cairo

Two years after the revolution in Egypt began, unrest continues across the country as the political and economic situation worsens. As the current government consolidates its power, the demands of the revolution may seem further away than ever. Still the revolution has opened up new spaces for political action, spurring public debate on issues that have gone unacknowledged and unresolved for too long.

Egyptians mass in Tahrir square to demand an end to military trials and other reforms.

Toll mounts as pro-democracy supporters apparently come under attack from Mubarak loyalists in the Egyptian capital. Heavy gunfire is being heard in Cairo's Tahrir (Liberation) Square as pro-democracy demonstrators continue to defy curfew in the Egyptian capital. Ambulances were seen heading to the area on Thursday morning and at least two fatalities were reported. Protesters from the pro-democracy and pro-government camps fought pitched battles on Wednesday in Tahrir Square, the epicentre of demonstrations against Hosni Mubarak for the past nine days. At least three people were reported to have died and more than 1,500 others injured in those clashes, according to officials and doctors quoted by the Reuters news agency. An Al Jazeera correspondent, reporting from just outside Tahrir Square late on Wednesday night, said dozens of pro-Mubarak supporters erected barricades on either side of a road, trapping the pro-democracy supporters. They were gathering stones, breaking streetlights and using balaclavas to cover their faces, apparently in preparation for a fresh standoff with the pro-democracy crowd. Our correspondent said local residents thought the men preparing for the standoff were police officers but the claim could not be independently confirmed. Just hours earlier, an Al Jazeera online producer reporting from near Tahrir Square said: "Someone - a few people actually - were dropping homemade bombs into the square from the buildings surrounding it." Gunshots were also regularly ringing out of the square. Army standing by Witnesses said the military allowed thousands of pro-Mubarak supporters, armed with sticks and knives, to enter the square. Opposition groups said Mubarak had sent in thugs to suppress anti-government protests. One of our correspondents said the army seemed to be standing by and facilitating the clashes.

New York,January 6--"Garbage Dreams", Mai Iskander's first documentary feature, has won 17 Best Documentary awards at film festivals, including the Nashville Film Festival's Reel Current Award, selected by Al Gore. Iskander, the cinematographer, producer and director of the film, shot it over a four-year period mostly in Mokattam, a Zaballeen garbage village outside Cairo. Both a coming-of-age story and a portrait of a close-knit community. the film chronicles the lives of three teen-age boys, Adham, Osama and Nabil at a time when their means of survival, collecting and recycling Cairo's trash, is being threatened by globalization: ie multinational waste disposal corporations hired by the city to replace the zabaleen in the trash business, and with whom they are now competing for trash. ironically, while the Zaballeen are able to recycle 80% of the trash they collect and turn it into raw materials, by contract the multinationals are not obliged to recycle more than 20% of the trash they collect. (The rest is landfilled). The zaballeen are a subculture of 60,000 Coptic Christians who have been collecting and recycling trash for 100 years.For more information go to www.garbagedreams.com