When supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak attacked protesters in Cairo this week, the tactic, if not the ferocity, was familiar to veterans of Egyptian politics. For years, pro-government gangs have prowled the streets in election times, lashing out with fists and clubs.
After two days of deadly clashes, violent backers of Mubarak were mostly absent on Friday from Tahrir Square, scene of huge protests. As in the past, they enjoyed at least tacit approval from the state, or elements of it, disbanding as quickly as they formed.
“The people we found on the streets are incredibly familiar to us,” said Hossam Bahgat, founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, a non-governmental group. “They have always been used or employed to do the dirty business of the government or police.”
Photo: AFP
The Mubarak government rejects accusations that it orchestrates brazen assaults by gangs with no formal affiliation in an apparent effort to distance the state from direct responsibility. It denied involvement in the fighting at Tahrir Square, but apologized, acknowledging signs that it was “organized” and promising an investigation.
This two-track approach — denial and a pledge to get to the bottom of the violence — reflects the contradiction of Mubarak’s rule over nearly three decades.
The thugs who seek to enforce government authority are a separate group from Egyptians who peacefully support the president.
Last November, pro-Mubarak men stormed polling stations, scaring off voters as police stood by. During 2005 elections, suspected security officials in plainclothes beat demonstrators and journalists, and there were reports of sexual assaults on female protesters.
During parliamentary elections in 2000, many voters complained that plainclothes police tried to pressure them into revealing their political allegiance in order to let only supporters of the ruling National Democratic Party into polling stations.
Security officials deny taking sides, blaming political partisans for such unrest. However, the spectacle of thousands of Mubarak backers armed with firebombs, knives and whips converging on Tahrir Square on Wednesday without military intervention suggested a degree of collaboration with the state.
“We have orders not to leave here,” one man in the crowd was overheard saying on his cellphone, who spoke quietly and moved away when he realized someone was close enough to hear.
The Mubarak partisans tended to be heavyset men in their 30s or 40s, in contrast to anti-government protesters who come from a broad range of ages and backgrounds. Some of those involved in election attacks were believed to be thugs hired for the day.
Bahgat said he first saw pro-Mubarak supporters gathering on Tuesday evening around the heavily guarded state TV building. There were a few hundred, some assembling signs with slogans.
“We thought that this was just a media stunt to show that not everyone on the streets is pro-democratic,” he said. “What came as an utter shock to us was the decision of the army to allow them access to Tahrir Square.”
Bahgat said “anecdotal evidence” indicates ruling party officials and lawmakers, as well as neighborhood officials, may have had a role in organizing the pro-Mubarak group. However, he said there was no sign that the crowd received “clear instructions” from any government office or police department.
Hala Mustafa, a senior member of the ruling party and a reform advocate, said she believed pro-Mubarak combatants were bankrolled by businessmen with government ties.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was