Egypt Snap Analysis: Will the "Day of Revolution" Last Only One Day?

At 1 a.m. in Cairo (2300 GMT), riot police finally succeeded --- with the assistance of tear gas and water --- in clearing Tahrir Square of thousands of protesters. The removal of the demonstrators, near the Parliament building, was the last dramatic action in a "day of revolution" against torture, corruption, poverty, and unemployment.

But in the hours before the police took control, Egypt and the world had been overwhelmed by the images of ten of thousands taking to the streets. In Cairo and in cities across the country, they defied a heavy security presence. They used "swarm tactics" in the capital, moving in groups of smaller protests rather than one concentrated rally, to avoid being quashed early in the day. At times the police allowed the demonstrations to gather, but on other notable occasions, the protestors --- chanting anti-Government and pro-freedom slogans all the while --- broke through security lines and even forced back the riot squads.

All of this was followed intently via social media. And in one three-minute clip that emerged in the afternoon, it seemed that defiance had taken hold:

By last night, the videos were of demonstrators tearing down President Mubarak's image in Tahrir Square and the picture was stunning:

But now, with an empty Tahrir Square and a lull in the chatter on the streets and across media, the question: will this continue?

I am not going to be fool-hardy to attempt an analysis. I'll just note that, yesterday morning, a reporter for British television was declaring: "I doubt demos today will get big numbers.80,000 people clicked Facebook to say they would turn up --- but clicking is easy."

Twelve hours later, that same reporter was writing, "Approaching midnight. 1,000s still in square. 1,000s of cops. Twitter from phones still down. Amazing spirit."

Another observer, while avoiding any daring predictions, offered this shrewd assessment....

"What's really important about today is not the exact numbers but that the psychological barrier of fear has been broken in Egypt."

And so to the Day after the Day of Revolution.