Overlooking the Cairo Tower, the Opera House and the Arab League building, 150-year-old Kasr al-Nil Bridge is guarded by four lions and has become a meeting place for people who come to it to breathe some fresh air in the summer heat.
The bridge witnessed a timeless historic event, the battle between security forces and demonstrators on the Friday of Anger, 28 January 2011. Police tried to disperse the demonstrators with live bullets, tear gas and water cannons. Demonstrators refused to retreat. Martyrs were crushed by armored vehicles. But the demonstrators won the battle in the end and headed to Tahrir Square.
It has always been the shrine of the angry since the demonstrations of the Fouad University students in 1935 to demand the return of the 1923 Constitution.
Khedive Ismail ordered the construction of the bridge in 1869 to link the river banks. Costing LE108,000 and constructed by a French company, it was opened on 10 February 1872.
It will remain the place where protesters want to demonstrate, where the poor go to for a fresh breeze and where young lovers meet.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
