Egypt Broadens Crackdown in Bid to Prevent a Repeat of Protests
Egypt Says It Will Act With ‘Firmness’ Against More Protests
(Bloomberg) -- Racing to prevent a repeat of shock protests, Egypt’s authorities allegedly rounded up over 1,900 people, choked social media and issued a stark warning about the uncompromising response that awaits any demonstrations on Friday.
The crackdown is typical of the no-holds-barred attitude to dissent under President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. With just a few hundred people having joined last weekend’s protests, it shows how seriously authorities take even a hint of a return to the unrest that roiled the Arab country in 2011 and 2013.
“People taking to the streets, knowing the risk, shows the level of anger and frustration,” said Gamal Eid, head of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, a group tracking detainees. “They have nothing left to lose.”
There’s little consensus over whether the unrest was a blip or will be a spark for further wide-ranging discontent in a country of about 100 million, where measures introduced in 2016 to revive the economy have driven more into poverty. Investors were surprised: the benchmark EGX30 stock index dropped more than 10% in three days before paring some losses.
Authorities are taking few chances. Security forces are patrolling streets around Cairo’s landmark Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that ousted long-time leader Hosni Mubarak. Young men visiting downtown say they’ve been subject to spot searches of their mobile phones by plain-clothes officers on the lookout for social-media posts backing the protests.
‘All Firmness’
The Interior Ministry on Thursday called on citizens to “abide by the rules,” and said any attempt “to disturb stability and social peace” would be met “with all firmness and decisiveness.” The same day, local newspaper Al-Dostour’s front page featured photos of more than 30 people, including opposition figures and journalists, with the headline “Beware of them.”
NetBlocks, an internet-freedoms advocacy group, reported new technical restrictions for access to Twitter, Facebook Messenger and BBC News earlier in the week.
Egypt’s general prosecutor announced late Thursday that about 1,000 people are being questioned for attending protests, some of whom said they did so due to their economic plight while others claimed to have been inspired by online coverage or went there by mistake. Striking a rare conciliatory tone, the statement urged those wishing to air grievances to use legal methods.
Spanish Exile
The recent protests had an unlikely inspiration: a series of viral videos by Mohamed Ali, an ex-contractor in self-imposed exile in Spain who’s made wide-ranging corruption allegations involving lavish palaces and hotels built for top officials.
Authorities have dismissed the claims by the sometime-actor, who called for further protests on Friday. But they’ve been widely shared by many in Egypt. While Ali’s earlier tirades smacked of bravado, in the latest ones he appeared disheveled and said he was “fed up with all the running away.”
The videos are “an embarrassment for a regime that has emphasized the need for responsible leadership and difficult decisions,” said Michael Hanna, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Century Foundation.
El-Sisi, who cultivates a man of the people image, has acknowledged the economic pressures Egyptians are under but urged patience in his bid to forge “a new country.” Meeting ally U.S. President Donald Trump in New York this week, he blamed “political Islam” for the demonstrations.
It was a reference to the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group that won elections in the aftermath of Mubarak’s overthrow and saw a member, Mohamed Mursi, elected president. Mursi was removed by the army in 2013 amid mass demonstrations against his rule.
“As long as the regime remains unified and is willing to use the various means of coercion at its disposal, protests in and of themselves will not threaten its sustainability,” said Hanna. “It is internal cohesion that remains the primary consideration and concern going forward.”
Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry this week urged people to put the protests in perspective. In an interview with Al-Monitor, a news website, he said the Brotherhood had “tried to instigate and to give an impression that this was a wide-scale demonstration, where it was not.”
All the same, many of Egypt’s remaining dissenting voices were taken aback by the protests, which appeared to be overwhelmingly youthful -- almost 48% of Egypt’s population is under 24, according to official statistics.
Party Official
The number of detentions is at least 1,915, the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights said Thursday. Among them are people like Khaled Dawoud, an official with the opposition Dostour Party who’s being investigated on allegations of spreading false news and having links to a terrorist organization, according to the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedom.
One option for El-Sisi’s government to stem unrest could be to scale back some of the economic changes by easing subsidy cuts or increasing cash payments from social programs, according to Crispin Hawes, director of Idrisi Advisors, a London-based analysis firm.
“Unless you’re looking at tens of thousands of people in multiple places in the country, they will feel that the stick and a very small bit of the carrot should be enough,” he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Maedler in Dubai at cmaedler@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rosalind Mathieson at rmathieson3@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams
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