An Egyptian woman participating in a march for women’s rights argues with a man in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. A half-dozen women said they were repeatedly groped by men during the rally. (WaPo)
A Million Women March was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in Egypt’s Tahrir Square, to coincide with International Women’s Day. It did not go as planned. The women were groped, beaten and forced to flee the square.
The Washington Post reported:
Women hoping to extend their rights in post-revolutionary Egypt were faced with a harsh reality Tuesday when a mob of angry men beat and sexually assaulted marchers calling for political and social equality, witnesses said.
“Everyone was chased. Some were beaten. They were touching us everywhere,” said Dina Abou Elsoud, 35, a hostel owner and organizer of the ambitiously named Million Woman March.
She was among a half-dozen women who said they were repeatedly groped by men – a common form of intimidation and harassment here that was, in fact, a target of the protesters. None of the women reported serious injuries.
The demonstration on International Women’s Day drew a crowd only in the hundreds to Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the popular revolt that drove President Hosni Mubarak from power. Gone, organizers said, was the spirit of equality and cooperation between the sexes that marked most of the historic mass gatherings in the square.
No wonder only a few hundred women showed up for the rally.
Related… The UN today condemned Israel’s treatment of Palestinian women.
The world is crazy.
