Cairo, Egypt — There are multiple stages where people get up to speak to the masses assembled in Tahrir Square, but the most crowded and popular lies at the square's southeast corner.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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Cairo, Egypt — Crowds gather in front of the stage. Mornings see small groups, but by midday their numbers swell into the tens of thousands, with people jostling to get to the front.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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Cairo, Egypt — Political neophytes to heavyweights, like Ayman Nour, center, come for a chance to grab the microphone. Nour, a member of the Tomorrow Party, ran as the opposition candidate in the 2006 presidential election. He was trounced by Hosni Mubarak.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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Cairo, Egypt — A hopeful speaker tries to bypass a barrier to the stage by going under it.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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Cairo, Egypt — A pro-Mubarak supporter, who made his way into the center of a massive anti-regime crowd, was silenced after shouting his support for the beleaguered president.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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Cairo, Egypt — A man jots down the names of people hoping for their turn at the microphone. Each hopeful speaker received a number to get his chance on the stage.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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Cairo, Egypt — Mobile phones are powered up backstage. This was a revolution that spread by social networking and text messages. For a few days at the beginning of the protests, the government shut down all mobile phone service and Internet access.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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Cairo Egypt — Each hopeful speaker receives a number and a chance on the stage when that number is read.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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Cairo, Egypt — Using a bullhorn to be heard over the din of the massive crowds in front of the stage, a man calls out the number of the next speaker.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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Cairo, Egypt — Backstage, a man holds up a sign with a clenched fist symbolizing the Jan. 25 movement, named after the starting date of the protests against the regime of Hosni Mubarak.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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Cairo, Egypt — There was little organization backstage, but there were designated personnel for security, taking names of speakers, music and escorts, like these men who helped an elderly speaker to the stage.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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Cairo, Egypt — A young girl takes the stage for her chance to address the crowds. The stage became a free-speech zone in the center of Cairo.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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Cairo, Egypt — A boy takes time out from sweeping up the area near the stage to hand an Egyptian flag to Asma, a law professor at a local university.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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Cairo, Egypt — In the early days of the protest, it was simply a microphone. By day 13 of the protests, a keyboard player was added to help pump crowds up between speakers with anti-regime songs.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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Cairo, Egypt — People stood in front of the stage for hours, taking in a scene that was all but impossible during the last 30 years.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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Cairo, Egypt — A speaker raises his arms in triumph after addressing the crowd. Some speakers were seemingly more popular than others, depending on the message they were delivering.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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