Residents across the nation organized themselves into neighborhood patrols to protect their areas from ongoing looting.
Al-Masry Al-Youm reporter Ali Abdelmohsen is out patrolling in his Nasr City neighborhood. “We heard gunshots and saw looters from outside our neighborhood running around. There have also been a lot of rumors of escaped convicts making their way towards us. We had to do something,” he said.
President Mubarak ominously called on people to “protect themselves.” His call was reinforced by the reality on the ground, for police have been markedly absent throughout the capital. As bands of thugs and looters terrorized various parts of the city, people were left with no choice but to take heed of Mubarak’s call.
As bands of thugs and looters terrorized various parts of the city, people were left with no choice but to take heed of Mubarak’s call.
In many areas, locals organized neighborhood patrols to cope with the dangers posed by thugs who seemed to directly descend on their areas. Many of those thugs identified by residents are reportedly policemen with IDs of the Ministry of Interior. Residents of Maadi–and most other neighborhoods–claim that many of those caught were prisoners released by police on orders to raise hell in the city. Al-Masry Al-Youm previously reported on thugs confessing to being released on such orders upon being apprehended by civilians.
Men in these areas banded together to protect their homes, forming shifts, setting barricades, organizing weapons, and agreeing on alarm systems to put each other on alert in the case of a breach by suspicious “outsiders.”
“I was very impressed by how quickly people organized in the absence of any law enforcement,” Mohamed Rahmy, a resident of Maadi, said. The patrols in his area were organized street-to-street, where residents formed road blocks and kept watch all night. The southern Cairo neighborhood is flanked by Tora prison, from which many prisoners escaped last night.
As in many areas–such as Manial, Heliopolis, and Nasr City–patrolmen in Maadi identified each other by color-coded armbands.
The relatively wealthy gated community of Rehab was targeted by masked looters driving Toyota trucks. The community’s isolation coupled with the absence of security worried residents, who heard of thugs running loose in New Cairo on Saturday afternoon. They immediately formed watch groups at every entrance of the community. “We were armed with anything we could find. At first, everyone decided to go outside spontaneously in response, but we then decided to get organized and formed a network,” said Karim al-Dib.
Military tanks arrived late in the night to protect the gated communities. Not every neighborhood was so lucky. Khaled al-Wakil, a resident of Heliopolis, said “We’ve been out here since 4pm (Friday). The military passed by at some point in the night. They told us to bring them anyone we catch, gave us some encouraging words, and went on their way. The military said they didn’t have enough people.”
Residents at Mohandessin formed similar patrols and were aided by the use of megaphones from the neighborhood mosques. “I could hear words of encouragement organization and warning from the mosque nearby. They’d let everyone know where a looter was caught and if they were meeting to organize something that had to do with out neighborhood patrol,” Mohandessin resident Heba al-Beleidy said.
In Rehab, mosques were encouraging men to stay up all night to protect their areas. They said that Rehab has over 150,000 people, all of who can do something to help. Everyone was encouraged to help protect, Muslim and Christian, residents said.
A mainstay of some of the more popular areas of Cairo–such as Old Cairo–is the naturally tight-knit nature of their communities. These areas did not see so much organization as they already have embedded leadership structures within the community. “We’re all just out of our houses now protecting our families and each other,” scrap metal dealer Khaled Barouma said. “We went out to protect places like hospitals, because we don’t want anyone to mess up such places.”
In Hadayek Helwan, residents formed for security in the same way. “It was safe here most of the night, but everyone wanted to protect their houses and that’s why everyone is out,” said Saad, a resident.
Thugs have been caught in various parts of the city, many of whom were turned over to the military. “Anyone who gets caught is usually beaten by the neighborhood patrols first,” Abdelmohsen said.
In Alexandria as well, neighborhood patrols are coordinating with the military to catch thugs, many of whom have firearms. Residents of Sidi Bishr surrounded a truck with four detectives menacing residents with machine guns. The locals reportedly killed one detective, while the military apprehended the other three.
“I saw some of those captured taken immediately to military postings, as they requested. Others were tied to lampposts and of course, beaten senseless,” al-Beleidy said.
The ability of these patrols to apprehend and secure their streets is encouraging groups to continue their work, while police remain missing in action.
Fear of growing numbers of armed thugs has driven many groups to arm themselves in the same way, however. Warning shots have been fired from neighborhood patrols to scare away prospective looters. “Outsiders who come through our area are stopped and questioned at almost every street,” Rahmy said. “Here it’s a group effort–we were up all night and will continue as long as lawlessness does.”
Additional reporting by Ahmed Zaki Osman
