live images of crowds of Gazans joining the party.
Any traffic remaining on avenues leading off the main square was locked down by the mass festivities, including carloads of teenagers, some jammed 10 to a vehicle, others lying on the bonnet or roof, waving the Egyptian flag.
”It’s one of the rare occasions when there are no Muslims and Copts and we are only Egyptians,” said Coptic Christian Adel Zaki. ”We feel united and it is the only thing we celebrate together.”
As the growing crowd brought traffic in neighbouring areas to a standstill, police tried to erect barriers but the crowd pushed them aside.
Ambulances on standby sounded their horns after the victory, a repeat of Egypt’s 2006 win when the tournament was played in Cairo.
The city of 16-million had been gearing up for the match all day.
Morning traffic had more than its usual share of horn blowing, the streets having filled steadily with Egyptian flags as the team progressed through the championship.
Flags that sold for 10 Egyptian pounds (about $2) in the morning were going for three times that among the belly dancers and drummers of Mustafa Mahmud square on Sunday night.
All public transport was declared free as thousands more Cairenes headed toward the square. Buses inched through the crowd, rooftops overflowing with people and flags.
”Aboutraika, you are the master,” the crowd chanted, ”You made the net sing your praises.”
Giant sound systems were driven in on anything on four wheels, blaring the national anthem as Egyptians wearing Afro wigs danced below. One man bedecked in red, white and black rode his camel into the crowd, slowly.
Some supporters chanted jokes about Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, whose surname means clean in Arabic: ”Nazif, learn how to play it clean.”
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak sent his congratulations to the team, the state news agency Mena reported.
When the cellphone network returned after collapsing under an onslaught of SMSs at full-time, many in the crowd received congratulations messages from across the Arab world.
Some came from the Gaza Strip, which had its border with Egypt blown open on January 23, allowing the impoverished territory’s inhabitants a brief shopping respite in Egypt.
Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets and coffee shops of Gaza City to join in the celebrations. – Sapa-AFP