Dispatch from Cairo: How Egypt's revolution turned on itself

An escalating conflict is threatening to turn a nasty parliamentary debate into something more akin to a civil war

An Egyptian woman holds a national flag as she listens to speakers in Tahrir Square on Dec. 4.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

CAIRO, EGYPT — Tensions that have been steadily brewing between secularists and Islamists exploded on Wednesday in Heliopolis, an upscale suburb of Cairo near the presidential palace.

A few dozen secularists were camped out in front of the palace, hoping to put pressure on the Islamist president, when thousands of Islamists tore down their tents and chased them away.

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Jake Lippincott earned a degree in Middle Eastern Studies at Hampshire College. He worked in Tunis during the popular uprising there, and is now based in Cairo.