'The girls of Egypt are here': women defy military [View all]
David Kirkpatrick
December 22, 2011
THOUSANDS of women have marched through Cairo to call for the end of military rule in an extraordinary expression of anger over images of soldiers beating, stripping and kicking female demonstrators in the capital's Tahrir Square.
''Drag me, strip me, my brothers' blood will cover me!'' they chanted. ''Where is the field marshal?'' they demanded, referring to Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of the ruling military council. ''The girls of Egypt are here.''
The event may have been the biggest women's demonstration in Egypt's history, and the most significant since a 1919 march against British rule. The scale was stunning, and unexpected in this strictly patriarchal society.
Previous efforts to organise women's events in Tahrir Square this year have either fizzled or, in at least one case, ended in the physical harassment of the few women who did turn out.
http://www.theage.com.au/world/the-girls-of-egypt-are-here-women-defy-military-20111221-1p5ol.html
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