Egyptian Police Arrest Demonstrators!

50 protesters were detained and 8 arrested last night by Egyptian police as they protested last months assault of women outside of the Metro Cinema in Cairo.

About 50 demonstrators, mostly women, protested in downtown Cairo against an alleged assault last month when youths attacked women strolling along a busy shopping street, groping them and tearing their clothes as police looked on.

The demonstrators wanted to protest outside the Metro Cinema, the site of last month's alleged assault. But hundreds of riot police and plainclothes security agents surrounded the protesters and pushed and shoved them into a nearby coffee shop and closed the doors.

This round up by the Egyptian police marks a culmination of several issues in Egypt which include, the government and police turning a blind eye to increasing sexual harassment of women and the government and police trying to silence those who speak out about Egypt's social problems.

Mubarak is under the gun right now, he is aware of the increasing opposition to his indefinite rule, he fears a struggle for power surrounding his sons takeover and most paramount he fears unwanted negative attention being brought to Egypt. Negative attention can very easily cause a drop in tourism dollars and negative attention could cause the U.S. to apply pressure on him, after all Egypt is the beneficiary of approximately 1 billion U.S. dollars annually and it wouldn't take much for a brand new congress to say, "I think its time we pulled your funds".

There's a lot at stake here and who do the government run newspapers blame for all this negative attention? People like me, Egyptian bloggers. Also the Arabist has been blocked by the Egyptian government so don't expect bloggers like Abdul Kareem to be freed any time soon. Let the oppression continue!

Pictures of the arrests Here and here