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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Mob targets Egyptian women
Assaulted during anti-harassment march
An Egyptian woman shouts slogans at a protest in Tahrir Square in Cairo. (MANU BRABO / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS )
CAIRO, Egypt -- A mob of hundreds of men assaulted women holding a march demanding an end to sexual harassment Friday in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
From the ferocity of the assault, some of the victims said it appeared to have been an organized attempt to drive women out of demonstrations and trample on the pro-democracy protest movement.
The attack follows smaller-scale assaults on women this week in Tahrir, the epicentre of the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down last year. Thousands have been gathering in the square this week in protests over a variety of issues -- mainly over worries presidential elections this month will secure rule for elements of Mubarak's regime backed by the military.
Friday's march was called to demand an end to sexual assaults. Around 50 women participated, surrounded by a larger group of male supporters who joined hands to form a protective ring around them. The protesters carried posters saying, "The people want to cut the hand of the sexual harasser," and chanted, "The Egyptian girl says it loudly: Harassment is barbaric."
After the marchers entered a crowded corner of the square, a group of men waded into the women, heckling them and groping them. The male supporters tried to fend them off, and it turned into a melee involving a mob of hundreds.
The marchers tried to flee while the attackers chased them. But the attackers persisted, cornering several women against a metal sidewalk railing, including an Associated Press reporter, shoving their hands down their clothes and trying to grab their bags. Their male supporters fought back, swinging belts and throwing water.
Eventually, the women were able to reach refuge in a nearby building.
Assaults on women Tahrir have been a demoralizing turn for Egypt's protest movement.
During the 18-day uprising against Mubarak last year, women say they briefly experienced a "new Egypt," with none of the harassment common in Cairo's streets taking place in Tahrir. Women participated in the anti-Mubarak uprising as leading activists, medics and fighters.
But women have also been targeted, both by mobs and by military. In a defining image of the post-Mubarak state violence against women, troops dispersing a December protest were captured on video stomping on a woman's chest as other troops pulled her across the ground by her arms.
-- The Associated Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 9, 2012 A31
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