Cairo: Wearing black masks or handkerchiefs, hundreds of young Egyptians have kept a high profile in the country’s violent protests in the past two days.
Their distinctive shouts being “Glory Is for the Troublemaker”, Egypt’s Black Bloc, waving black flags, fought on Friday pitched battles with police in several areas of the country in protest against President Mohammad Mursi and his group, the Muslim Brotherhood.
In an online statement posted before they made their street debut in central Cairo on Thursday, the Black Bloc legions said they are not part of any political power nor do they receive finances from others.
They have unveiled a plan to create what they call “Brigades for the Revolution Protection”, a move that has raised worries among the country’s weary police and the ruling Brotherhood.
Some Black Bloc-styled youngsters on Friday blocked a road outside Mursi’s hometown in the Nile Delta town of Zaqazig with burning tyres, braving tear gas fired by the police.
Some local media claimed they were involved in torching some offices of the Brotherhood.
The state-run newspaper reported that apparently Black Bloc members used electric shock devices against suspected gropers in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday when thousands of Mursi’s opponents gathered to denounce his policy on the second anniversary of a revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak.
“We seek to free humans, undermine corruption and topple tyrants,” they said in a statement attributed to them.
However, Egypt’s Black Bloc confirm they are not aggressive and that their assault tactics are only unleashed to repulse attacks on anti-government protesters.
It is not clear if there are links between Egypt’s self-styled Black Bloc and similar groups in Europe.
