ON THE afternoon of Jan. 24, a young Egyptian poet and political activist joined other members of the secular Socialist Alliance Party in peacefully attempting to lay flowers in Cairo s Tahrir Square in memory of those killed in the 2011 revolution. According to witnesses and videos, masked police fired birdshot into the group from behind at close range; Shaimaa al-Sabbagh , the mother of a 5-year-old, died in the arms of a friend.

Egypt s Interior Ministry was in flames Tuesday afternoon as firefighters tried to contain the blaze, dodging burning chunks coming off the top of the main building and even using buckets of water to try to douse it.