Following the death of a man and the injury of another in a vendetta killing in the Upper Egyptian city of Qena, people in Qena fear that Egypt’s pro-democracy protests, centered mainly in Cairo and the Nile delta cities, will lead to a new spate of vendetta killings amid the weakened presence of security forces in the area.
The dispute started in the morning when some tribesmen of al-Mahrousa village kidnapped a man from the rival Fallaheen tribe, shaved off his mustache, beat him and left him naked.
Shortly afterwards, the family of the shaved man shot dead a member of the other family and badly injured another man.
Generally, moustaches are considered a sign of pride and masculinity in Upper Egypt.
According to eyewitnesses, police forces came to the village amid fears of escalating violence between the two tribes.
With a tribal structure and easy access to weapons, Upper Egypt is a common area for blood feuds, known locally as al-Tar.
In 1995, twenty four men lost their lives in a machine-gun massacre in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Minya. Seven years later, twenty-two members of a family in the Upper Egyptian city of Sohag were similarly killed in a vendetta killing.
Despite having contributed little to the ongoing protests against President Hosni Mubarak, the Upper Egyptian governorate of Qena witnessed violent clashes when prisoners escaped from the governorate’s main prison on 29 January.
Following unprecedented protests against Mubarak, the police withdrew from Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. Looting and lawlessness ensued as thousands escaped from prisons.
