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Egypt: Volunteers Stop Sexual Attacks

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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.

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Egypt: 1000s March Today, Feb 12 Protest Planned

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Today’s Protest. Image via @Gsquare86

During the Jan. 25 protests this year in Cairo, Egypt, there were numerous instances of mob sexual violence against women (read some of their stories). Various anti-harassment groups patrolled Tahrir Square and volunteers were able to help break up most of the mobs but even still, many women required medical attention after they were safe.

Today, more than 1000 people marched in Cairo to protest the violence against women. View photos.

Anti-harassment groups are asking people worldwide to rally in front of Egyptian Embassies on Tuesday, February 12, at 6 p.m. (in whatever time zone you’re in) to protest what they see as the government’s lack of support for stopping such attacks and for perhaps hiring impoverished men to initiate attacks.

Stop Street Harassment is proud to be one of the supporting groups of this effort. If you live near an Embassy, I urge you to show your support and add your presence/voice/body to amplify these efforts.

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Egypt: Personal Account from Jan. 25 Protest

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Editor’s Note: HarassMap, an anti-harassment group in Egypt, posted the following on their Facebook account over the weekend. They, and the author, gave me permission to share it here. Please share it widely and follow their work: Website | Facebook | Twitter.  Also, here is a Guardian article about the attacks on women on Jan. 25.

THIS IS A HARASSMAP STAFF MEMBER’S PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF MOB SEXUAL ATTACKS IN #TAHRIR ON #JAN25 DURING OUR EFFORTS TO COUNTER THEM AS PART OF Op Anti-Sexual Harassment/Assault قوة ضد التحرش/الإعتداء الجنسي الجماعي

By Hussein ElShafie

When I joined the second round of OpAntiSH, as a core team member and a Midan team participant, I wasn’t anticipating the nightmare we all went through! I expected our mere presence in the heart of the protests to be an important warning sign for the mobs not to approach the protesters. I walked through the square distributing flyers and I was met with cooperation and gratitude from the side of the people. However, in certain instances I would get completely encircled by groups who would grab my shirt, poke me and snatch flyers from my hands. I didn’t give their attitude much attention and I attributed it to the Adrenalin rush they must be experiencing.

While I walked I saw two girls from our Safety team running towards me asking for help dealing with a report from the Omar Makram side. We all three ran across the square bumping into everyone until we arrived to Omar Makram and we found nothing going on! Later we were informed that while we mobilized our efforts to that area a girl was being mob-attacked by the Mohamed Mahmoud side.

I went back to our headquarters in Talaat Harb and shortly afterwards our rescue team arrived to the building. The girl was among them semi-comatose. A huge crowd appeared to accompany them to the door and then they tried to break in. We half-closed the door and pulled in our volunteers. They were all being squeezed, grabbed and unable to breathe. While I was pulling in one of them I felt as if I was pulling out a tissue from a tight tissue box. We got them all inside, shut the door and locked it. Harassers tried to break the door and they started a small fire. The numbers were insane. The armed mob was infuriated by the sight of the girls indoor and by the fact that they (harassers) could not reach them. I asked one of them from behind the door what is it that they wanted and he answered “What are all those women doing inside?!”. We turned off the lights and sent the girls upstairs trying to minimize our visibility. The nightmare kept going on for 2 hours until their energy faded and we managed to gather some help from outside to disperse the mob. Police was non-existent.

When it was a little safer to get out I went with another volunteer from the Intervention team to survey the square, and by the time we could make out the Mohamed Mahmoud area a tear gas canister was thrown at us. We ran back to the building suffocating, falling off every few seconds and unable to open our eyes. That very canister could have saved us a lot of terror and harassment if it had been thrown at the mobs that had attacked us perseveringly for two hours earlier.

We were specifically targeted by the mobs while the police kept a deaf ear to our situation. However, our brave men and women managed to survive it. We were getting fake reports to waste our efforts and yet we managed to interfere in more than a dozen mob harassment cases. Seeing the relentless efforts of our volunteers was but an affirmation of the nobility of our cause, and an inspiration for every human being who wants to voice out their right to be free, safe and respected.

بلغوا عن حوادث التحرش الجنسي | Report sexual harassment: SMS 6069 | http://harassmap.org/reports/submit

تطوعوا | Volunteer: bit.ly/ZsFKcL

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Egypt: Harassment during #Jan25 Anniversary Protests

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Yesterday was the anniversary of the Jan. 25 revolution in Cairo, Egypt, and with many protests planned that day at Tahrir Square, anti-harassment groups prepared for an increase in incidents of sexual harassment and assault. Unfortunately, their preparation was necessary. Via Twitter & Facebook:

@OpAntiSH: Initial count of mob sexual assaults we know of are around 19 cases, at least 6 needed medical attention #EndSh #OpAntiSH #Jan25 #Tahrir

@HarassMap: “There were approx 19 cases of sexual assault/rape cases (that we know of), 6 requiring medical attention according to the first count. We managed to help 2/3 or more of these cases but the situation is critical.”

@Beltrew: #endSH team doing amazing job trying to help women who are being attacked.It’s happening everywhere. I swear this must be organised #tahrir

@HarassMap: “another eye witness report of mob sexual assault in #Tahrir yesterday where some ppl used flamethrowers, knives & clubs to try to push the attackers away. #OpAntiSH #endSH #HarassMap”

Via Global Post:

“Several cases of sexual assault have been reported from Tahrir Square, as growing protests and confusion offer a cover for the harassment. According to sources on the ground, women are being groped, verbally assaulted, and harassed in the crowds.  As the crowds continue to gather in Tahrir at nightfall, women’s safety is a growing concern. Several volunteer forces, including one using the Twitter handle @TahrirBodyguard, is offering protection to women who are in Tahrir. Others are patrolling and intervening in incidents they see.”

Via Women’s eNews:

“”The main objective is to get the girl out. It is crisis management,” says Eba’a El-Tamami, marketing and communications unit head for HarassMap.

Based in the capital, HarassMap collects data about harassment, conducts community awareness and outreach programs and is part of a campaign called Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment-Assault, which draws strength from a coalition of groups. The organization’s goal, says El-Tamami, “is to counter what we suspect are organized, mob sexual assaults.”

Verbal sexual harassment is a common nuisance on Egyptian streets. However, HarassMap and other groups claim these mob attacks constitute something far more sinister. “We think it’s organized and planned,” says El-Tamami. “We think it’s probably paid thugs, but we don’t know who is paying them. There are quite a few eye-witness reports . . . People who have had this happen say it’s very difficult to imagine this is random or sporadic . . . . I don’t want to speculate but there are definitely people who have interest in positioning the square as dangerous and make protesters look like harassers or thugs.”

Not only has the Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment-Assault coalition undertaken work on the ground to try to keep women safe, but they also offer additional services. On their Facebook page, they wrote today:

“We don´t only intervene in mob sexual attacks, we help provide support (legal/medical/emotional) through our network of lawyers and doctors. If you need support, or know of someone who does, and/or for questions/inquiries what to do, please call us on our hotlines 01202390087 01016051145 01157892357 or online (Twitter @OpAntiSH, Facebook, Email opantish(at)gmail.com). Please share this”

I applaud these brave individuals for doing what no other group or government agency would do: ensure women’s safety as they exercise their political right to protest and shape their country’s agenda and empower women to fight back!

“@OpAntiSH: Most inspiring moments of yesterday, is when attacked women right after assault asked to join #OpAntiSH! This is RESISTANCE! #Jan25 #Tahrir“

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Anti-Harassment Patrols in Cairo Tonight

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Members of @TahrirBodyguard and other anti-sexual harassment patrols are out in full force this evening, volunteering their time to stop street harassment as Egyptians protest in Cairo.

Phone numbers to call for help or to report harassers in Cairo: 01157892357 / 01202390087 / 01016051145

Also, anti-harassment group HarassMap says: “if sexual harassment happens 2 u / u witness incident that’s already taken place plz report it:SMS to 6069 / send details @harassmap #endSH”

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