Cairo--Metres from the epicentre of Egypt's uprising, bulldozers tear chunks of concrete and twisted metal from what remains of the headquarters of ousted strongman Hosni Mubarak's now disbanded party.
During the heady days of the 2011 revolution, protesters set fire to the National Democratic Party (NDP) building, seen as a symbol of decades of corruption and police abuse, next to Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square.
But four years later, hopes of a new era of democracy have been replaced by warnings that Egypt is beginning an even more repressive chapter under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Human Rights Watch has condemned "gross violations" of human rights in Egypt and the "almost total impunity" enjoyed by security forces under Sisi, the former army chief who deposed Mubarak's successor, Mohamed Morsi, in 2013.
Disillusionment has also set in among the Egyptians who took to the streets of Cairo as the pro-democracy protests that came to be known as the "Arab Spring" swept across the region.
"Nothing has changed," said government employee Hani Shetaea.
"We rebelled for bread, freedom and social justice. But the situation has only worsened," added the 42-year-old, who was at Tahrir Square the night when the NDP building was set ablaze.
Since the ouster of Morsi -- Egypt's first freely elected president -- more than 1,400 people, mostly Morsi supporters, have been killed in a police crackdown overseen by Sisi.
Another 40,000 have been detained, according to New York-based HRW.
Hundreds have been sentenced to death in speedy mass trials, described by the United Nations as "unprecedented in recent history".
AFP
