"Persistence Friday"

Tens of thousands showed up in Tahrir Square today; what originally started as a demonstration for a new constitution was transformed by the recent acquittal of three ministers and the release on bail of some Suez police  officers into a broad-based demand for faster trials for those charged with corruption or killing protesters, and faster change. A broad coalition of the old parties and the new rallied; the Muslim Brotherhood, which stayed aloof in January, was there today.

The young revolutionaries are clearly hoping to give their movement a renewed impetus; many are frustrated that so little has changed. Certainly there are tensions being felt: when a jet broke the sound barrier over Cairo Wednesday the city was awash in rumors of a major explosion somewhere; it was only a sonic boom. The acquittals have produced anger and Suez, the city that was one of the fiercest in its uprising in January, is seething again. It could still be a long, hot summer.