The Egyptian regime has turned its thugs loose again ...
The tactics used against protesters at the last election have appeared with redoubled viciousnessAhdaf Soueif
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 2 February 2011 20.44 GMT
I knew something was wrong when I woke up to the sound of car horns. It's been so quiet and peaceful the last few days we've even started seeing the bats once again flitting in and out of the fruit trees at dusk. This wasn't the normal noise of Cairo traffic; this was aggressive, patterned and constant, like what you get after a football match only lots more so.
Out of my window I saw the crowd marching across 15 May flyover. It's odd: the pro-Mubarak lot are so much more regimented – and so much less civil: the noise pollution, the rude gestures at the street, the sticks, the attitude – and at the same time the perfectly scripted banners, the "stewards" marshalling and directing them.
By midday they had started to attack Tahrir Square; the attacks are continuing as I write now. I'm getting regular updates from the square from my son, nieces, sister and other friends in the thick of it. The people who on Tuesday night were listening to music and debating modes of government are now putting their bodies on the line. It's all they have. The pro-Mubarak lot, of course, have sticks and stones, and swords and chains and dogs and trucks and … the military stand by and do nothing.
So who are these people? In support of the president, they throw Molotov bottles and plant pots from the tops of buildings onto the heads of women and children. To establish stability and order, they break heads with rocks and legs with bicycle chains. To have their say in the debate they slash faces with knives. Who are they? Well, every time one of them is captured his ID says he's a member of the security forces. And his young captors simply hand him to the military who are standing by. ........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/02/egyptian-regime-thugs-protesters
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