Who Is This Black Bloc In Egypt?

By C. J. Refsland on February 6, 2013 • ( 0 )

Black Bloc: Egypt’s Opposition Gets More Radical

Photo Gallery: Egypt's Masked Opposition

Marwa Nasser/ DER SPIEGEL

Protests against Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood are becoming increasingly violent. One factor behind this is the founding of the “Black Bloc,” a loosely organized group of activists that is not afraid to clash with the government.

They’s suspicious — five young Egyptians in hooded sweatshirts with their faces hidden, arms crossed and bodies in a defensive stance. “The media represents us as thugs,” says one. “They say we’re killing policemen and setting the country on fire, but we are just defending ourselves. The real aggressor is sitting in the presidential palace.”

As Wednesday night turns to Thursday morning, fighting rages in the streets adjacent to Tahrir Square in Cairo — just as has happened daily for the past week. Security forces and government opponents watch each other furtively, then the first stones are thrown and tear gas canisters fired.

Violence is increasing in the capital, but also in Alexandria, and everywhere else President Mohammed Morsi declared a state of emergency on Sunday of last week: Ismailia, Suez and Port Said. since Jan. 24, and hundreds have been injured. The protests against Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood have become more radical, and that due in part to a new phenomenon here: the Black Bloc.

The five young men are members of the movement. They know their emergence has fueled speculation, and that the government sees them as terrorists and enemies of the state. Supporters of the deposed regime of Hosni Mubarak have reportedly mixed in with the masked men, government officials claim. Others accuse the government itself of being behind the Black Bloc, using it as a tool to discredit the opposition. But many demonstrators say the organization is simply an answer to the violence exercised by the Muslim Brotherhood and its thugs.

Unified Hate for the Goverment

On Jan. 25, the second anniversary of the Egyptian revolution, the Black Bloc announced its formation on the Internet. A YouTube video showed images of militant-looking youths in Cairo throwing Molotov cocktails. Many of them wear the grinning Guy Fawkes masks that have become the trademark of the hacker group Anonymous.