Protest law stops Cairo band from playing free shows in metro

For John Khalil and his four friends, the idea seemed simple at first: They would take to Cairo's crowded metro stations and play popular folk songs for free to lighten the daily load of the city's marginalized metro riders.

"Our first goal was that people would be happy," Khalil, a 24-year-old engineering student, told Al-Monitor. Most metro riders cannot afford the cost of a concert, Khalil reasoned, while taking Egypt's public transit can be a taxing daily chore. So his band, Metro Tune, would bring the music and cheer to the people in a city facing tough economic and political times.

Implementing the idea, however, has been far from simple — or always safe. For the last two years, Metro Tune has struggled with security and transportation authorities to avoid arrest and attain the permits required to assemble. Egypt’s 2013 anti-protest law bans unsanctioned gatherings of 10 or more people, a natural byproduct of what Metro Tune set out to do. In March, after nearly two years of trying, the authorities at last granted the group a one-time permit to perform — and they have no idea if and when it will happen again.

Metro Tune’s experience shows just how hard it can be for everyday Egyptians to take initiative amid the state's ongoing security crackdown and the rise in attacks on police and public places on a scale not seen in years in Egypt, including small bombs in the metro. Now, with attention on Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's upward of $300 billion plans to develop a new capital, Metro Tune's message is: Don't neglect Cairo's millions of existing public transit users.