Last week, after the Egyptian opposition called for a march after prayers, TIME’s Abigail Hauslohner, based in Cairo, and TIME’s Rania Abouzeid, who had just returned from covering the Tunisian uprising, walked among the protesters and felt the blunt and brutal response of the regime’s antiriot police. To escape club-bearing cops, Hauslohner ran through narrow streets and found refuge in a small courtyard, only to have a tear-gas canister land near where she stood with a small group of protesters.