One protester, a diabetic, had slipped into a coma and was clearly in a grave medical condition; despite banging the side of the truck and shouting through the grates, we couldn't get the drivers to stop.
We eventually pulled up outside a government security headquarters on the desert fringes of the city. After a long delay a policeman unlocked the door to try to extract a specific prisoner called "Nour" – a young activist who is the son of Ayman Nour, a prominent dissident. As one we charged at the doorway, sending him flying and spilling out on the street. The unconscious protester was carried out and cars flagged down to take him to hospital. The rest of us had to find a way of making our own way back to city.