By John Ballard
Tonight's NBC report from Tahrir had this intresting glimpse behind the scenes.
The reporting crew on the scene took a side street away from Tahrir Square and found something unexpected. A disciplined line of regular Egyptian Army was standing in a living wall, blocking angry protesters who were trying to get at a group of police on the other side of the line.
It was clear that the army, much better trained and disciplined, was in this case attempting to cool a really explosive situation. According to the report they ultimately failed in that attempt and the result of multiple casualties on all sides, police and protesters alike.
And when the injured were taken to the makeshift medical facilities near Tahrir they were greeted as heroes. This four-minute video (after a 30-second ad) gets to the interesting part about a minute in.
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>> reporter: minutes later protesters started throwing stones. up went the riot shields, but the army held fire. then more stones. police in black fired volley after volley of tear gas right over the soldiers' heads.
we heard soldiers telling the police to stop.
everyone started to choke. so soldiers helped the demonstrators. with a gas mask on we jumped into an ambulance. a policeman was gagging on the gas he fired, so was a woman, a demonstrator. the ambulance streamed into tahrir square with the injured.
they were greeted like heroes. and the crowd's demand to topple the military only grew stronger. later this week could be decisive. they're planning another million person demonstration after friday prayer.
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The report ended with what can only be called a piece of agitprop, a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood which has the same effect on the majority of viewers as the oft-repeated specter of a nuclear conflict with Iran. Up to that point NBC was on to something important and instructive.
I'm still waiting for the media to report the real reasons so many Egyptians want to do away with military rule, namely the resumption of arbitrary arrests, beatings and intimidation of bloggers and others pushing the case for real democracy. Military trials of civilians, inappropriately harsh sentences and detentions that are a transparent attempt on the part of the military to silence or intimidate outspoken voices are creating exactly the wrong results.
Another group that very likely has a role in the demonstrations is a group we once called "super patriots," a militant segment of the population who are like extreme sports fans, mostly looking to kick some ass.
I have come across the term ultras to describe them. From the context of that word they appear to have little or no appreciation of anything other than they hate Jews, Christians and anyone else that ain't a Real Egyptian. Something like our own group of ersatz-Conservative crazies that have captured the GOP -- same mentality but more violent.
Check this column by Ali Ibrahim, Asharq Al-Awsat's Deputy Editor-in-Chief, based in London
Most of the traditional Egyptian political forces lost out in the bloody battle to recover Tahrir Square, which has become the source of legitimacy in Egypt ever since the 25th January. However, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis may in fact be the biggest losers, after their million man march which they called for last Friday, in a foolish display of power that seems to have provoked the very forces that carried the flame of the January 25th revolution.
The political incompetence evident in the Egyptian transitional period encompasses all traditional political powers, including the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis who appear to be exploiting the erosion of confidence between the masses and the military council, the organization presently governing the interim period. The same goes for the ruling authority which has handled the situation with utter idiocy, having used force to break up several hundred protesters following the end of the Brotherhood and Salafi million (or half-a-million) man march last Friday. This led to the tragic situation with dozens of casualties falling, plus numerous attacks in Tahrir Square and the surrounding streets, not to mention the intensified demands for an immediate power transfer.
[Much more at the link...]
I don't think the "ultras" are LIKE "extreme sport fans," they ARE soccer fanatics/hooligans. So their hyper-nationalism is on display mostly connected with football matches - I don't think their "philosophy" extends much beyond that sort of noisy flag-waving mixed with occasional match-day rioting. I wouldn't analogize them to US hard-right T-party or right-wing militia types. Football-mad skinheads is probably closer to the type.
ReplyDeleteAFAIK they weren't politicized as a group last Jan/Feb. But one of their own got killed by security forces fairly recently, which got them both riled and better organized. I assume there are other sources of bad blood with the police, and they've probably also had pals caught up in the recent huge increase of military court trials you mentioned.
Anyhow, when the CSF made a ham-fisted, violent attempt to clear Tahrir after last Friday's demos, the "ultras" were among the first to rush down to Tahrir. Ever since, they've been consistently on the front lines, esp in Mohamed Mahmoud street. They seem to have been the main source of fireworks used by protesters to try to keep the police from advancing close to Tahrir itself. Also probably part of the crowd that was dropping stuff from the AUC library building last night.
Re my prior comment, I've just come across this nice report (video) on the "ultras" from BBC.
ReplyDeleteThank you for what is clearly first-hand information. The BBC link is especially interesting, with video almost the same as that of NBC but a much better informed description of events. Toward the end of the report it was mentioned that the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood had gone there last week and had been attacked by these same hoodlums. I stand corrected about my description. I like your comparison with skinheads better than what I wrote. I tend to forget there are groups of people in this country even more primitive than right-wing political types.
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