Archives for July 2013

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.