Protesters Are Awesome: Egyptians Form Human Shield to Protect Antiquities

When Egyptian President Mubarak's NDP party headquarters were burned today, and after them the five-star Conrad Hotel, global onlookers worried that the next landmark to be torched would be the world-famous Egyptian Museum, which houses the largest and most important collection of Pharaonic antiquities known to man. But thanks to an impressive band of protesters, that didn't happen.

According to Al-Jazeera, whose coverage of the protests in Egypt has been notably better than any American outlet's, a team of Egyptians has formed a "human shield" around the national museum, diverting tens of thousands of their countrymen away from the antiquities and back into the massive demonstration in Midan Tahrir square.

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Despite how chaotic Cairo looks, it's nice to know that there's at least some method to the madness.

photo (cc) via Flickr user Oleg1975