كفر علو archives — Page 5 of 5

They were not harassed by the police yesterday, but Kafr Elw residents who showed up in Abdeen to lobby the Cairo Governorate officials, Thursday 6 December, into compensating them for housing said they were beaten up by the Central Security Forces troops, led by Major Muhammad el-Sayyed. The troops used sticks, batons, while the Major took part personally in kicking and punching the residents while uttering foul slurs. When the women went to the Abdeen Police Station to report to file a complaint against the officer, they station officers decided to lock them up. They were released on the following day, reportedly after the intervention of MP Mustafa Bakri, in exchange for not speaking to the media and dropping any plans to file a complaint against Major Muhammad el-Sayyed.

The children, said the residents, were not spared either on that day.

Among the victims was nine year old Eman, who was slapped and kicked by Major el-Sayyed personally, said her mother.

But interestingly also the residents were saying that the Major was screaming at the conscripts, threatening them if they did not attack they would be punished, which clearly shows the hesitation and discontent among the soldiers in executing such order.

It’s been a long day.

I gave a training session in the morning to a group of local and Arab human rights activists on internet campaigns, part of a workshop organized by HRINFO, then had to rush to Abdeen to see the Kafr Elw residents.

Later I met with the Qursaya Island residents at the Press Syndicate.

… and the Real Estate Tax Collectors celebrating their strike victory.

I heard horrific tales from the Kafr Elw residents about police assaults, still saw impressive militancy among the women, who basically are leading the fight now against the government while their husbands have taken the back seat for fear of arrest.

I felt frustration and sheer alienation are spread among the Qursaya Island residents vis a vis Mubarak’s central government, but heard the phrase “we will die on our island, rather than give it to the government, army or anyone else” more than once.

I met again with the Real Estate Tax Collectors. But this time it was different. Last time I saw them was in front of the Ministerial Cabinet, where they were camping… they were exhausted, disheveled, yet resilient, as they slept night after night surrounded by the pigs in downtown Cairo… Tonight, they felt like heroes, and they were heroes having achieved victory in a bitter fight, in their first strike since 1919.

“I walk today in the street, with my head up high,” said Amr, one of the strikers. “I wouldn’t have been able to look into the faces of children if I came back home after the strike with nothing. I won. We won. I tell the people in the street I was one of the Real Estate Tax strikers, and they tell me poetry. I feel our victory is a victory to all civil servants and all Egyptians.”

As I was taking the elevator to the Syndicate’s ground floor on my way out, there were two of the building’s staff workers (either waiters or janitors) chatting about the “beto3 el-3aqariya” (the guys from Real Estate):
“They stayed for more than a week in the street,” said one.
“I know,”
“Seems everybody is doing it.”
“What do you mean?”
“The e3tissamat (sit-ins)!”
“Oh, I know. I know.”
“It’s the only language the government understands.”

Tag: كفر علو

Kafr Elw children

“It’s the only language the government understands”