Hand
04-05-2011, 10:44
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42427900/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/
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In many ways, this country of more than 80 million has become a free-for-all for criminals taking advantage of a weakened police force and political uncertainty. The spike in crime has made some nostalgic for Mubarak days, when the mostly corrupt and now discredited police force used torture, intimidation and blackmail to keep crime in check.
..The uptick in crime is part of a broader climate of anxiety and uncertainty gripping Egypt in the post-Mubarak era.
The youth groups behind the uprising fear that the generals who took charge from Mubarak are reluctant to dismantle the former president's legacy. They are frustrated over their lack of action five months ahead of a parliamentary election.
The economy has been hard hit by the uprising. Strikes, demonstrations and sit-ins for better pay and work conditions are hurting productivity and, together with the precarious security, are scaring foreign tourists away. The removal of Mubarak has also allowed militant Islamist groups to operate openly, feeding tensions with the country's Christian minority and moderate Muslims.
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Armed neighborhood watch
In the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, children are escorted to school by armed neighborhood watch volunteers to fend off kidnappers.
In Sohag, an impoverished Nile-side city south of Cairo, gunmen have recently taken to robbing pedestrians at the downtown area in broad daylight, according to residents and security officials.
Officials said a total of 2,000 cases of illegal construction were recorded in the past two months in Sohag province, with farmland owners taking advantage of the security vacuum to hurriedly build apartment blocs they sell at significantly more profit than growing crops.
On Monday, several thousand protesters angered by the police's perceived indifference to a gunbattle between two feuding Sohag families blocked the main railway track to Cairo for nearly two hours, causing delays to trains linking the capital to southern Egypt.
Further north in Assiut, a brawl between two schoolboys last week turned into a deadly feud when gunmen from al-Quseir, the village of one of the boys, randomly opened fire on residents of Fazarah, the village of the other boy.
Fazarah gunmen later laid siege to the school, trapping 25 al-Quseir boys inside. Armored army vehicles went into the school to escort the boys out past the armed men and back to their home villages.
Al-Quseir villagers frustrated with the police's inability to maintain order have laid siege to their local police station since Wednesday to force all security personnel to leave the village.
...
In many ways, this country of more than 80 million has become a free-for-all for criminals taking advantage of a weakened police force and political uncertainty. The spike in crime has made some nostalgic for Mubarak days, when the mostly corrupt and now discredited police force used torture, intimidation and blackmail to keep crime in check.
..The uptick in crime is part of a broader climate of anxiety and uncertainty gripping Egypt in the post-Mubarak era.
The youth groups behind the uprising fear that the generals who took charge from Mubarak are reluctant to dismantle the former president's legacy. They are frustrated over their lack of action five months ahead of a parliamentary election.
The economy has been hard hit by the uprising. Strikes, demonstrations and sit-ins for better pay and work conditions are hurting productivity and, together with the precarious security, are scaring foreign tourists away. The removal of Mubarak has also allowed militant Islamist groups to operate openly, feeding tensions with the country's Christian minority and moderate Muslims.
...
Armed neighborhood watch
In the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, children are escorted to school by armed neighborhood watch volunteers to fend off kidnappers.
In Sohag, an impoverished Nile-side city south of Cairo, gunmen have recently taken to robbing pedestrians at the downtown area in broad daylight, according to residents and security officials.
Officials said a total of 2,000 cases of illegal construction were recorded in the past two months in Sohag province, with farmland owners taking advantage of the security vacuum to hurriedly build apartment blocs they sell at significantly more profit than growing crops.
On Monday, several thousand protesters angered by the police's perceived indifference to a gunbattle between two feuding Sohag families blocked the main railway track to Cairo for nearly two hours, causing delays to trains linking the capital to southern Egypt.
Further north in Assiut, a brawl between two schoolboys last week turned into a deadly feud when gunmen from al-Quseir, the village of one of the boys, randomly opened fire on residents of Fazarah, the village of the other boy.
Fazarah gunmen later laid siege to the school, trapping 25 al-Quseir boys inside. Armored army vehicles went into the school to escort the boys out past the armed men and back to their home villages.
Al-Quseir villagers frustrated with the police's inability to maintain order have laid siege to their local police station since Wednesday to force all security personnel to leave the village.