December Timeline
December 6, Tuesday
Opening day of the Dubai International Film Festival, which featured new documentary films on the Egyptian uprisings, including 1/2 Revolution by Egyptian filmmakers Omar Shargawi and Karim el-Hakim and Tahrir – Liberation Square by Italian documentary-maker Stefano Savona. The event continued through Dec. 14.
December 16, Friday
The concrete barrier on Muhammed Mahmoud Street
Security forces erected concrete barriers at the corner of the Sheikh Rihan and Qasr al-Aini streets, and on Mohammed Mahmoud Street to serve as a base of operations.
The building housing the Institut d’Égypte is set on fire. It is the oldest scientific organization in the country, founded by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798.
December 17, Saturday
More clashes broke out between military troops and protesters around the cabinet building when soldiers attempted to forcibly end a sit-in. Eleven people died, according to the Health Ministry.
December 18, Sunday
Demonstrators entered the still smoldering Institut d’Egypte building and saved some 50,000 books and manuscripts, out of a collection exceeding 100,000. Minister of Culture Shaker Abdel Hamid said the disaster was a “catastrophe for science,” and announced that he would create a committee of specialists in the restoration of books and manuscripts as soon as security conditions permit.
December 19, Monday
Violent struggles between Egyptian security forces and opponents of army rule entered their fourth day.
Some 40 MPs and politicians, including Freedom and Justice Party representatives Mohamed Beltagy and Osama Yassin, MPs Amr Hamzawy and Mustafa al-Naggar, Wafdist Wahid Abdel Meguid, the Coordinator of the Democratic Alliance, Kefaya Movement co-founder George Isaac, Mohamed El Sawy, Shadi al-Ghazali Harb, and Hazem Abdel Azim, organized a sit-in outside the Supreme Court to demand the SCAF put an end to violence against protesters, and submit to an independent investigation into the clashes and the handover of power to a civilian president by 25 January.
General Abdel Moneim Kato, an adviser to the military’s Morale Affairs Department, defended soldier’s use of force Saturday, saying in an interview with Al-Shurouq newspaper that instead of worrying about the country’s welfare, people were concerned about “some street bully who deserves to be thrown into Hitler’s ovens.”
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the “excessive” force used against demonstrators by military forces, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the SCAF generals to respect human rights.
December 20, Tuesday
Violent struggles between Egyptian security forces and opponents of army rule entered their fifth day, with morning skirmishes in Talaat Harb and the Tahrir Square, in which troops used tear gas and live ammunition.
December 21, Wednesday
In a rare, confrontative interview, Tahrir TV’s Dina Abdelrahman uses video footage to challenge her SCAF guest’s account of events.
December 23, Friday
Tens of thousands of protesters returned to Tahrir Square after prayers for a demonstration against SCAF, repudiating the military’s treatment of protesters earlier this month, especially women, and demanding the military council hand power over to a civilian government. The protests were organized primarily by university students, who staged a march from Cairo University, but they were joined by many other revolutionary organizations, as well as by large numbers of salafis. The Muslim Brotherhood did not participate, but issued a statement saying that while they did not support a rapid transfer of power, they supported the right of demonstrators to peaceably protest.
Similar protests were held in Alexandria, where several thousand people marched to an army base chanting slogans against the military, and in Suez, Ismailiya and Port Said.
Several thousand people gathered in Abbasiya to demonstrate in favor of the military government, spokesmen saying that the military is the only institution in Egypt that can sustain a level of stability and security.
December 24, Saturday
Police investigations identified Moataz Billah, 31, as one of the suspects. He, in turn, led police to the rest of the suspects currently being detained. The suspects have now been referred to the public prosecutor as investigations continue.
December 25, Sunday
Police released blogger Alaa Abdel-Fattah, arrested (but never charged) Oct 30 for supposedly inciting violence during the Oct. 9 clashes that killed 27 people. Read an interview here and see one here.
Photos of two detainees were shown on the state TV program “Good Morning, Egypt” purportedly arrested for their roles in instigating violence outside the Cabinet building 16-20 Dec. The show led the suspect’s mother to immediately file a charge with the attorney general, claiming her sons were arrested at their home in Hadayeq al-Qobba on Dec. 14 without explanation.
December 26, Monday
December 27, Tuesday
An administrative court ruled that so-called “virginity tests” on women in the custody of the military are illegal.
In his weekly sermon, Pope Shenouda III, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, said SCAF has enabled peace to to take hold in Egypt, so that Copts can celebrate the new year and Christmas mass as normal, free from fear.
The owner of Al-Fara’een television network Tawfik Okasha was confronted by protesters while on the parliamentary campaign train in Belqas (Dakahlia governorate). His entourage fired on them, for which he was imprisoned by neighborhood families.
December 29, Thursday
Seventeen NGO’s offices were raided by the government after the public prosecutor issued injunctions against them, including the Arab Center for Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP); the Budgetary and Human Rights Observatory; and the Washington-based National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute and Freedom House.
About 300 protesters marched through downtown Cairo to protest the continued incarceration of blogger Maikel Nabil.
A fight between vendors in Tahrir Square escalated into violence when army troops in full riot gear showed up and the people in Tahrir turned on them.
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi ordered military prosecuters to investigate the “media allegations” of extreme violence used by military and police forces during this month’s clashes in Tahrir Square in the wake of the crackdown on the sit-in outside the Cabinet.
CONNECTED in CAIRO 
I don t know all of what is going on with each of the Occupy Movements, but I know what the main motivations are and I have heard about some of the pocile brutality that is occurring in Oakland and New York. It is very sad and also rather horrifying that the pocile, those who we have always thought would protect and serve, could do a lot of the things they have been doing to these protestors. From throwing things to using pepper spray and weapons, I believe the pocile have gone much too far trying to detain the Occupy protestors. The mass majority of the protestors are completely peaceful, with only a handful that have gotten violent or vandalized businesses, so this brutality is completely uncalled for.I am personally rooting for these protestors, as I share many of the same ideals. The interworkings of the government and big business will, in my opinion, inevitably lead to the fall of our country. I think it is great that so many have come together to make a change, although their method is a bit flawed (but they are learning quickly), but it still amazes me that the (mostly) right-sided politicians can completely bash this movement, saying the protestors are lazy and need to find jobs. But therein lies the issue: there aren t very many jobs left. So many of the big corporations (which the politicians support) have been sending work overseas to cut costs, or have fired lower-end workers in order to give out bonuses to the presidents and CEOs. And while our economy has not deteriorated to the levels of a vast majority of the world, we do have the largest income gap in the western hemisphere. Our generation especially needs to focus on this movement, since we will be the ones affected by it most. Do we want to do menial jobs with our college degrees, or do we want something more?I think the passionate message and the similar situations are what is drawing these Egyptians into supporting the cause. I must say that I was rather surprised to find that there was so much foreign support for the cause. For many years, I have been under the impression that most other nations pretty much hated us, or at least had a mild dislike for the United States. I have come to realize that maybe that impression stems from that small one percent, who seem to think they are better. The vast majority of this country, or at least those of us who want to bring about change, have finally found common ground with some of these other nations, who also want change in government. I think it is refreshing for these other nations to see a different side of the United States, a side with different thoughts and ideas from the politicians who get to speak for us.