Saturday
Dec172011
The girl
Issandr El Amrani
The picture of this girl has been a major topic of debate on Egyptian talk shows tonight — with some SCAF defenders arguing it was photoshopped — and is on the cover of tomorrow's Tahrir newspaper. Below is the video that shows her and a companion being chased, then beaten by soldiers.
Reader Comments (20)
Are you sure this is the army? Or is it the police?
Wesse, this is the military police, who are part of the military forces.
The clueless media and the horrible translators have done a terrible job of explaining what is going on to the outside world.
The police (usually in white uniforms) are one group and they are civilians.
The Central Security Forces (al-Amn al-Markezy) are usually the ones who look like "riot police" and have been labeled "police" by the media and the poor translations from Egyptians, but they are part of the Ministry of Interior. Their job is to protect the state, not the people, which is why calling them police is a poor translation.
Also part of the Ministry of Interior are the State Security Investigations (Amn al-Dawla) who are usually plainclothes and are the ones kidnapping and doing most of the secret torturing. Their job is also to protect the state; usually they do this by oppressing Egyptians.
The Military Police (al-Shurta al-'Askeriyya) are usually in green military uniforms but have also been seen in "riot gear" and they are part of the military/army (the translations really depend on context since they are not always used the same way in all languages.) But they are part of the military complex and answer to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forced, abbreviated by many as SCAF.
We in democratic nations are fortunate enough to not have these forces used internally. This would be like the FBI, CIA, National Guard, and special forces all being used to oppress Americans in the US rather than protect the people.
I'm afraid citizens of one such democracy are feeling a little less fortunate these days:
Aljazeera English: US lawmakers legalise indefinite detention
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/12/201112773810926474.html
"The bill is a big deal," said Christopher Anders, the ACLU's senior legislative counsel. "It would authorise the president to order the military to capture civilians and put them in indefinite detention without charge or trial, with no limitation based on either geography or citizenship. The military would have the authority to imprison persons far from any battlefield, including American citizens and including people picked up in the US."
At 0:30 you see a man in white shirt and two ladies in red trying to calmly walk their way out on the right side of the street. At 1:45 they are assaulted with indescribable violence. This is one of the strongest evidence I've seen of the indiscriminate nature of the attacks.
What a bunch of Cowards! I'd like to see how they square up man to man instead of picking on a defenseless girl.
Et l'O.N.U. que dit-elle de cette sauvagerie ?...motus et bouche cousue!...
absolute scum of the earth. Freedom to Egypt!
what is happening in egypt right now? i'm really curious, after the election why this kind of oppressing still occur?
Thank you for bringing this thuggish behavior to the world's attention. The Revolution in Egypt is evidently far from over - that the SCAF tolerates, perhaps even endorses, this kind of behavior should condemn them to the same trial cage as Mubarak.
However, this does highlight one aspect of "democratic revolutions" - that democracy is not solely the right to contest elections, the right to vote free of coercion. Democracy as imperfectly practiced in OECD countries is founded on the concept of civil societies, one aspect of which is fair and free elections. I don't see "civil societies" anywhere in the Arab world - yes, they may be nascent, but the checks and balances offered by - shall we say - "true" democracies are a long way from what we see emerging across Arab societies.
On the contrary, I fear that parliamentary wins by Islamists will drive civil societies further into the corner, since pluralism is so distant from Islamist acceptance. And it's pluralism, and the acceptance of diversity, that underpins civil society.
So, "Arabia," good luck with your path. We in the rest of the world are certainly watching with anticipation to see what comes next.
People should boycott Egypt until democracy is seen to be working. Shame on what passes for the authorities in that beautiful country and shame on the uniforms those brutes wear.
I'm no extremist or anything but when i see 5-10 "police" ( or how they are called) picking on ONE person hitting him/her in the head with sticks/bats i would SHOOT THEM ON SIGHT ! if they consider that girl or that guys they were kicking is a threat to the nation just HANDCUFF them and throw them to jail but DO NOT TREAT THEM LIKE WILD ANIMALS ( P.S. neither the animals deserve this treatment )
this is my opinion on the brutality that are taking place in Egypt. Freedom To Egypt !
I see something interesting here; the photo picked up by the Western media is not of policemen hitting or kicking the woman in this video, but of them pulling her clothes off. Anyone who saw just the photo could have been forgiven for thinking the attack was primarily a sexual assault, whereas if you watch the full video you see that the pulling off of the woman's clothes looks more accidental, or at least secondary, and very shortly after they have pulled her top off a policeman returns to cover her again. As I see it, this feeds into the Western preconception of Arabs/Egyptians as sexually misbehaving and misogynist. Not that this makes the attack any better, but it is informative of Western attitudes and attention spans.
In response to 'B' above. What on earth are you talking about?
Ripping her clothes off accidentally is NOT the main issue here. This is nothing to do with any preconceived western notions of Arabs and their sexual deviance. This is a wanton violent attack against innocent civilians. Unless you are completely blind you can clearly see in the video, at least one of the 'Central Security Forces' (They are not the Police) violently and brutally assaulting the girl by stamping his boot on her face and head.
These (Central Security Forces) are criminals running riot through the streets carrying out indiscriminate attacks on the good people of Egypt. They need to be stopped and the sooner the better.
FREEDOM TO EGYPT!
It is funny you read the Egyptian paper they claim no one in the army used his gun or life amintion , mean time if you look at the vedio there is an officer ( wearing cap) aiming & shooting his gun at the people.
I watch the vedio several times
There is a savage individual aiming to the head of the demonstrator HE WEAR WHITE SNEAKER I hope some one can identify him & can be put in jail
Did anybody else notice that one of the guys doing the kicking was wearing running shoes rather than military boots? That would indicate a paramilitary status rather than police or army wouldn't it?
I'm just curious - it looks to me like she was already injured somehow before the police got to her. Her friends were attempting to pull/drag her away, but couldn't get away fast enough. (Certainly I don't say this at all to minimize the horrifying violence once the police arrive.) I'm just wondering more about the situation. Does anyone know how the scene developed? Had she been hit by a rock or a bullet prior to the baton and foot-stamping assault?
Now the world can see what a bunch of ''animals'' these people are.Scum of the earth!!!!
Freedom to the brave defenceless people of Egypt!!!!
@Forever Student, thanks for the detailed answer.
In response to Janet:
To clarify, my point wasn't that if it wasn't a sexual assault it doesn't matter; clearly the video shows horrific abuse. My point is that the Western media has implied that it was a sexual assault, and it was not. This is an interesting corollary, although of course not the worst aspect of this attack.