Protesting, Riots, Clashes, Criticism
During the long rule of the Mubarak regime in Egypt, the police and the internal security forces were dreaded as brutal state tools. They harassed, insulted, threatened, beat, imprisoned, tortured and killed those who infuriated them sufficiently to be regarded as threats to the prevailing order. Not so the military, seen by most Egyptians as professional and trusted to impartially represent the country in its entirety, committed to good order and justice, Egyptian-style.The mass protests that took place at Tahrir Square and throughout Egypt, bringing out people who would never under other circumstances dare oppose the institutions of government, made it abundantly clear that the police were seen as dreaded oppressors, their link to the regime not the wholesome one attributed to the military, but one of unforgivingly savage repression.
When the police, fearing eventually for their own safety under the barrage of criticism and attempts by protesters to hit back at them, withdrew their services and their presence in a blatant move to demonstrate how necessary their presence was to ensure mayhem did not ensue, random crime suddenly blossomed, police stations were torched, the national museum was ransacked, and criminal behaviour proliferated.
Ordinary Egyptians wanting little other than a return to normalcy, while still hoping the protests would deliver the fundamental message of protests against scarcity of primary foods and rising food and energy prices, soon began to regret the entire business of the Arab Spring. Which brought them more misery, and rampant crime besides. Egyptian women, never safe from harassment found rape more of a threat than ever.
Now, under the government administration of the Muslim Brotherhood, with a resentful judiciary and an uncertain military attachment to the new realities of sharing governing power, the situation with public distrust of the police has simply deepened. Police, held responsible over soccer violence that left in its wake 74 people dead in Port Said in 2012 have earned even further animus from an outraged public wanting to see all the accused receive death sentences.
Fans of Cairo's al-Ahly soccer team protest against the court verdict on the Port Said massacre case in Cairo, Egypt, March 9, 2013. Fans of al-Ahly soccer team held a protest Saturday demanding execution to all suspects of the Port Said massacre case while Egypt's Port Said Criminal Court sentenced five people to life imprisonment for their role in the Port Said soccer riots which killed over 70 in February 2012. (Xinhua/Amru Salahuddien)
As a result of the court decision to acquit 7 of 9 police officers in the trial over soccer violence, police were forced to evacuate their headquarters and permit the military to take over. This, coming at a time when police are striking for better working conditions has added to the general chaos of the protests against President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. Mohammed Ibrahim, Egypt's interior minister agreed that his police are in disarray.
But he declared he would not permit vigilante action, or militias to assume police duties, despite the daily protests, clashes and criticism that have strained the police force. "From the minister to the youngest recruit in the force, we will not accept to have militias in Egypt. That will be only when we are totally dead, finished", he declared in response to a Salafist group claiming its members are prepared to assume policing duties in response to strikes by local security forces.
"There are groups of policemen on strike. I understand them. They are protesting the pressure they are under, the attacks from the media." Egypt's Arab Spring has accomplished much for the country. Unfortunately that much includes rising unemployment, failing tourism, food shortages, a diminished treasury, ongoing violent protests against the Muslim Brotherhood and soaring crime rates.
Labels: Chaos, Conflict, Controversy, Crisis Politics, Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood
posted by Pieface @ Monday, March 11, 2013
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