In Egypt, where at least 18 people were killed Sunday as protesters marked the anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak. The protests were the bloodiest in the country since General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi came to power. Riot police, backed by soldiers in armored vehicles, sealed off roads, including those leading to Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where the uprising was centered. Riot police with rifles and plainclothes men with pistols were seen chasing protesters through the streets of Cairo. The heaviest death toll was in the Cairo suburb of Matariya, a Muslim Brotherhood stronghold, where eight people, including one policeman, were killed. On Saturday, Shaimaa al-Sabbagh, a leading member of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, was shot dead at a protest near Tahrir Square.
Also over the weekend, two of Mubarak’s sons were released from prison, nearly four years after they were first arrested along with their father. Last week, an Egyptian court ordered the release of Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, pending their retrial in a corruption case. Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters and a number of journalists remain in Egyptian jails, including the three Al Jazeera journalists, Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed.
Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer talking:
Shaimaa al-Sabbagh was going to put a wreath on the grave of people that had died in the 2011 uprising. She was shot at a two-meter distance by police, eyewitnesses say. And Ragia Omran, a dear friend and a human rights lawyer who was both in the film The Square and is continuing to work on the ground defending many of the protesters that are in prison, attended her autopsy and said she was pummeled in the back by birdshot, which caused internal bleeding, which led to her death. But the impunity of policemen shooting in broad daylight is something that we need to talk about, just like the killings of police here, around the world, is something that can’t go on silence. there’s been around 18 people, I believe, that have been killed.
Significance of January 28th was that it was the time that people came back. I mean, I’ve been following protests for a long time in Egypt, made a film in 2007, where you would watch protests happen, people would be beaten up, jailed, but people wouldn’t come back. And what happened on January 28th, people came back and said, “We will not allow this.” And they stayed. And it was really where you saw those images of people really standing up to the police for the first time. It was where that iconic image took place on the bridge where people were showered.
So, at this time, years later, it’s a difficult time to be optimistic. I would say that we’re very optimistic people, in general, but being on—you know, continuing to talk to people on the ground in Egypt, going back, it is a very difficult time to be optimistic. But, as Karim said, it’s so important that we continue to be engaged, because in many movements of the past, civil rights movement and others, there have been such ups and downs, and terrible downs, and we just need to remember that if we keep engaged, keep telling these stories, that we will ultimately get to a better place.
— source democracynow.org
Jehane Noujaim, director of The Square, which documented the Egyptian revolution of 2011 from its roots in Tahrir Square. The Square won several awards and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2014.
Karim Amer, producer of The Square, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2014.