Ground Report

Written by Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian photojournalist Mosa’ab Elshamy was shot at, had a bullet fly over his shoulder, and had his equipment stolen as he ventured into Rabaa Al Adawiya, where a pro-Morsi sit-in was violently dispersed in Cairo, Egypt, August 14th. [1].

He tweets his experience in a series of tweets, which give us a sneak preview of what it was like at the evacuation of the Muslim Brotherhood sit-in in Nasr City this morning.

Getting to the Rabaa sit-in was the easy part:

More black smoke rising from Rabaa. Can be practically seen from almost anywhere in Nasr City pic.twitter.com/jz35WHLQ9o [2]

— Mosa’ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing) August 14, 2013 [3]

There, he first dealt with teargas:

Finally made it into Rabaa. Tear gas unbearable.

— Mosa’ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing) August 14, 2013 [4]

The horror he saw, he captured in a gallery of photographs [5], he shares on flickr. [Warning: Some pictures, particularly of the corpses in the morgue, are graphic]

The scene at Rabaa’s frontline resembles a warzone. Clashes ongoing for six hours now. pic.twitter.com/zVeaKs76GG [6]

— Mosa’ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing) August 14, 2013 [7]

ElShamy has a close brush with snipers:

Worst part is not knowing where the shooting is coming from. You crouch next to the nearest thing and hope for the best..

— Mosa’ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing) August 14, 2013 [8]

But he remains put, clicking away, as the clashes intensify:

Rabaa clashes intensifying.. pic.twitter.com/atzf0rm40r [9]

— Mosa’ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing) August 14, 2013 [10]

A bullet flies over his shoulder. He tweets:

Literally felt a bullet pass over my shoulder. Heard a buzz similar to that of a gigantic mosquito traveling at the speed of light. Eerie.

— Mosa’ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing) August 14, 2013 [11]

With that, and the pellets of shotgun in his back, Elshamy decides to call it a day:

That, along with the three pellets I sustained in the back, was my cue to leave.

— Mosa’ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing) August 14, 2013 [12]

But that was not the end of it.

On my way out of Rabaa I was confronted by a resident vigilant mob which stole my equipment. Luckily I had kept the SD card in my socks.

— Mosa’ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing) August 14, 2013 [13]

Don’t miss out ElShamy’s photographs from today’s clashes on his flickr account here [5].

Article printed from Global Voices: http://globalvoicesonline.org

URL to article: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/08/14/egypt-i-literally-felt-a-bullet-pass-over-my-shoulder/

URLs in this post:

[1] pro-Morsi sit-in was violently dispersed in Cairo, Egypt, today: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/08/14/conflicting-casualty-reports-as-muslim-brotherhood-sit-ins-dispersed-in-egypt/