Masked 'Black Bloc' a mystery in Egypt
2013-01-29 10:14
Cairo - An unpredictable new element has entered Egypt's
wave of political unrest: a mysterious group of masked young men called the
Black Bloc who present themselves as the defenders of protesters opposed to the
Islamist president's rule.
They boast that they're willing to use force to fight back
against Islamists who have attacked protesters in the past — or against police
who crack down on demonstrations. The youths with faces hidden under black
wrestlers' masks have appeared among stone-throwing protesters in clashes with
police around Egypt the past five days in the wave of political violence that
has shaken the country.
During protests in Cairo on Monday, masked youths celebrated
around a police armoured vehicle in flames in the middle of Tahrir Square,
waving their hands in V-for-victory signs.
Their emergence has raised concerns even among fellow
members of the opposition, who fear the group could spark Islamist retaliation
or that it could be infiltrated to taint their movement. Islamist supporters of
President Mohammed Morsi call the bloc a militia and have used it to depict the
opposition as a violent force wrecking the nation.
Moreover, some Islamists have threatened to form vigilante
groups in response, creating the potential for a spiral of violence between
rival "militias".
The bloc's appearance comes amid increasing opposition
frustration with Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, and the Muslim
Brotherhood and other Islamists who critics say have imposed a monopoly on
power.
The anger has fuelled the explosion of violence that at
first centred on Friday's second anniversary of the start of the uprising that
ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak. It accelerated with riots in the Suez Canal city
of Port Said by youths furious over death sentences issued by a court against
local soccer fans over a bloody stadium riot a year ago. Morsi has struggled to
regain control, calling a state of emergency in three Suez Canal-area
provinces.
Group of violence
The Black Bloc models itself after anarchist groups by the
same name in Europe and the United States that have participated in
anti-globalisation and other protests the past decade.
In Egypt, the group's secrecy and self-professed dispersed
structure make it difficult to determine its actual scope. It communicates
mainly by online social media. Its members' identities are unknown and faces
unseen, so it's impossible to confirm the authenticity of those who claim to
speak in its name.
It's even impossible to know whether every masked young man
in the streets belongs to the block or is just a protester hiding his face — or
if the distinction even matters. In Tahrir on Monday, vendors were selling
black masks that young men crowded to buy.
"We are the Black Bloc ... seeking people's liberation,
the fall of corruption and the toppling of the tyrant," proclaimed a video
announcing the group's formation, posted online Thursday. It showed youths
dressed in black marching in lines in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
"We have arisen to confront the fascist tyrant regime
of the Muslim Brotherhood with its military wing," the video said, warning
police not to interfere "or else we will respond without hesitation."
Brotherhood officials, Islamist politicians and
pro-government media accuse the group of violence ranging from trying to set
fire to the presidential palace and attacking Brotherhood offices to ransacking
state buildings, blocking train tracks and even exchanging gunfire with riot
police.
The mayhem of the past five days has seen such incidents — but
it is unclear what role Black Bloc members have had, or whether claims the
group is armed are true. Security officials say they arrested one suspected
bloc member carrying ammunition in Cairo on Sunday.
The state-run Al-Ahram newspaper, which has depicted the
group as fuelling violence, said that Black Bloc members tried to break into a
five-star hotel near Tahrir, and fired guns in the air when other protesters
tried to stop them.
Inevitable clash
A university graduate named Sherif el-Sherafi said he was a
founder of the group in an interview with the El-Watan newspaper — though his
claims could not be independently confirmed.
He said the bloc has 10 000 members nationwide, organised
into groups of around 20 each, but with no chain of command. Members are
trained in self-defence and how to deal with tear gas.
"Violence is not an action but a reaction," he
said. He depicted the situation as an inevitable clash between the opposition
and government. "What is coming is worse."
Members say the group was created in response to 4 December clashes,
when Brotherhood supporters attacked a protest sit-in outside the presidential
palace, touching off hours of street battles that left at least 10 dead and
hundreds injured.
Many in the opposition saw that incident as a turning point,
a sign that Islamists and the Brotherhood were willing to use violence against
Morsi's critics.
Monday night, a number of protesters praised the masked men
in Tahrir Square.
"They aren't here for sabotage or vandalism, but to
protect us from Brotherhood militias," said Ahmed Ali, an engineer.
Ali said police are now "suppressing the revolution on
behalf of the murderer Morsi ... So we need these men to defend the
revolution."
Hossam al-Hamalawy, a prominent lefist activist, said the
Black Bloc youth are "sincere, they want change and they have seen their
friends get killed... [So] they have decided to take the matter into their own
hands."
But he said it "could be dangerous for the revolution",
warning that "this could develop to people carrying arms" ostensibly
in response to the Black Bloc.
"Those who topple the regime are the masses," not
underground groups, said al-Hamalawy, of the Socialist Revolutionaries, a key
group behind the anti-Mubarak uprising.
Systematic violence
Morsi's office and the Brotherhood have contended for months
that the opposition is using the streets to overturn results of elections that
Islamists have consistently won.
Now they point to the Black Bloc as proof their opponents
are willing to back violence.
On his Facebook page, Morsi's assistant for foreign affairs
Essam el-Haddad accused the Black Bloc of "systematic violence and
organised crimes across the country" and accused the opposition of
condoning it.
The Brotherhood in a statement denounced "groups of
thugs, militias of black gangs" that it accused of attacks on state
institution, police and private property. "The silence of opposition
political parties on such crimes ... indicates their support."
Morsi's more hard-line Islamist allies have been more
vehement.
The Black Bloc "must be liquidated completely. These
groups must be dealt with violence and all force", said Mohammed Abu
Samra, head of the political party of Islamic Jihad, which once waged a
campaign of militant violence in Egypt.
Some ultraconservatives accused Christians of being behind
the bloc, in line with their past attempts to fire up their base with warnings
that minority Christians are trying to topple Morsi.
Another former jihadi group, the Gamaa Islamiya, threatened
on Sunday to create a vigilante group.
Tareq el-Zomr, a leading figure in the group, said that if
security forces don't bring quiet, "it will be the right of the Egyptian
people — and us at the forefront — to set up popular committees" to
protect property and "counter aggression".
A Facebook page also claimed the formation of a new militia
called the "Muslims Brigade" — though it was not possible to confirm
that the group exists.
In a video on the page, a group of masked men holding rifles
warned of plots by enemies of Islam and a conspiracy by Christians to turn
Egypt into a Christian state and accused the main opposition National Salvation
Front of helping "burn Egypt".
- AP
