Peaceful, unarmed protestors were met with excessive force by police and soldiers of the armed forces, leading to the deaths of dozens of protesters and the injury of more than 3000 others.
(CIHRS/IFEX) – Cairo, 25 November 2011 – On 19 November 2011, Egyptians took to the streets and squares of Egypt once more in peaceful protest, demanding a true civil, democratic state consistent with their dreams of last January. These peaceful, unarmed protestors were met with excessive force by police and soldiers of the armed forces, leading to the deaths of dozens of Egyptians and the injury of more than 3000 others.
The reality on the ground is that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) is adopting the very policies and methods of the Mubarak regime by repressing protests and sit-ins, using excessive force against peaceful demonstrators, killing dozens of unarmed civilians, carrying out arbitrary arrests, and exploiting the media to defame civilian forces and human rights defenders, while at the same time exaggerating the social power of some extremist Islamist groups with the aim of frightening Egyptian society and the West into conceding to the de facto order. These strategies are all too reminiscent of those of the ousted president.
Over the past 10 months the SCAF has been actively engaging in reproducing and creating unprecedented new methods of repression in Egypt, the likes of which were not seen even during Mubarak’s era. During this period the military police has been involved in acts of extrajudicial killing.
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Arab Penal Reform Organization
Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression
Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
Egyptians Against Religious Discrimination
Habi Center for Environmental Rights
Hisham Mubarak Law Center
Nazra for Feminist Studies
New Women Foundation
The Human Rights Association for the Assistance of the Prisoners
