Rico's rants: In Cairo, however, things aren't better

30 June 2011

In Cairo, however, things aren't better

Lara el-Gibaly and Dina Salah Amer have an article in The New York Times about the situation in Cairo:

Clashes between the police and protesters have left more than a thousand people injured in the worst violence to grip the capital since President Hosni Mubarak was forced from power in February. The turmoil, which seemed to take almost everyone by surprise, demonstrated the fragile state of Egyptian society since the revolution, where almost any spark can ignite simmering tensions.
As the sun rose over Tahrir Square, a now familiar tableau was revealed: sidewalks smashed to bits by protesters who hurled the pieces at the police, metal barricades dragged into the street, rubber bullets scattered around, and clusters of protesters declaring a sit-in in opposition to the heavy-handed tactics of the police. “I am here today because I am appalled at how the police have treated protesters,” said Salma Samer, a 23-year-old student. “This is not what we called for when we took to the streets on 25 January. This is not the revolution we imagined.”
The Supreme Council of Armed Forces, which has final say over all decisions, called the events “senseless” and “with no purpose other than to destabilize Egypt according to a calculated plan”. It said that 44 protesters were referred to a military prosecutor. The origins of the clash remained murky. Protesters said they erupted when the police blocked a group from trying to enter a theater to commemorate the deaths of the approximately eight hundred protesters killed during the revolution.
The authorities had a different version, saying the violence began after protesters tried to break into the Interior Ministry. What is not in dispute is that armies of riot police officers who had been absent from the streets for months appeared in full force, eventually rushing protesters, who included relatives of the dead, and firing tear gas canisters and rubber bullets throughout the night and the following morning. Eventually, the protests moved into Tahrir Square.
The prime minister, Essam Sharaf, said on state television that the police only used violence in self-defense and to protect public property. He said that Egypt was slowly moving toward stability before the clashes and that a police reform program was under way.
Protest groups called for an open-ended sit-in in Tahrir Square, earlier than originally planned, and are demanding an immediate end to emergency law and the removal of several top officials, including the interior minister, the finance minister, and the prosecutor general.
But the fighting made clear that there were differences not only between the government and protesters, but between those who want faster change and those who are growing weary of the post-revolutionary tumult. While some protesters called for a speedy prosecution of Mr. Mubarak, the prosecution of the police who killed protesters during the eighteen-day revolution, and for ending the practice of trying civilians in military courts, there was no single vision of what needs to be addressed first.
“The economy is in tatters, worse than before,” said Ahmed Safwat, a 26-year-old computer engineer. “The country is in ruins. Of course, people are still protesting.”
No unified chants rang through the square, no signs or banners decorated its lamp posts. People, milling about, voiced a variety of grievances to anyone who would listen. “They are calling us thugs; we are just citizens who are unsatisfied with the way the country is run,” said Amr Mostafa, 32, a shopkeeper. “I was here all through last night and we were assaulted and attacked by the police. They attacked us for expressing our demands.” As military police took to the streets early in the afternoon, trucks began to sweep up the broken glass and debris, and by sunset no trace of the clashes remained except the hard feelings.
“We’ve been patient for five months! We’ve seen no change. What have you been doing this whole time?” asked a portly middle-aged woman who refused to give her name, as she shook her fist at a cordon of military officers encircling the Interior Ministry. An officer replied: “You’ve been patient for thirty years. I’m sure you can wait a little while longer.” The woman walked away, joining a crowd of grumbling civilians, who complained of the military’s dismissive attitude.
Egypt has lurched forward since the revolution, its military council willing to use force and military courts to calm a restive public, while also responding to public demands including arresting Mr. Mubarak and his two sons. But the pace of change, or more precisely improvement, has been slow in a nation where poverty, corruption and dysfunction were endemic long before Mr. Mubarak’s fall. Now, the military, once widely hailed as an ally of the people, is increasingly seen as an obstacle to change.
Protesters and political activists said that they expected that the clashes would prompt large-scale demonstrations on Friday, which has become the unofficial day of protest in Egypt. The 6 April youth movement, which played a prominent role in mobilizing people during the revolution, has called for a sit-in to take place, to end each night at ten and resume the following morning, though again, not everyone agreed. “What’s this all for?” said Nadia Abdel Aal, 62, a homemaker, as she navigated her way through broken bottles and broken stones, with her shopping bags in hand. “Commodities are expensive; life isn’t any better. What have these youth and protests done for us?”