PHOTO GALLERY: Graffiti artists spray paint Cairo in memory of Port Said Martyrs

Rowan El Shimi, Friday 10 Feb 2012

The week after the tragic events in Port Said, graffiti artists and friends of the martyrs spray paint Cairo in their honour

Artists paint the murals on Mohamed Mahmoud as the battle rages on ahead

The clashes in Port Said left 74 dead and hundreds injured. Most of the martyrs were young students, the youngest of whom, Anas, was only 14 years old. The graffiti portrait of Anas has a caption that reads: “Either we bring them justice, or we die like them” (a chant that is used often in protests in reference to the martyrs). This stencil was made public online and people were able to print it and spray paint it around their own bodies.

One of the most notable murals is on Gezira Street in Zamalek, part of the visual artist Ganzeer’s Martyrs Murals project, which he started in 2011. The mural shows Omar Mohsen, 23 year old AUC student and active supporter of El Ahly, with the famous Ultras chant: “The day I stop cheering I’ll be dead for sure.” Next to that Ganzeer and his team wrote some of the names of the martyrs, indicating that they blamed  those who failed to protect them.

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