Warning: above video very graphic. On Wednesday women marched into Tahrir Square, Cairo, to demand an end of rape and sexual harassment. This was a brave act as their numbers were not large. The onlookers were supportive though at one point there were cat-calls and names called. That is when, as if from nowhere, a line of men and women, all dressed in black and wearing masks appeared. They were the black bloc and at once formed a protective guard of honour. It was a momentous sight. The women were here because over past months at Tahrir Square many women have been sexually attacked and raped. Below we provide the disturbing accounts of two women and what happened to them.
Black bloc protective guard
Black bloc women in Tahrir Square
Men and women have also joined Tahrir Bodyguard, one of several groups that have been organised to protect women demonstrators. In the past week over two dozen sexual attacks have been reported at the square. Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment/Assault, reported 19 incidents on one day alone – January 25. Dreadful violence has been used and when people try to intervene more violence breaks out.
Here is an account of one woman (too horrifying to display). At the end if it all, she says: ” We will not be frightened; we will not hide in our homes. Sexual harassment is a social disease that has been rampant for years, used by the regime to intimidate girls and women. But we must know that sexual harassment is a social issue, not merely a political one, and what takes place during festivities and crowded places attests to that. I do not know if this testimony will make a difference or change, for the violations are still ongoing… but this is the least I can do. To the women of this assailed country, you are the greatest.”
An account of a woman who had a similar experience to the woman in the above video
“I arrived to Tahrir with a female friend and her husband around 6:45pm on Friday, the 25th of January 2013. We had parked in Champilion Street and walked through Qasr El Nile Street to enter Tahrir. We stayed on the side walk until we reached KFC at the corner of Talaat Harb Street. The side walk had been busy, but not uncomfortably crowded. As we passed through the fence opening, a guy shouted “No women in the square!” I did not look at him, but just felt my friend’s husband’s arm around my shoulder in order not to loose either me or his wife.
It got more crowded around us quite quickly as we entered. We walked a few meters and I already felt hands on my lower body from behind. We continued moving until we were surrounded by a group of men pushing us to different sides. At that point I was only holding my friend’s husband’s hand, people in between us though. He started shouting loudly as he had already realized that the situation had got out of control while I was still trying to stay calm and to ignore the hands in order to continue moving. At a certain point I just let go of his hand, hanging on to my purse.
I don’t recall any more sounds, noises or words from what happened immediately afterwards. All I remember is hands all over my body, grabbing under the layers of pullovers I was wearing, touching my breasts, opening my bra. More hands on my back and legs, my pants being pulled down. I was trying not to loose balance and not to loose my purse with my phone inside. My empty hand tried to pull my pants back up when I felt fingers inside my ass and shortly after in my vagina. I dropped my purse and pulled up my pants again, or I tried at least. Then more penetration with fingers from the front and the back. I tried to see the end of circle of men, but saw rows and rows of men surrounding me, all pushing towards me. I panicked, and was pushed aside. I remembered my purse, reached to the ground, picked it up and fell on the ground. With one hand I was hanging onto the purse; with the other I tried to pull myself up. Men´’s hands were still on my body and somebody penetrated my vagina again with his hands. I had successfully got up. At that point I remember sounds again and I remember me beginning to shout for help. One man, a few meters away recognized the situation and moved towards me in the middle of maybe forty men, maybe more. He shouted and hit some of the men around me in order to reach me. When I could reach his ha nd, I simply handed him my purse and grabbed his arm. Then I just hugged the stranger and told him to help me. From behind, my pants were still be pulled down, hands everywhere.
The guy shouted at me and with me clinging on´to him began moving, the mob following us from behind. We moved further into the square and the guy started moving faster. I fell. He shouted at me to get up, grabbed my arm and said I should just follow him. At that point I was suddenly not sure anymore whether he would help me or whether he was collaborating with the rest of the men. I panicked again. He shouted at me to come, the mob still behind me. I looked for other people to help and noticed two women some ten meters away. I waved at them with my purse, shouting something. My pants were being pulled down again. Shortly after I saw a man, wearing one of the Operation Anti Sexual Harassment t-shirts and I started shouting louder. Luckily he saw me and made his way towards me. He grabbed me and held me and told me he would help me. He pulled me toward where I had spotted the two women and further. I fell again, the guy helped me up and I stepped into buckets of water and fell again. I got up and was surrounded by women and men of the Anti Harassment group. They asked me to sit down and wait with them.
After a while we moved all together to a building close by. When the doors opened and we sat down on the stairs next to the elevator, I began crying. Only a few seconds after two women approached me with a microphone in their hands and wanted to interview me for the French radio. I simply shouted at them and told them to leave me alone.
Only an hour or two later I realized that my underpants had been torn apart and that I had bruises and pain in different parts of my body. Although I lost my purse several times, I had managed to get it back. My phone, keys and the money were still there.
All of this happened two days (25th of January, 2013) ago. Yesterday I was examined by a gynecologist. Luckily, I do not have any internal injuries. Just bruises and today the muscles in my entire body are hurting. When trying to recall what happened on Friday, I noticed that there must have been things happening, people saying things, etc. that I do not remember. I have barely any audio-memory, just the feeling of hands everywhere. I also don t recall any face around me.”
See also:
https://www.facebook.com/opantish
http://dawn.com/2013/02/02/in-egypt-bodyguards-protect-protesters-from-sexual-assault/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/27/tahrir-square-sexual-assaults-reported
Posted from the darker net via Android.
You are being heard, we are right there with you, don’t give up, stay strong. They may rape the body but the spirit can NEVER be raped. Love and light.