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Demonstrators criticize sexual harassment, call for government accountability
By Liam Stack, Maram Mazen, and Alexandra Sandels
Surrounded by hundreds of soldiers and armored vehicles, the crowd was composed of women from all walks of life, including Egyptian and foreign students, veiled elderly women, bloggers and activists
CAIRO: Over 250 people protested in front of the Press Syndicate on Thursday calling on the government to be held accountable for the allegedly widespread sexual harassment downtown during the Eid Al-Fitr holiday.
Surrounded by hundreds of soldiers and armored vehicles, the crowd was composed of women from all walks of life, including Egyptian and foreign students, veiled elderly women, bloggers and activists. Many men were also present, chanting and holding banners.
Organized by the Liberties Committee of the Press Syndicate, the Egyptian Committee for Women’s Rights, Kefaya and Nehdet El-Mahrousa, the crowd criticized Kasr El-Nil police station and also called for the resignation of both Interior Minister Habib Al-Adli and President Hosni Mubarak.
“This means we are not going to be pushed off the street,” said Aida Seif El-Dawla, a member of activist organization The Street is Ours and a professor of psychology at Ain Shams University.
“This is what we said after the harassment of May 25; it is what we are saying now and it is what we are saying tomorrow.”
“The street belongs to the citizens and we have the right to walk in it without fear. We should all live in safety and freedom.”
Banners and chants echoed this demand, with placards demanding greater legal and police protections against sexual harassment.
“The police protect Mubarak!” demonstrators chanted. “The police protect his heir! The police protect corruption! The police do not protect the people!”
The Eid incidents were first reported by bloggers who claimed that they saw hundreds of men chasing and groping women in the streets of downtown Cairo during the Eid.
According to witnesses, the mob attacked women regardless of their dress, ripping off their veils and clothes. Eyewitnesses said that even women who were accompanied by their husbands weren’t spared after their husbands were beaten and pushed aside.
During the Eid, Kasr El-Nil police station denied that any such attacks took place.
“It’s true, it happened,” said Mustafa, who works at a juice shop on Talaat Harb Street. “I hid some girls in my store myself.”
The incidents were reported in other local and international media in the weeks that followed.
Mohamed Gamal, a blogger who witnessed the incident in front of Metro Cinema argues that the Egyptian government should be held accountable for its failure to protect the people.
“It is the duty of our government to provide security to all Egyptian citizens,” he says. “The security forces are only protecting the regime instead of the Egyptian people.
“Today we are surrounded by security,” he said, gesturing toward the lines of riot police encircling the protestors. “The security forces are simply protecting the regime, and not the people.”
But Khaled Sallam, a student at AUC, said he could not hold the government directly responsible for the alleged incidents.
“I think there is a state of moral bankruptcy in Egypt, and I think it is caused by the restrictions on pre-marital sex.”
Holding a megaphone, women shared their experiences of sexual harassment with the crowd.
“At first I thought it was just us,” said Kelly Kerr, an American student studying in Cairo, “But then I realized it happens to everyone. We came here because we want to help our Egyptian friends.”
“People try to give different reasons for why this happens — delayed marriage, sexual repression. I don’t care. Whatever conditions men are under, women are under the same conditions. There is no excuse for their behavior,” said Nour El-Tahawy, a veiled middle-aged Egyptian.
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I think is very good what they are doing, and really hope the gouvernement will not still bilnd to the probelm and will do something in order to protect them.
Good luck to them, Those women have a lot of courage.
Posts: 1182 | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
cheers Tiger for that. I hope the tuesday demo will be even stronger with loads more women and men taking part!
Posts: 1500 | Registered: Dec 2005
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“I think there is a state of moral bankruptcy in Egypt, and I think it is caused by the restrictions on pre-marital sex.” I agree. By the modern media all Egyptians can see and hear about what`s possible in Western countries. And because almost everything is forbidden and haram, it`s frustrating people. God gave men brains and a penis, and not enough blood to run at the same time. So, when the mind is constantly feeded by sex-films, pictures, and European women in the streets, the blood and the brains sink down behind the zipper.
-------------------- “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.” Posts: 7202 | From: EU | Registered: Nov 2006
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On Tuesday a group of bloggers called for a rush-hour demonstration at the headquarters of the newspaper Rose El-Yousef to protest the paper’s coverage of the alleged Eid incidents of sexual harassment in Downtown. The paper has said that the charges have “defamed Egypt’s image” and were a result of people’s “sick fantasies.” The demonstration drew only one protestor, who waved an Egyptian flag on the sidewalk while several dozen state security officers looked on. “I am not afraid of them,” said Mohamed Adel, the flag held above his head. “I am not afraid of them, because they want me to be afraid.”
-------------------- “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.” Posts: 7202 | From: EU | Registered: Nov 2006
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posted
So, when the mind is constantly feeded by sex-films, pictures, and European women in the streets, the blood and the brains sink down behind the zipper.
Ahh so it is all the fault of European woman!!!!!!! have you ever looked at young Egytian girls with their skin tight jeans and cropped tops?
Posts: 167 | Registered: Aug 2004
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quote:Originally posted by sunburnt: So, when the mind is constantly feeded by sex-films, pictures, and European women in the streets, the blood and the brains sink down behind the zipper.
Ahh so it is all the fault of European woman!!!!!!! have you ever looked at young Egytian girls with their skin tight jeans and cropped tops?
No, ???? didnt mean it that way...... he must have meant that now Egyptian youth are exposed to the western world through the Internet & satellite.... they have access to watch porno movies online & watch uncut movies on the satellite & on DVD......
Almost everybody now has a computer at home or at work & a satellite at home
Women to them in the western world who are seen through the media are Madonna, Salma Hayek, Pamela Anderson & Paris Hilton..... that's what they see...... ofcourse that's not a good representation of all the women of Europe or USA..... just like the American movies with arab characters in them that are portrayed as terrorists is also not a represenation of the arab people
So that's what the media & the cinema creats "illusions"
Going back to my original point, so now the Egyptian youth are exposed to almost everything from the west..... normally they'd want to copy them thinking that it's freedom, open mindedness & being modern while on the other hand it is just following blindly in the most superficial way
Posts: 3128 | From: Not Your Heaven | Registered: Sep 2006
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I Think that the problem with the youth doing such horrible acts comes back To ECONOMICS! if egypt was a richer country then these people could get married easily, i don't beleive that pre-marital sex is the solution, Egypts financial problem have to be fixed very soon or else...
Posts: 5 | From: canada | Registered: Nov 2006
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Economics and sexual repression EXPLAIN the situation but it doesnt JUSTIFY it.
Posts: 370 | From: Montreal, Canada + World expat | Registered: Apr 2004
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But Sunburnt does have a point about the egyptian women. They are very quick to point the finger and criticise but it has become the fashion to wear, the tight jeans, even tighter nylon polos with the underwear strappy dress effect over the top accentuating the bust. The veil worn not to cover the shoulders but in bright dazzling sequined fabrics to attract attention held up in a bun behind the head. The trowelled on make up. In short the egyptian women dress as the western girls do. To please themselves and to attract the male species Posts: 1500 | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
So, Tooti, you mean all Egyptian women should get fully veiled just to avoid harrassment of the male population in their own country?
This is sad statement for all women in Egypt, gender equality will never be reached like that. It seems like these women (incl. we as foreigners) are paying a hefty price for trying to break off these chains.
It's insane what these men doing to their own women. They judge human beings on their outfits and regarding to this they start harassing them? Where is their respect for women which they always claim to worship and need to protect etc.? And remember even veiled women fall victims to extreme harassment.
Think about one day a guy is harassing you on the street and short time later the same man stands in your door for a possible engagement. How poor! Posts: 30135 | From: The owner of this website killed ES....... | Registered: Feb 2004
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