Mobs protesting the rule of Mohammed Morsi have sexually assaulted nearly 100 women and raped at least 91 in the last four days of protests, Human Rights Watch reported.
Forty-six attacks took place on Sunday, 17 on Monday and 43 on Tuesday, according to figures attributed to the Egyptian Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment/Assault, which operates a hotline for victims of sexual assault. The Nazra for Feminist Studies women’s rights group reported that there were five similar attacks on Friday.
“The government response has been to downplay the extent of the problem or to seek to address it through legislative reform alone” Al Jazeera reported”
Several women required surgery after the attacks and some were beaten with metal chains and were stabbed.
Al Jazeera noted, “Sexual harassment has long been common in Egypt, but its increasing occurrence and ferocity has shaken the protest movement. A large number of women had fallen victim to gang assaults too in the square – the epicenter of 2011 revolution.”
An American television journalist was brutally gang raped in the protests against Hosni Mubarak two years ago.
