Egyptian organizers were astonished by their own protest’s turnout

Evidence

The protesters charged past them to the square. Hossam was in the back, and he got a call from a comrade up front. “There are like a million people here,” she said. “What are you smoking!” Hossam replied, until he checked videos now circulating on the internet. This was bigger than anything he had ever seen in his life. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 220

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Tahrir crowds were middle-class, TV-informed, and economic-motivated — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 239; Expanded protest crowds can blunt original organizers’ political messaging. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 409

Broader Connections

• Expanded protest crowds can blunt original organizers’ political messaging. #expands (0.78) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 409