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| Egyptian military and police response to the latests protests have been particularly violent and cruel [EPA] |
Cairo, Egypt - Egyptian military and police have
lashed out at young protesters over the past several days with
vengeance. The clashes began on Friday in front of the Ministry
Building, which is visible from Tahrir Square.
Protesters have been camped in front of the building since the Tahrir
protests of November, which left dozens dead and ended with what many
of the protesters saw as the unsatisfactory appointment of Kamal
Ganzouri as Prime Minister, not only because Ganzouri - who was already
Prime Minister from 1996 to1999 - is associated with the Mubarak regime,
but also because the Ministry still has no real powers and is in
essence, a puppet government for the Supreme Council of Armed Forces
(SCAF).
The way in which the military and police responded to protesters over
the past few days was uniquely cruel. Zyad Elelaimy, the youngest of
the newly elected members of the People's Council, Egypt's lower house
of Parliament, was beaten on Friday by a police officer who told him
sarcastically, "Let the People's Council help you now".
Members of the Sixth of April Movement, one of the key youth groups
credited with the Revolution, were called out by policemen by name in
the midst of a clash in Tahrir. Videos of soldiers dragging young women
through the streets have since circulated, along with images of soldiers
with their guns aimed at civilians running into Tahrir Square in large
groups. Eyewitnesses stood helplessly as soldiers beat three protesters
and threw them into the Nile. In one of the most provoking incidents, an
Azhar Scholar, Emmad Effat, was killed by gunshot in what observers say
was a very clear case of a targeted murder.
Effat, the former Chief of Staff to the Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali
Gomaa, has quickly turned into a symbol of the ongoing revolution. His
Saturday funeral in the Al-Azhar Mosque of Cairo's old city was led by a
weeping Ali Gomaa, a rare public scene for a man of his position. The
event drew several thousands from a wide spectrum of political and
religious persuasions. As the mourners marched from al-Azhar to the
Sayyida Zeinab burial grounds, at times calm and at others roaring with
anti-military chants, their numbers increased. After burying Effat, the
mourners proceeded to Tahrir Square, where they were greeted by khartoush bullets and the remains of a dozen or so tents that soldiers had burnt to the ground earlier that day.
A different story
"Situations are dealt with in the same way that they were under the old regime and nothing has changed." - Dr Manar al-Shorbagy |
The scenes witnessed by those who were in front of the Ministry or at
Tahrir Square over the past few days and videos circulating through
social media tell a completely different story than the one that
Ganzouri, SCAF and the state media continue to spew.
Ganzouri's Saturday speech, in which he completely denied any use of
force against protesters, showed the same disconnect of Mubarak and
confirmed suspicions that the mindset of the old regime lives on. His
claims that rocks were thrown at the Ministry building and cameras were
destroyed while the police and military stood silently shows his
complete ignorance of the situation and disregard for the human lives
that were lost.
On Sunday morning, the Egyptian population woke up to state media
reports that the Institute of Egypt, a historical research centre
housing rare documents in Tahrir Square, had been burned down by
protesters, who were referred to as "thugs".
In stark contrast, those who were at the building could attest for
the police standing atop the building throwing Molotov bombs and "fire
balls" at the protesters below, while their colleagues sprayed water at
protesters out of the building's windows. When protesters responded with
Molotov bombs of their own, the building caught fire. Some protesters
rushed into the building in an effort to save what they could of the
books, while the police took the hoses that they had aimed at protesters
minutes earlier and deserted the scene without an attempt of putting
out the fire.
Pending downfall
SCAF continues to drown in its own mistakes. On Saturday, eight
members of the Advisory Council, created to satisfy demands of
November's protests, resigned in condemnation of the use of force
against protesters. Dr Manar al-Shorbagy, one of the members who stepped
down, complained that "situations are dealt with in the same way that
they were under the old regime and nothing has changed".
While SCAF may temporarily have a portion of the general public
convinced that those in Tahrir are thugs wreaking havoc, as Mubarak had
convinced many during the Revolution, their growing political isolation
marks their pending downfall. The Egyptian military had the choice of
etching its name in history as the pioneer of democracy in the world's
oldest civilisation, but instead chose to be a force more brutal than
its loathed predecessor.
While several of the newly elected MPs took it upon themselves to
join the protesters in solidarity or make an effort to use their public
position to bring calm, the larger victors of the elections, the Muslim
Brotherhood and Salafi parties, have yet to make clear substantial
efforts to use their newly recognised popularity to end the bloodshed in
Tahrir.
As the state media continues to tell its story of the events, a
disconnect grows between a portion of the population and protesters who
recognise the significance of the political moment and refuse to let the
lives lost for the sake of democratic governance go to waste. With
expected political clashes to come - over disagreements between the new
Parliament and the current SCAF - appointed Ministry, over the
Constitution and struggle for influence, and in the lead-up to
presidential elections - SCAF does not seem to have the physical
self-restraint, political acuteness, or national interest at heart to
establish the basis for a durable, democratic government.
