But this month, 18 plainclothes men from the Interior Ministry showed up with a warrant, asked about licenses and then confiscated equipment, including some speakers and a sound mixer, according to Nevine El Ibiary, one of the studio’s founders.
The search came within weeks of similar raids at several cultural venues and amid a vast security dragnet in downtown Cairo — part of an extraordinary effort by the government to prevent any protest commemorating the uprising that started on Jan. 25, 2011, and toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
The security response has been in keeping with the government’s reputation for repressing most kinds of dissent. But the scale of the clampdown has baffled many people here, as has the level of official alarm, from a government that has faced no challenge from large-scale protests in years. In word and deed, Mr. Sisi and other officials have treated even the possibility of demonstrations on the anniversary as a grave threat to the nation.
The sense of panic has been attributed to concerns that the public is losing patience with the government amid high unemployment, rising prices and a persistent militant insurgency that, among other things, has devastated Egypt’s tourism industry.
But those factors alone were not sufficient to explain the overheated response, analysts said. From the perspective of the security services, the date — Jan. 25 — was itself a danger, as a reminder of their catastrophic, if momentary, loss of control.
“There is kind of a trauma that is highly attached to this date,” said Amr Abdul Rahman, the director of the civil liberties unit at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. For the police, a particular focus of protester anger in 2011, “this is a black day — a day of defeat, and something they cannot swallow.”
The authority of the Interior Ministry, which supervises the police, has been restored under Mr. Sisi, a former army general who came to power after leading the 2013 military ouster of President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. In the run-up to Jan. 25, the ministry has tried to reclaim the anniversary, urging people to celebrate Police Day, which falls on the same date.
The ministry recently released several videos that highlight the chaotic transition after Mr. Mubarak’s fall and focus on the Muslim Brotherhood. Set against foreboding music, the videos depict protester violence and end with a slogan: “Crimes the Egyptians will not forget.”
An open letter from the ministry to the Egyptian people posted on Facebook noted the 64th anniversary of Police Day and made no mention of the Jan. 25 uprising. “We will always be the police of the people,” it said.
The interior minister did offer a gesture to at least one group for Jan. 25 — announcing special family visits for prisoners, in honor of both the uprising and Police Day, according to Al-Ahram, the flagship state newspaper.
Even before the latest police raids, government efforts were well underway to repossess the downtown streets where the 2011 protests grew. Among the most significant was the alteration of Tahrir Square, the focal point of the demonstrations.
In the center of Tahrir, officials tried to erect a monument to commemorate the “martyrs” of Jan. 25 and June 30, the date of mass demonstrations against Mr. Morsi’s rule, but protesters tore it down. The government settled for a large flag post instead. The authorities also placed a large metal gate at one entrance to the square that they could shut against an advancing crowd.
The streets beyond the square are also being transformed by a private initiative to beautify the grand neoclassical buildings downtown. Ms. Ibiary, of Studio Emad Eddin, said it was possible that the visit from Interior Ministry officials was related to a broader gentrification campaign, which has included the dispersal of vendors in the area.
But it seemed to be a warning from the police, she said — a message to cultural organizations like hers, where 75 percent of the users of the space are young people. “They are saying, we exist, so beware,” she said.
The downtown security sweeps included visits to hundreds of apartments and cafes and were the most visible manifestation of the government’s alarm. But across Egypt, dozens and perhaps hundreds of antigovernment activists were also rounded up, including Islamist administrators of Facebook pages, Mr. Abdul Rahman said.
The day after the raid on Studio Emad Eddin, the authorities arrested three people from a downtown apartment, including Taher Mokhtar, a doctor and political activist who participated in the 2011 revolt. His lawyer, Mokhtar Mounir, said the officers came without a warrant, calling the arrest “a precautionary measure to inspect the area around the Ministry of Interior, and Tahrir.”
The police officers seized a laptop, a voltmeter and a report on health conditions among prisoners, Mr. Mounir said. Since their arrest, the men have been held on charges that include holding meetings to plan for protests on Jan. 25 and plotting to overthrow the government.
Mr. Mounir dismissed the charges as false. “Due to the poor performance of the state economically, and the increase of violations, they are worried that people will take to the street again,” he said. “What they are doing is not justified, because no one has called for any protest — on the contrary, people are against protesting,” he added.
Some groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, have called for demonstrations, but with thousands of dissidents in jail, there is little sign that anyone is in a position to mobilize a crowd.
Less prominent activists have remained free, raising doubts about whether they commanded any real support. Mohamed Fawzy, a leader of a youth group called Liberation, said members were planning protests, though he refused to reveal any specific plans. “We are going to confront the regime with surprises and fast movement,” he said.
Mr. Fawzy said his movement was started by defectors from Tamarrod, a group that mobilized anti-Morsi protests, and helped pave the way for Mr. Sisi to take power. “I have the courage to admit I made mistakes,” he said.
But he added: “There is evidence of the weakness of the regime. They fear the return of the nonviolent revolution.”
______________________
Photo Protesters demanding the ouster of Hosni Mubarak filled Tahrir Square in Cairo on Feb. 1, 2011.Credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images