Once a month in the street below my apartment in the Dokki district of Cairo, alms were distributed from the local mosque to widows and poor women of the neighborhood. This often gave rise to a dispute. The destitute ladies would crush one another trying to reach a woman in the center handing out paper vouchers. The process always grew loud and disorderly; however normally everyone would disperse after five minutes or so.

For unknown reasons this day the delivery of tokens turned into a free-for-all lasting more than half an hour. The shouting, arguing and pushing escalated at one point into a minor brawl. Doormen assigned to surrounding buildings halfheartedly tried to break it up. Cairo street cops (Army conscripts) gathered and stood by with folded arms, smiled and commented on the disturbance but did nothing to stop it. Residents shouted with rasping voices from their balconies up and down the street, alas fruitlessly. No one could halt the female locomotive once it picked up speed.