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Democracy Activists Disappointed in Bush
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"This is what will shake the Mubarak regime," Kassem added. "Not the politicians."
Many here remember one central fact about the breaking point of the poor: Egyptians have risen up by the millions only once in recent decades -- in 1977, over rising bread prices.
On Monday night, protester Abdel Aziz el-Hosseiny thought back on the crowds of 2005, and 1977, as the few dozen other demonstrators with him melted away.
As a college student in 1977, Hosseiny watched as homemakers and shopkeepers joined students and workers to force the government to roll back bread prices.
In 2005, he was a leader of Egypt's democracy coalition. He watched the coalition draw thousands during the height of international pressure, then watched it all fall apart because of government reprisals and internal divisions.
"I'm hopeful it will all come back," Hosseiny said as the only other remaining protester -- a man dressed as the Grim Reaper -- made his exit. Riot police, the last to go, got into blue vans.
"But not only to change the bread prices," Hosseiny said. "To change the government."
Staff writer Michael Abramowitz in Sharm el-Sheikh contributed to this report.
