"About 12:30 a.m., without warning, tear-gas canisters start to rain down on the demonstrators from all sides. I start tearing and sneezing. I cling on to my friend, whose apartment is 10 meters from the square. We run to the ancient apartment, one of whose walls bears a large oil-painting of Saad Zaghlul, leader of the revolution of 1919.

From behind the window panes we watch the police firing tear gas and rubber bullets and falling on the protesters. Some are dragged along the ground, others flee. Someone knocks, and I open the door..."

In this Press Citizen guest opinion article, Egyptian writer Hamdy el Gazzar shares his experience in Cairo this winter during the uprising. El Gazzer was a 2007 fellow of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.

Read the entire article here >> 'It wasn't over': Living through Egypt's revolution of hope and rage