Fear returns to Egypt as state crackdown widens | Reuters

/us-egypt-protests-fear-idUSBRE97K0Z2201

  • Fear returns to Egypt as state crackdown widens | Reuters
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/21/us-egypt-protests-fear-idUSBRE97K0Z220130821

    A climate of fear that kept Egyptians compliant during the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak is creeping back into daily life, less than three years after the revolt that toppled him.

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    While activists critical of the army-backed government are obvious targets for intimidation, now ordinary Egyptians also avoid the noisy, boisterous discussion of politics that was common between the fall of Mubarak and that of his Islamist successor on July 3.

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    A muted public response to Wednesday’s court ruling that Mubarak should be released from jail has added to a sense that the authoritarian order is making a comeback, threatening the freedoms that were the main dividend of the uprising that began on January 25, 2011.

    Media are now dominated by those backing the army’s line that it removed Mursi in response to popular protests demanding his departure that began on June 30.

    “I can sense, smell and very much tell that these are old Mubarak people coming to take their revenge on the Muslim Brotherhood,” said Khaled Dawoud, a liberal who backed Mursi’s overthrow but has since criticized the spread of violence.

    “It is so obvious with the pro-Mubarak people who are filling the TV right now. They don’t even want to consider January 25 a revolution. They say June 30 is the only revolution.”

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    “There are fears or threats of arrest by loyalists of the former regime against the revolutionary youth and activists... The atmosphere of fear and terrorizing of activists who speak out about anything - this is widespread,” said Mohamed Adel, media coordinator for the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights.

    “Some big journalists... are being threatened and told you are either with us or with the enemy.”

    Sitting in his shop, worried about getting home before curfew, Mohamed sees only dark days ahead for Egypt.

    “The barrier of fear is returning. It is coming back stronger than before. The police were humiliated after the January 25 revolution and they want to restore their authority... The excuse will be anti-terrorism, the same excuse Bashar al-Assad uses in Syria,” he said. “We’ll end up a jungle like Syria.”