• About Us
    • What Is Street Harassment?
    • Why Stopping Street Harassment Matters
    • Meet the Team
      • Board of Directors
      • Past Board Members
    • In The Media
  • Our Work
    • National Street Harassment Hotline
    • International Anti-Street Harassment Week
    • Blog Correspondents
      • Past SSH Correspondents
    • Safe Public Spaces Mentoring Program
    • Publications
    • National Studies
    • Campaigns against Companies
    • Washington, D.C. Activism
  • Our Books
  • Donate
  • Store

Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • Blog
    • Harassment Stories
    • Blog Correspondents
    • Street Respect Stories
  • Help & Advice
    • National Street Harassment Hotline
    • Dealing With Harassers
      • Assertive Responses
      • Reporting Harassers
      • Bystander Responses
      • Creative Responses
    • What to Do Before or After Harassment
    • Street Harassment and the Law
  • Resources
    • Definitions
    • Statistics
    • Articles & Books
    • Anti-Harassment Groups & Campaigns
    • Male Allies
      • Educating Boys & Men
      • How to Talk to Women
      • Bystander Tips
    • Video Clips
    • Images & Flyers
  • Take Community Action
  • Contact

Egypt: Volunteers Stop Sexual Attacks

July 2, 2013 By HKearl

Members of @TahrirBodyGuard, via their Twitter account

Trigger Warning

Once again Egyptians are protesting at Tahrir Square in the hopes of creating good and lasting political change, and once again mobs of men have attacked many of the women present at Tahrir and the surrounding areas.

The anti-harassment group OpAntiSH said they received 46 reports of mob sexual assaults in the vicinity on June 30, from 6 p.m. Sunday evening until around 2 a.m. Monday. The most common areas for these assaults were the entrances leading to the Square. They stress that many more attacks likely occurred; these were just the number of assaults reported to them.

On July 1, OpAntiSH has reported that 17 additional attacks occurred.

From the OpAntiSH press release:

“Operation Anti-SexualHarassment/Assault (OpAntiSH) observed cases of physical attacks against women by men using sticks at the entrance/exit to the Sadat metro station in front of Kentucky Fried Chicken and received reports of women being kidnapped in vehicles. The increasing seriousness of sexual assaults on female protestors is a reflection of the increasing sexual violence against women in general,perpetrated by both society and the state, which negatively impacts women’s participation in the public sphere.

OpAntiSH expresses its disappointment in the government’s response to mob sexual assaults on female protestors. While the presidency has exploited the incidents for political gain in the media, a source at the Ministry of Health violated the privacy of one of the survivors, publishing details of the assault, her name, and the name of the hospital in which she was receiving treatment, in a blatant violation of the most basic rules and ethics of the medical profession…

OpAntiSH would like to salute all the women in the squares of Egypt, as well as the male and female volunteers in the groups (Tahrir Bodyguard & OpAntiSH) who protect Tahrir Square and intervene in cases of mob sexual harassment and assault, despite the great risks they face.”

HarassMap Volunteer Mohamed El-khateeb wrote a first-person account about incidents on June 30. This excerpt gives you a feel for the kinds of attacks happening and the brave, stressful and intense work the anti-harassment volunteers are doing to try to keep women safe:

“** 23:07 Hrs **

We received a phone call from a colleague/friend regarding a sexual harassment incident happening at the

Mohamed Mahmoud Metro exit (the one close to Hardees). Told my intervention team colleagues and we all rushed towards the place. It was extremely crowded and by the time we got to the metro, the crowd already moved towards belday cafe, right behind the main Tahrir Menasa (stage).

Apparently some of the bystanders helped smuggle the women inside Belady Cafe and some of the workers went out to protect the cafe and pulled down the metal gates. Our intervention team managed to get to the place, some of them were able to get into the store.

We tried all tricks we knew, like pretending that the women left and that nothing is happened, yet all in vain.

We tried to form a safe buffer area out of the cafe, joining arms and elbows to form a human shield against the harassers and curious crowds. Some of the bystanders, wanted to take me out of the circle under the premise that they wanted to form a safe corridor (I wasn’t wearing an OpAntiSH T-Shirt).

I tried to maintain my position. After a few minutes the circle broke, and I was pulled out of the place, pushed towards the metal facades/gates covers the shops beside the cafe, then carried away with crowds towards Tahrir street.

People we trying to beat me with belts, sticks. A guy was spilling some form of liquid that made the crowd run away in a stampede style. (turned out afterwards that it was boiling water).

I went around towards the the square (A green metal fence, blocks the area between the pavement of Belady cafe and the square itself), sent an update by phone to my colleagues and tried to get back again to the place. I also saw a few volunteers from Tahrir bodyguards nearby and informed them of the incident. They rushed in to help us.

The crowds were still at the place. A semi-safe corridor was formed by the people. At this moment, and by utter coincidence, a couple (A woman and a man) crossed from Tahrir st to hardees and passed through the corridor.

The crowd (who were now held off by OpAntiSH, Tahrir body guard volunteers and helpful bystanders) wanted to attack the couple and harass the woman. They pushed in hard onto the human shield.

Luckily they couldn’t overthrow the volunteers and nothing happened. At this point I really wished I had a functioning camera to take pictures of the crowd faces and what had just happened (I was using my basic Nokia phone cause my blackberry ran out of power).

After a few more minutes, finally the volunteers were able to take the women out of the cafe and into safety.

The incident ended at 23:25

SO BRAVE.

* Learn more about the sexual violence amidst the protests from watching a Wall Street Journal video report.

* Keep up with the latest news by following @opantish, @tahrirbodyguard and @harassmap.

* Please spread the word: #EndSH hotlines in & around #Tahrir: 01016051145/ 01157892357 & Landline 0227946787

* And please donate to support the work of HarassMap!

Thank you to every group and every person who is risking so much because they believe in freedom, choice, opportunity, and the right to protest safely. Sending much love and support from the SSH family to you all.

Share

Filed Under: News stories, street harassment Tagged With: Cairo, Egypt, HarassMap, June30, sexual violence, TahrirBodyGuards

Share Your Story

Share your street harassment story for the blog. Donate Now

From the Blog

  • #MeToo 2024 Study Released Today
  • Join International Anti-Street Harassment Week 2022
  • Giving Tuesday – Fund the Hotline
  • Thank You – International Anti-Street Harassment Week 2021
  • Share Your Story – Safecity and Catcalls Collaboration

Buy the Book

Search

Archives

  • September 2024
  • March 2022
  • November 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • January 2021
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008

Comment Policy

SSH will not publish any comment that is offensive or hateful and does not add to a thoughtful discussion of street harassment. Racism, homophobia, transphobia, disabalism, classism, and sexism will not be tolerated. Disclaimer: SSH may use any stories submitted to the blog in future scholarly publications on street harassment.
  • Contact
  • Events
  • Join Us
  • Donate
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2025 Stop Street Harassment · Website Design by Sarah Marie Lacy