Friday
Nov212008
Nearly 300 teens arrested on Cairo's streets for harassment
By 
Issandr El Amrani | Egypt Women
Issandr El Amrani | Egypt Women
Completely surreal:
And I'm sure these arrests have nothing to do with the fact that Egypt has become so synonymous with sexual harassment that it's become a major topic of discussion in newspapers, the topic of travel warnings in foreign newspapers, and of course that it's reached the ears of a certain First Lady.
The authorities are serious about making sure that boys behave themselves? Great. But this looks like the random arrest of the first youths that came across zealous officers, probably many of them the usual suspects who get arrested every time there's a crime in their neighborhood, and this will be a one-off action on the part of authorities that won't ever be followed through with awareness campaigns and a more consistent to preventing and punishing harassment. I hope to be proved wrong on this, but I won't be holding my breath.
Egyptian police announced Wedneday they had arrested more than 550 teenagers suspected of sexually harassing girls outside schools in several Cairo districts in a single day. The culprits were awaiting interrogation and trial Thursday.
The police launched an extensive clampdown targeting stores and internet cafes near schools. Security forces raided six internet cafes that did not have permits, and another five that played pornographic videos for truants, according to a statement issued by the Cairo Security Department on the day of the crackdown.
After many families complained about girls being targeted outside schools in several neighborhods the head of the Cairo Investigations Bureau, General Farouk Lashin, launched a campaign against sexual harassment, an interior Ministry source told AlArabiya.net.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that most of the harassers were between 16 and 18 years old.
According to the source police launched an earlier campaign that resulted in the arrest of almost 300 people for harassment in Cairo streets.
And I'm sure these arrests have nothing to do with the fact that Egypt has become so synonymous with sexual harassment that it's become a major topic of discussion in newspapers, the topic of travel warnings in foreign newspapers, and of course that it's reached the ears of a certain First Lady.
The authorities are serious about making sure that boys behave themselves? Great. But this looks like the random arrest of the first youths that came across zealous officers, probably many of them the usual suspects who get arrested every time there's a crime in their neighborhood, and this will be a one-off action on the part of authorities that won't ever be followed through with awareness campaigns and a more consistent to preventing and punishing harassment. I hope to be proved wrong on this, but I won't be holding my breath.
Reader Comments (4)
Well, hopefully it will at the very least send a signal that harassment is wrong. Maybe even get some theoretically moral authorities to speak out on the topic?
But I do nothing bad happens to the probably mostly random people arrested.
My reaction is exactly the same as yours: massive arrests of sexual harassers sounds like a horrible publicity stunt to (falsely) reassure the international community (ie tourists) that Egypt takes this issue seriously.
Teenagers can be pretty awful harassers. But so too are their fathers.
I'm all in favor of arresting people for sexual assault, but I'm not sure how rounding up people in Internet cafes will accomplish this.
I also want to note that the AFP story about this quotes a police official as saying the boys have been arrested for "flirting" with girls.
Flirting.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/3495695/Hundreds-of-Egyptian-teenagers-arrested-for-flirting.html