WUNRN
EGYPT - MOB ATTACKS WOMEN AT RALLY AGAINST SEXUAL ASSAULT &
HARASSMENT
Photo: Amr Nabil
By SARAH EL DEEB
CAIRO
- Associated Press - June 8, 2012 - A mob of hundreds of men assaulted women
holding a march demanding an end to sexual harassment Friday, with the
attackers overwhelming the male guardians and groping and molesting several of
the female marchers in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
From
the ferocity of the assault, some of the victims said it appeared to have been
an organized attempt to drive women out of demonstrations and trample on the
pro-democracy protest movement.
The
attack follows smaller scale assaults on women this week in Tahrir, the
epicenter of the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down last year.
Thousands have been gathering in the square this week in protests over a
variety of issues _ mainly over worries that presidential elections this month
will secure the continued rule by elements of Mubarak's regime backed by the
ruling military.
Earlier
in the week, an Associated Press reporter witnessed around 200 men assault a
woman who eventually fainted before men trying to help could reach her.
Friday's
march was called to demand an end to sexual assaults. Around 50 women
participated, surrounded by a larger group of male supporters who joined to
hands to form a protective ring around them. The protesters carried posters
saying, "The people want to cut the hand of the sexual harasser," and
chanted, "The Egyptian girl says it loudly, harassment is barbaric."
After
the marchers entered a crowded corner of the square, a group of men waded into
the women, heckling them and groping them. The male supporters tried to fend
them off, and it turned into a melee involving a mob of hundreds.
The
marchers tried to flee while the attackers chased them and male supporters
tried to protect them. But the attackers persisted, cornering several women
against a metal sidewalk railing, including an Associated Press reporter,
shoving their hands down their clothes and trying to grab their bags. The male
supporters fought back, swinging belts and fists and throwing water.
Eventually,
the women were able to reach refuge in a nearby building with the mob still
outside until they finally got out to safety.
"After
what I saw and heard today. I am furious at so many things. Why beat a girl and
strip her off? Why?" wrote Sally Zohney, one of the organizers of the
event on Twitter.
The
persistence of the attack raised the belief of many that it was intentional,
though who orchestrated it was unclear.
Mariam
Abdel-Shahid, a 25 year-old cinema student who took part in the march, said
"sexual harassment will only take us backward."
"This
is pressure on the woman to return home," she said.
Ahmed
Mansour, a 22 year-old male medical student who took part in the march, said
there are "people here trying to abuse the large number of women
protesters who feel safe and secure. Some people think it is targeted to make
women hate coming here."
"I
am here to take a position and to object to this obscene act in society,"
he said.
Assaults
on women Tahrir have been a demoralizing turn for Egypt's protest movement.
During
the 18-day uprising against Mubarak last year, women say they briefly
experienced a "new Egypt," with none of the harassment that is common
in Cairo's streets taking place in Tahrir. Women participated in the
anti-Mubarak uprising as leading activists, protesters, medics and even
fighters to ward off attacks by security agents or affiliated thugs. They have
continued the role during the frequent protests over the past 15 months against
the military, which took power after Mubarak's fall on Feb. 11, 2011.
But
women have also been targeted, both by mobs and by military and security forces
in crackdowns, a practice commonly used by Mubarak security against protesters.
Lara Logan, a U.S. correspondent for CBS television, was sexually assaulted by
a frenzied mob in Tahrir on the day Mubarak stepped down, when hundreds of
thousands of Egyptians came to the square to celebrate.
In
a defining image of the post-Mubarak state violence against women, troops
dispersing a December protest in Tahrir were captured on video stripping a
woman's top off down to her blue bra and stomping with their boots on her
chest, as other troops pulled her by the arms across the ground.
That
incident prompted an unprecedented march by some 10,000 women through central
Cairo in December demanding Egypt's ruling military step down in a show of
outrage
In
contrast, the small size of Friday's march could reflect the vulnerability and
insecurity many feel in the square, which was packed with thousands of mostly
young men by nightfall Friday. Twenty rights groups signed on to support the
stand and hundreds more vowed to take part, according to the Facebook page
where organizers publicized the event, but only around 50 women participated.
Sexual
harassment of women, including against those who wear the Islamic headscarf or
even cover their face, is common in the streets of Cairo. A 2008 report by the
Egyptian Center for Women's Rights says two-thirds of women in Egypt
experienced sexual harassment on a daily basis. A string of mass assaults on
women in 2006 during the Muslim feast following the holy month of Ramadan prompted
police to increase the number of patrols to combat it but legislation providing
punishment was never passed.
After
Friday's attack, many were already calling for another, much larger stand in
the square against such assaults.
Another
participant in Friday's march, Ahmed Hawary, said a close female friend of his
was attacked by a mob of men in Tahrir Square in January. She was rushed off in
an ambulance, which was the only way to get her out, he said. After suffering
from a nervous breakdown, she left Cairo altogether to work elsewhere in Egypt.
"Women
activists are at the core of the revolution," Hawary said. "They are
the courage of this movement. If you break them, you break the spirit of the
revolution."