The neighbors watched helplessly from behind locked gates as an exchange of gunfire rang out at the police station.
Then about 80 prisoners burst through the station’s doors — some clad only in underwear, many brandishing guns, machetes, even a fire extinguisher — as the police fled.
“The police are afraid,” said Mohamed Ismail, 30, a witness. “I am afraid to leave my neighborhood.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/world/middleeast/13egypt.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
