Will walls alone be sufficient for the street to settle down in Egypt and for the crisis between those in power and the opposition to end? Of course not... Indeed, a thousand concrete walls could not put an end to the current state of anger, or get rid of the traces of what happened, or prevent the inevitably impending danger. Yesterday, Egyptian authorities finished building a new concrete wall near the Semiramis and Shepheard hotels on the Nile Corniche, in an attempt to prevent people from throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails towards the neighborhood of the two hotels, as well as to further limit the space that would allow them to attack security forces and to make it impossible for the always likely protest marches towards Shura Council or government headquarters to reach them from that direction. All those who have lived in this area, and have gotten acquainted with its particular landmarks and general landscape, know that concrete walls have suffocated its streets and have made life more difficult for shops, companies and banks there, as well as for the area's inhabitants and visitors. Indeed, this new wall is not the first, and if the political crisis continues to develop, it certainly will not be the last. Protesters always seem to find alternative solutions and to be much more flexible in their approach than those in power. And indeed, the experience of concrete walls has proven that each one of them can block a street and prevent confrontation from taking place, but only at the locations where they have been erected, as protesters simply move to a different street in a different area within the neighborhood of ministries, embassies and parliaments! People had been expecting the removal of the barrier that was first erected on Mohamed Mahmoud Street, but found another being put up on Sheikh Rihan Street. They hoped that both barriers would be removed, but found a third being erected on Simon Bolivar Square. They waited for the day when all three barriers would be taken down, only to witness the appearance of a fourth facing the American Embassy. And when they became surrounded and oppressed by these barriers, they waited for salvation, but then woke up to find yet another barrier on Qasr Al-Ayni Street near the entrance to the Shura Council. They thus put their minds at ease and adapted to dealing with the situation, but this was not enough, as yet another wall descended upon them, on the same street but from the opposite direction, facing the headquarters of both government and parliament. Some walls may stand firm in the face of angry crowds, who sometimes climb and overcome or demolish them, as took place with the walls of the Heliopolis (Ittihadiya) Palace. On the whole, there does not seems to be an end to the crisis in sight, and even if the situation has somewhat subsided after the last wall, escalation remains likely as long as the reasons for clashing remain standing. Yes, the President, his party and the group he is affiliated to can play on the element of time, can force the other side to exert more effort, or can erect more walls. But even if the ruling regime secludes itself behind walls that separate it from the angry crowds, the danger remains present, the crisis raging and the eruption inevitably drawing near. It is no secret that the movements of President Mohamed Morsi in the streets of the capital and other Egyptian cities have grown more difficult, and now often take place in secret or require camouflage and unusual arrangements – because the situation is tense, anger is growing, and there are no prospects for a solution. This is the President who insisted on swearing his oath of office in the heart of Tahrir Square among the masses of the people. It would be useless here to talk about the conspiracies of the President's rivals or of Muslim Brotherhood haters. What matters is that the ongoing crisis threatens not just the rule of the President, his party and the group he is affiliated to, but also the integrity of the state. The walls with which those in power surround themselves and their leading figures are not just concrete walls, but political and psychological walls as well – and the situation will not return to normal until the President and his allies tear them down. Then concrete walls will no longer be necessary. Even assuming that some of the other parties harbor dishonest goals or the desire to thwart the President's efforts and the experience of the Islamists in power, and even assuming that some of those throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails are rabble-rousers and paid thugs, the responsibility here falls to a greater degree on those who have allowed for such a climate, which has given opportunists and rabble-rousers the opportunity to leap to the forefront of the scene. Indeed, there are people like them in every time and in every place, and just as they take advantage of every crisis, those in power should not take advantage of their presence to suggest that they represent the whole scene! Opposition to the President is real, it is widespread and it is influential. And the mistakes committed by those in power are tangible, they are well known and they are ongoing. Additional walls only add to them, they do not stop them, and thus they keep the President and his regime always confined behind walls!
