A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Friday, February 12, 2016

Egypt's Doctors' Revolt

In what appears to be the largest demonstration since 2013, some 10,000 Egyptian doctors demonstrated outside the Doctors' Syndicate headquarters, demanding action against police accused of attacking two doctors, a nurse, and an administrator inside a hospital in Matariyya.

The growing concern about  police abuses in Egypt in the wake of the death of Italian graduate student Giulio Regeni seems to be deepening. Now police abuses have produced a major outpouring of protest, in direct challenge to the virtual ban on demonstrations, not by students or Islamists but by the professional syndicate of one of the most respected professions in Egypt. And the threat of a doctors' strike, especially if carried out, could spread the protests to a broader population.

Others may disagree, but I think this could prove to be the beginning of a new wave of protests as the sense that the police are abusing power begins to spread..

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