Saturday, November 28, 2015

Protest in Luxor over police brutality : Back to the Old times

On Friday, Luxor governorate witnessed a huge protest that continued for hours by citizens who protested against police brutality and the ministry of interior.
That huge protest which started after Friday prayers escalated to become a rally which the security forces tried to disperse but failed.
Part of the protest in Luxor city "We are all Talaat Shabeeb" 
Late Talaat Shabeeb
The citizens were protesting the alleged beating till death of Mr. Talaat Shabeeb while in police custody on Tuesday and the mistreatment of citizens in Al-Awamiyah district in the Upper Egyptian governorate where the deceased used to live.

The story of 47-years-old Talaat Shaheeb was arrested from a café over alleged drug possession started on Tuesday.
The police said that Shabeeb was fine at the police station ,then he fell ill and so he was transferred to Luxor international hospital where he died there.
The police also claimed Shabeeb was a thug and a drug addict.
His family and the eye witnesses in Al-Awamiyah say that he was arrested after a feud with a police officer at the café.

Eye witnesses say that the father of four did not have Tramadol pills and actually the officer and their low ranking officers had the pills with them and they saw how a low ranking officer “they know by name” gave the pills to his boss who said that he was arresting Shabeeb because of the pills taking him to Al-Awamiyah police station.

There, he was beaten to death after half an hour of his arrest according to his family.

His family says that he was transferred to Luxor international hospital as a dead man and they have evidence on that.
The smoking gun in their case was the Luxor International hospital's official medical report which stated “The deceased arrived  the hospital as a dead body at 1 AM”



The Medical report of Luxor international hospital 
The family also says that traces of beating was found over the body of the deceased as an evidence on the beating. They even released photos video that circulated online showing the body at the morgue.
The traces of beating shown on the body of Talaat Shabeeb “+18”

Hours of his arrest and death, the citizens of Al-Awamiyah say that a police force stormed their district and kept shooting live bullets in the air as well gas grenades as well storming houses and scaring women “a huge violation in Upper Egypt” from 2 AM to 7 AM Wednesday.

This video report in Arabic released by Walad Al-Balad citizen journalism service in Luxor on Thursday, show the testimonies of the whole issue including video clips.

Luxor : The victim’s family recounts its testimonies "Walad Al-Balad"

On Thursday, I found this news: Over 20 protesters from the locals were arrested by security forces while protesting in front Al-Awamiyah police station, but they released on Thursday. They were initially accused of illegal protesting.

Back to the protest started at Al-Awamiyah that  turned into a big rally roaming peacefully the main squares in Luxor till it reached Luxor security directorate.





From the banner held at the rally, I see that the people had a set of demands and they are:
The banner 
  1. A just reconciliation between the police and people in Luxor.
  2. To demand the prosecutor general to investigate the incident of Talaat Shabeeb
  3. The ministry of interior has to apologize officially for the police’s violations. 
  4. To compensate the family of late Shabeeb as well the people of Al-Awamiyah
  5. Not to violate the human rights of the people of Luxor.
I think those demands make sense.
Here are videos from the protest where the protesters chanted anti-MOI chants

جزء من مسيرة الأقصر فى ميدان صلاح الدين وغلق الميدان بالكامل إحتجاجاً على مقتل أبنهم طلعت شبيب على أيدى الداخلية ...شير الفيديو وعرف كل الناس .. وكون أنت الأعلام البديل ..شيييييييير .....#الأقصر_تنتفض #الداخلية_بلطجية#كلنا_طلعت_شبيب
Posted by ‎كلنا طلعت شبيب‎ on Friday, November 27, 2015


فيديو آخر من مسيرة الأقصر إحتجاجاً على مقتل أبنهم طلعت شبيب على أيدى الداخلية ...شير الفيديو وعرف كل الناس .. وكن أنت الأعلام البديل ..شيييييييير .....#الأقصر_تنتفض #الداخلية_بلطجية#كلنا_طلعت_شبيب
Posted by ‎كلنا طلعت شبيب‎ on Friday, November 27, 2015
The people are chanting: “The ministry of interior is thuggery”, “ministry of interior killed Talaat in his cell” and “The dirty MOI”

The mainstream media did not transfer the news of the protest or the clashes as it should. Few news websites counted on hand did the job and cover the case like Al-Tahrir news website, January Gate and the Al-Bedaia.

On the other hand, we got now online “We are all Talaat Shabeeb” Facebook page where it described Shabeeb as the new Khaled Said in Luxor.

Many people are comparing the father of four in Luxor to the young man from Alexandria due to the similarities in their cases.

The following hashtags are active in Arabic about the Talaat Shabeeb incident and protests : #Luxor , #Luxor_is_on_fire , #Talaat_Shabeeb and #No_Hatem_has_stood_in_front_of_court.

I have not seen something like that in the past two years. Already, this could be the biggest anti-ministry of interior or anti-regime protest the political conservative Upper Egypt has seen in the past three years over a matter like the police brutality.

Luxor is not a Pro-Muslim Brotherhood area already and I believe that most of those protesters are not affiliated to any other political group.

I do not know who organized such protest, I would dare and say that it seems that people are truly angry in Luxor to the level of participating in a protest regardless of the infamous protest law.
I am not going to jump into conclusion but what I see here is another evidence that the people of Egypt are not sleeping and that 25 January revolution is not dead in a way or another.

I know that his is the wild wild upper Egypt where tribalism, honor and vengeance are above the religion and law, the only way to live.

I know also that in the upcoming hours if not in the past hours the government, the ministry of interior are trying to solve the situation and contain it rapidly before it escalates more.

I know without even having contacts in Luxor that the ministry of interior is having talks with the elderly in the big clans urging them to use tribalism in order to contain the anger of the citizens in Luxor.

Now the police officers responsible for the reported torture of late Talaat Shabeeb can be a target to a personal vendetta where the Shabeeb clan should preserve its honor by killing the man or the men responsible for his murder even if it will take years.

This is Upper Egypt and this is what is the MOI is thinking about now.

FYI  Upper Egypt is the most armed place in Egypt where everybody carries a gun. I am speaking about a level that NRA would be proud of.

Anyhow, we are speaking about a ministry that does not take any serious step to stop torture or physical in Egyptian police stations, prisons and detention centers.

By the way, Egyptian human rights activists and organizations recorded only this week  4 cases of torture in police stations where 3 suspects were tortured till death !! It is just like old times !! 

2 comments:

  1. Yaaa Baladnaaa ;;;;
    The Revolution again
    Why the Government and the Police do not learn
    They just, can not enslave the Egyptian People and keep lie ing like fools

    ReplyDelete
  2. السلام عليكم
    أنا مصور فوتوغرافي ( فيلم فقط ) ،، و قد فهمت إنك مهتمة بالتصوير التقليدي ،، إذا كان ما فهمته صحيح فأرجوا التواصل من أجل تبادل الخبرات ،، بارك الله فيك

    ReplyDelete

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