Juan, the army has a track record, especially during the SCAF period, of making dawn raids on protest encampments in an attempt to frighten people away, often with success. In several such cases they used civilian thugs in the front line so that they could blame them if something went wrong (while saying they didn't know who they are). Several reports suggested this latest raid began with armed men on motorbikes. Who they were we may never know. Allah a3lam
When you say many Egyptian Christians are middle class and well educated, many of your readers will assume you mean that a higher proportion of Christians than Muslims are middle class and well educated (otherwise, why bother to note this?). But I don't think there's any evidence for that. I certainly have never seen any data to support such a hypothesis. When I see such claims, I can't help wondering whether this is just part of a Eurocentric fantasy along the lines of "if they're Christians, they're bound to be more like us, and different from the Muslim masses". In fact, it's extraordinary how similar Egyptian Christians are to their Muslim neighbours, in almost everything other than their religious rites.
Juan, I was at the protest yesterday for many hours and some of the published accounts are grossly exaggerated when it comes to numbers. I have some experience at estimating crowd size and I would estimate it peaked in Tahrir Square at about 3,000. Some of the wide-angle shots from low angles make the numbers appear much greater. You can check my observations on this and other aspects at link to jnthnwrght.blogspot.com As I note, in many ways the real number doesn't matter any longer.
Don't forget the overthrow of Jaafar Nimeiri in Sudan in very similar circumstances in 1985 (assuming you consider Sudan part of the Middle East. Antigovernment discontent, mainly over rising food and fuel prices, resulted in a general strike which paralysed Sudan. Massive demonstrations, some on-million strong, followed and the army — Nimeiri’s traditional source of support — could no longer be counted on to restore order. The end came on April 6, 1985, while Nimeiri was on the way home from an official visit to Washington. He was deposed in a bloodless coup led by his Defence Minister and backed by the army. Nimeiri diverted to Egypt where he was to spend the next 14 years in exile.
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Juan, the army has a track record, especially during the SCAF period, of making dawn raids on protest encampments in an attempt to frighten people away, often with success. In several such cases they used civilian thugs in the front line so that they could blame them if something went wrong (while saying they didn't know who they are). Several reports suggested this latest raid began with armed men on motorbikes. Who they were we may never know. Allah a3lam
When you say many Egyptian Christians are middle class and well educated, many of your readers will assume you mean that a higher proportion of Christians than Muslims are middle class and well educated (otherwise, why bother to note this?). But I don't think there's any evidence for that. I certainly have never seen any data to support such a hypothesis. When I see such claims, I can't help wondering whether this is just part of a Eurocentric fantasy along the lines of "if they're Christians, they're bound to be more like us, and different from the Muslim masses". In fact, it's extraordinary how similar Egyptian Christians are to their Muslim neighbours, in almost everything other than their religious rites.
Juan, I was at the protest yesterday for many hours and some of the published accounts are grossly exaggerated when it comes to numbers. I have some experience at estimating crowd size and I would estimate it peaked in Tahrir Square at about 3,000. Some of the wide-angle shots from low angles make the numbers appear much greater. You can check my observations on this and other aspects at link to jnthnwrght.blogspot.com As I note, in many ways the real number doesn't matter any longer.
Don't forget the overthrow of Jaafar Nimeiri in Sudan in very similar circumstances in 1985 (assuming you consider Sudan part of the Middle East. Antigovernment discontent, mainly over rising food and fuel prices, resulted in a general strike which paralysed Sudan. Massive demonstrations, some on-million strong, followed and the army — Nimeiri’s traditional source of support — could no longer be counted on to restore order. The end came on April 6, 1985, while Nimeiri was on the way home from an official visit to Washington. He was deposed in a bloodless coup led by his Defence Minister and backed by the army. Nimeiri diverted to Egypt where he was to spend the next 14 years in exile.