http://www.smh.com.au/world/egyptian-vigilantes-act-to-stop-attacks-on-women-20121106-28w3e.html
Egyptian vigilantes act to stop attacks on women Date November 7, 2012 Kareem Fahim 'Anti-harassment' vigilantes ... a group of volunteers monitor the crowd in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Photo: AP CAIRO: The young activists lingered on the streets around Tahrir Square, scrutinising the crowds of holiday revellers. Suddenly, they charged, pushing people aside and chasing down a young man. As the captive thrashed to get away, the activists pounded his shoulders, flipped him and spray-painted a message on his back: ''I'm a harasser.'' Egypt's streets have long been a perilous place for women, who are frequently heckled, grabbed, threatened and violated while police look the other way. Now, during the country's tumultuous transition from authoritarian rule, more groups are emerging to make protecting women a cause. ''They're now doing the undoable?'' a police officer joked as he watched the vigilantes chase down the young man. The officer quickly went back to sipping his tea. The attacks on women, a problem Egypt has long wrestled with, did not subside after the uprising. If anything, they became more visible as even the military was implicated in the assaults, stripping female protesters, threatening others with violence and subjecting activists to virginity tests. During holidays, when people take to the streets to stroll and socialise, the attacks multiply. Advertisement During the recent Eid al-Adha holiday, some men were surprised to find they were no longer able to harass with impunity, a change brought about not just out of concern for women's rights but out of a frustration that the post-revolutionary government still, like the one before, was doing too little to protect its citizens. At least three citizens groups patrolled busy sections of central Cairo during the recent holiday. The groups' members, men and women, shared the conviction that the authorities would not act against harassment unless the problem was forced into the public debate. ''The harasser doesn't see anyone who will hold him accountable,'' said Omar Talaat, 16, who joined one of the patrols. The years during the rule of the former president Hosni Mubarak were marked by official apathy, collusion in the assaults on women or empty responses to the attacks, including police round-ups of teenagers at internet cafes for looking at pornography. ''The police did not take harassment seriously,'' said Madiha el-Safty, a sociology professor at the American University in Cairo. ''People didn't file complaints. It was always under-reported.'' Mubarak's wife, Suzanne, who portrayed herself as a champion of women's rights, pretended the problem hardly existed. As reports of harassment grew in 2008, she said: ''Egyptian men always respect Egyptian women.'' Egypt's new President, Mohammed Mursi, has presided over two holidays and many activists say there is no sign that the government is paying closer attention to the problem. However, the work by the citizens groups may be having an effect. Last week, after the Eid al-Adha holiday, Mr Mursi's spokesman announced the government had received more than 1000 reports of harassment and said that the President had directed the Interior Ministry to investigate the complaints. The New York Times Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/egyptian-vigilantes-act-to-stop-attacks-on-women-20121106-28w3e.html#ixzz2BUgIdfCk [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
