Outrage over woman’s beating fuels new Egypt protests
Pro-democracy demonstrators battled Egyptian police for a third straight day Sunday, their anger stoked by images of a military police officer stomping on a woman’s exposed stomach over the weekend.
The latest round of street clashes has left at least 10 people dead and 500 wounded since Friday, said Dr. Hisham Sheeha, a spokesman for Egypt’s health ministry. An 11th person, a boy arrested Saturday, died in police custody from his wounds, the boy’s attorney, Ragia Omran, said Sunday.
Cairo’s stock exchange plunged amid the new turmoil, while Saturday’s images of the woman’s beating appeared to draw more people to the streets.
“I will go down and fight the army and retrieve the honor of this woman and those martyrs killed for the sake of Egypt’s future,” taxi driver Ahmed Fahmy told CNN.
The woman and a male companion were set upon by more than 20 police officers during Saturday’s demonstrations in Cairo. She been dressed in a traditional robe and headscarf — but as police clubbed her and dragged her down the street, those items were pulled away, exposing her midriff and blue brassiere in a country known for its Islamic conservatism.
Then one of the police officers aimed a foot at her upper abdomen and stamped squarely on it, while another officer jumped on the man as he lay on the pavement nearby.
“The army were like vultures who found a prey,” said Mohamed Zeidan, who filmed the beating from a balcony overlooking Tahrir Square. He said after he stopped filming the beating out of fear of being discovered, “The soldiers even beat an older couple who tried to help her up.”