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Revision as of 07:31, 26 January 2011

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2011 Egyptian protests
Khaled Mohamed Saeed holding up a tiny, flailing, stone-faced Hosni Mubarak
Date	25 January 2011 – ongoing
Casualties
Death(s)	3
Injuries	At least 100 protestors were injured in Cairo alone

The 2011 Egyptian protests are a continuing series of street demonstrations taking place throughout Egypt from January 2011 onwards, with organisers counting on the Tunisian uprising to inspire the crowds to mobilize. The demonstrations and riots were reported to have started over police brutality, State of emergency laws, unemployment, desire to raise the minimum wage, lack of housing, food inflation, corruption, lack of freedom of speech and poor living conditions. The protests main goal is to oust President Hosni Mubarak who has been in power for more than 30 years. While localised protests were already commonplace in previous years, major protests and riots erupted all over the country starting on 25 January, known as the "Day of Anger", the date set by Egyptian opposition groups and others for a major demonstration. The 2011 protests have been called "unprecedented" for Egypt, and "some of the most serious civil unrest in recent memory" in the country.

Background

Hosni Mubarak presidency

President Hosni Mubarak has ruled Egypt since 1981. His government, which has been criticised in the media and amongst NGOs, is supported by the United States because of his "persecution of the Islamists generally supportive of Israel." As a result, the initial reactions to Hosni Mubarak's abuses by the U.S. were muted, and most instances of socio-political protest in the country, when they occurred at all, rarely made major news headlines.

Emergency Law

Egypt is a Semi-presidential republic under Emergency Law (Law No. 162 of 1958) since 1967, except for an 18-month break in 1980. Under the law, police powers are extended, constitutional rights suspended and censorship is legalized. The law sharply circumscribes any non-governmental political activity: street demonstrations, non-approved political organizations, and unregistered financial donations are formally banned. Some 17,000 people are detained under the law, and estimates of political prisoners run as high as 30,000. Under that "state of emergency", the government has the right to imprison individuals for any period of time, and for virtually no reason, thus keeping them in prisons without trials for any period. The government continues the claim that opposition groups like the Muslim Brotherhood could come into power in Egypt if the current government did not forgo parliamentary elections, confiscate the group's main financiers' possessions, and detain group figureheads, actions which are virtually impossible without emergency law and judicial-system independence prevention. However, critics argue that this goes against the principles of democracy, which include a citizen's right to a fair trial and their right to vote for whichever candidate and/or party they deem fit to run their country.

Corruption

While in office, political corruption in the Mubarak administration's Ministry of Interior has risen dramatically, due to the increased power over the institutional system that is necessary to secure the prolonged presidency. Such corruption has led to the frequent imprisonment of political figures and young activists without trials, illegal undocumented hidden detention facilities, and rejecting universities, mosques, newspapers staff members based on political inclination. On a personnel level, each individual officer can and will violate citizens' privacy in his area, using unconditioned arrests, common torture and abuse of power, depending on simply brute force, rather than law, to enforce order in the officer's designated area. This has resulted in the common belief that "A policeman is more dangerous than a criminal".

The rise to power of powerful business men in the NDP in the federal government and People's Assembly led to massive waves of anger during the years of Ahmed Nazif's government. As a result, frequent laws and bills are passed, with undergiant monopolists (such as Ahmed Ezz's) influence serving personal and corporational financial interests rather than public's. Transparency International (TI) is an international organisation addressing corruption, including, but not limited to, political corruption. In 2010, TI's Corruption Perceptions Index report assessed Egypt with a CPI score of 3.1, based on perceptions of the degree of corruption from business people and country analysts, with 10 being highly clean and 0 being highly corrupt. Egypt ranked 98th out of the 178 countries included in the report.

Police Brutality

Khaled Mohamed Saeed died under disputed circumstances in the Sedi Gabr area of Alexandria on June 6, 2010. Multiple witnesses have testified that Saeed was beaten to death by the police,

On 25 June Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, led a rally in Alexandria against alleged abuses by the police and visited Saeed's family to offer condolences.

It has been reported that many police have been restrained in the use of violence. One policeman has been quoted to have said to a protester that he had only three months of duty left and after that "I'll be on the other side of the barricade."

Economic Policy

About 40 percent of Egypt's 80-million population lives on or around two dollars per day, and a large part of the population relies on subsidised goods.

Protests

In Egypt, at least six cases of self-immolation have been reported, including a man arrested while trying to set himself on fire in downtown Cairo. Abdou Abdel-Moneim Jaafar, a 49-year-old restaurant owner, set himself alight in front of the Egyptian Parliament.

Protests took place in several cities, including Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and Ismailiya. A policeman was reported to have died in Cairo, while in Suez two protesters died. In Cairo, police forces used tear gas and water cannons against the protesters, who in turn threw stones at police, eventually forcing them to retreat.

Self-immolation incidents in Egypt
	Name	Residence	Date of self-immolation	Status
1	Abdou Abdel-Moneim Jaafar	El-Qanater	17 January 2011
2	Mohammed Farouk Hassan	Cairo	18 January 2011
3	Ahmed Hashim al-Sayyed	Alexandria	18 January 2011	Died 18 January 2011
4	Mohammed Ashour Sorour	Cairo	18 January 2011

Scale of protests

File:25th Demonstration Against The Government in Cairo in Tahrir square.png

15,000 protesters occupying Tahrir squar.

Thousands were protesting in the capital of Cairo on the 25th of January, with 15,000 alone occupying Tahrir square; 20,000 in various locations across Alexandria, 200 demonstrators were in the southern city of Aswan, 2000 in the eastern city of Ismailiya; and about 3000 in the northern city of Mahallah.

Arrests

Rights activists on said security agents have detained a number of protesters who were taking part in the "25th" demonstration. Twenty-five people have been arrested at Assiut. According to Gamal Eid, director of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI). He noted that security agents seized banners hoisted by the protesters. Security sources said that Assuit's police arrested approximately 50 young people the night before "25th" demonstration and confined them in central security trucks. Meanwhile, sources at the Muslim Brotherhood, said a number of the group’s members have been detained in Mohandessin before heading to join "25th" demonstration. Ayman Nour, the founder of the liberal opposition El-Ghad Party, has tweeted that his son was taken by an unmarked car.