In Cairo – Thousands of Women March in Protest!

Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times is reporting that thousands of women marched in protest in Cairo last evening in an extraordinary expression of anger over images of soldiers beating, stripping and kicking female demonstrators in Tahrir Square.  They chanted “Freedom, Freedom” and “Drag me, strip me, my brothers’ blood will cover me!”

“Where is the field marshal?” they demanded of the top military officer, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. “The girls of Egypt are here.”

The New York Times article state that “Historians called the event the biggest women’s demonstration in modern Egyptian history, the most significant since a 1919 march against British colonialism inaugurated women’s activism here, and a rarity in the Arab world. It also added a new and unexpected wave of protesters opposing the ruling military council’s efforts to retain power and its tactics for suppressing public discontent.”

Tony

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