The Role Of Vigilantes In Egypt

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Can we take law in our hands? This is what vigilantes do. They are normal people who don't have any authority or right to enforce any legislation. They try to protect other people around them by enforcing the rules that are not followed. However, vigilantes might end up causing more harm than good. Recently, many vigilante groups appeared due to lack of law that is a result of the unstable political situation Egypt has been going through. In the last three years Egypt has been suffering from many issues like traffic problems , thugs everywhere and a remarkable increase in the number of harassed women. In Eid El Adha ; an Islamic celebration ; many people took advantage of the crowd to harass girls and the police didn't take any action and that's …show more content…

They also argue that this is the job of the policemen and that the policemen are the people who have the authority to do this. I strongly agree that when a woman is harassed she should go directly without thinking to the police office and file a complain, but what if the policeman refused to file any complaint. What if the policemen aren't as helpful as they are expected to be? How should the women suppose to act? Who is going to protect her? Unfortunately , policemen in Egypt refuse to file or document any complaint against the harassers(). Further more, the policemen may put the blame on the woman and claim that they can't help her. In a situation like this someone have to act to protect egyptian women. Someone have to step out to put limits to these harassers and show them that there are consequences for harassing a woman. As long as the policemen are not willing to help even by reporting a complaint file, Egypt will be desperately in need to campaigns like …show more content…

Imagine going to the police office to file a complaint against a harasser and then you find the policeman there harassing you. What makes the situation worse is that other policemen just stand there laughing or checking the woman out instead of acting and protecting her. If the person who is have authority to protect Egyptian women from being harassed is joining in the crime,who will look after these victims. where should they go to complaint ? Women are afraid to go to the police office so they don’t harassed there. A Cairo-based psychologist called Salima Barakat believes that the psychological drawback of being harassed from a person that have the authority to protect the victim from being harassed is far more than the psychological effect of being harassed by normal people in the street. Salima Barakat argues that this drawback is a result of knowing that the policeman will not be punished. Vigilante groups like “Estargel” appeared in egypt to show regular men and policemen that harassing a woman verbally or physically is not okay and to show them that there are people out there that will look after egyptian

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