I hope you can understand Arabic, coz this conversation is really powerful. A police conscript talks to protesters in Tahrir on Friday, slamming the corruption and oppression of the interior ministry, assuring the protesters that the conscripts support the revolution and took part in it during the uprising by leaving their posts and joining the marches.
UPDATE: The translation is available in the comments section. Thanks Noha!
– Are detainees who have been tortured and people who were killed better than us? They are better and more honourable than I am. They have sacrificed their lives for us. Do you think they sent me here to infiltrate your protest? Well, here I am. Do as you wish. Here is my ID. I am a conscript, we only take IDs! Read where I am from.
– Beheira.
– Turn over the ID. It reads I’m a student, not an employee. I am a student at the Faculty of Science, Tanta University. I have a BA in Science. And you know what? You are right to wonder who I am, it’s because the people and the police do not trust each other. In fact conscripts are not obliged to follow the orders of their leaders. We are just like you. Conscripts are able to topple the Ministry of Interior in order to have the people’s demands met. Corruption is widespread among employees not among conscripts. We are just like you, we participated in the revolution side by side. We have been punished for this but we don’t care! I salute every one of you. We joined when we knew that the regime figures are being acquitted. We agree on your demands … but also demand that the regime figures be hanged and become a lesson for those to follow. Corruption, theft, messing with young people’s heads, rigging elections. Some conscripts have a university degree, others are illiterate, yet they have strong views. The revolution has made us all more mature no matter how they tried to stifle us. Our colleagues are with us here but they are wearing civilian attire … I insisted on wearing the police clothes because I want to deliver my message: we do not represent the Ministry of Interior; we represent the people.
– With all due respect. Maybe YOU represent the people but there are a million others in the Ministry who do not.
– They are employees! Not conscripts.
– I hate the police, I get sick when I see one.
Conscript: I am staying here with you!
Thanks for the translation!