Tuesday, August 23, 2011

'Flagman' becomes instant hero at Egypt protest




"CAIRO (AP) — With the Egyptian flag draped over his shoulder, a carpenter carefully climbed up the 21-story Israeli Embassy in Cairo on his way to becoming an instant hero to millions across the Arab world.

"Keep going, keep going!" an awe-struck crowd below yelled at dawn Sunday, craning their necks to watch him.

When he reached the top, Ahmed al-Shahat ripped down Israel's blue-and-white flag and replaced it with Egypt's red, white and black. Thousands of protesters cheered; fireworks went off.

And so was born "flagman," a figure who resonates with Egyptians angry not only with Israel's killing of five Egyptian policemen on Thursday, but with Israel's treatment of Palestinians and their own government's decades-long support of Israel under Hosni Mubarak's ousted regime....."
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3 comments:

  1. <span>If the people will to live
    Providence is destined to favorably respond
    And night is destined to fold
    And the chains are certain to be broken</span><span></span>
    <span>And he who has not embraced the love of life
    Will evaporate in its atmosphere and disappear</span><span></span>
    <span> </span>
    <span>This I was told by the secret Voice of All-Being
    Wind roared in the mountains,
    Roared through valleys, under trees:
    “My goal, once I have set it,
    And put aside all caution
    I must pursue to the end.
    Whoever shrinks from scaling the mountain
    Lives out his life in potholes.</span>
    <span> </span>
    <span>Tunisian poet Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi</span>
    <span>Translated by As’ad Abu Khalil</span><span></span>

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  2. Flagman is cool, but the guy who threw the show at Bush is cooler. 

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  3. True but this fellow climbed 14 stories in order to grab the flag.

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