Here's a depressing post which illustrates the value, to autocrats, of limits to the right of assembly:
Egypt seems to be returning slowly to normality. True, in Tahrir Square, the heart of Cairo, thousands remain to chant the slogans of Resistance, but you can breathe the air of a sad defeat. Surprisingly, protesters have lost.
Boys returning home from Tahrir Square have disappeared, taken by officers of the Mukhabarat, the Egyptian intelligence service. The same intelligence service that was controlled by Omar Suleiman, now the Vice President who is leading so-called transition from the Mubarak regime. The dream of a democratisation of Egypt, the dream of this spontaneous insurgency is being shelved by a regime that knows how to change to remain the same.
