Police arrest unemployed postgraduates protesting near Tahrir Square

Police forcefully dispersed a protest by hundreds of unemployed postgraduates on Sunday afternoon as they approached Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, making several arrests.

For several months, unemployed Masters and PhD holders have been demanding jobs in the public sector, holding occasional protests outside the Cabinet building and meeting with government officials to present their demands.

Lawyers from the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) reported that as many as 30, possibly more, were arrested shortly after the protest was disbursed.

Police forces reportedly fired teargas canisters at protesters as they approached Tahrir Square on their way to the Cabinet headquarters, according to local media sources.

AFTE lawyer Hassan al-Azhari told Mada Masr that all those arrested were taken to Qasr al-Nil Police Station near downtown Cairo, but that their names were not made public.

“It is not yet known what will happen to these arrested protesters — whether they will be referred to prosecution, or released,” he said.

Under the controversial protest law, people involved in unauthorized street protests may be imprisoned for up to five years, and/or fined between LE50,000 and 100,000.

One of the protesters, Mohamed Saber, told Mada Masr they gathered by the Cabinet headquarters at around 10 am, with many protesters holding up posters of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Saber, a PhD graduate from Alexandria, claimed several hundreds of protesters were involved in the demonstration.

"We were attacked at the end of our protest, at around 4 pm,” Saber said. “We were heading home via Tahrir Square, when the police closed the steel gates on Qasr al-Aini Street, locking us in. They should've just let us go home."

“At this point we started chanting, ‘Oh officers, we are not terrorists, we are doctors’," he recounted, adding, “There were so many troops deployed from the Central Security Forces, it looked as if they were deployed to liberate Palestine.”

Contrary to media reports, Saber said, “no teargas was used, although the police was clearly equipped with it.” Saber himself was clubbed in the face, bruising his eye, and he said police were excessively brutal with their batons, including female police officers with female protesters.

Under the protest law, the use of batons, water cannons, tear-gas, sound grenades, rubber pellets, and live shotgun cartridges is permitted against unarmed protesters who lack an official permit to demonstrate. 

Saber confirmed that one of the organizers of the protest, Mahmoud Abu Zeid, was arrested, along with around 25 others, who he said are being held at Abdeen Police Station. This was also reported by several other news outlets.

Hundreds of police personnel remained in and around Tahrir Square after the dispersal, including Central Security Forces in full body armor and masked police units carrying machine guns, as well as armored personnel carriers, blue jeeps, prisoner transport trucks, and numerous generals overseeing the crackdown.

The Sada al-Balad news portal posted a video of police forces arresting several protesters, showing them chanting, “One. Two. Where have our jobs gone to?”

Azhari said the march was dispersed in just 10-15 minutes. “They first issued warnings to disperse, then moved-in to arrest the participants,” he added.

Since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi by the military on July 3, 2013, for the most part, the only demonstrations that have taken place in Tahrir Square have been celebrations or commemorative events by pro-government groups.

On August 12 this year, police arrested six post-graduate protesters outside the Cabinet headquarters, but released them the following day.