Heads of Egypt’s Journalists’ Syndicate flexed their muscles in response to the “storming of its headquarters” by the police in order to arrest two journalists accused of inciting the overthrow of the government, colluding with an anti-government organisation, publishing false news and being in possession of firearms and Molotov cocktails.
Several thousand ‘journalists’ protested outside the syndicate chanting offensive slogans against the government and the police on May 1. The board demanded the resignation of the Interior Minister, a presidential apology, de facto immunity from arrest and, ironically, a gag on television networks critical of their actions. Then just as they were poised to turn up the heat with a strike, their assertions began badly unravelling.
First, only one of the arrested men had press credentials. Secondly, the board’s claims that 40 to 50 policemen entered the building after breaking down the door when they proceeded to raid the premises, and assaulting two of the guards, including damaging the eye of one, have been refuted by the security guards on duty. The door was not broken down as the syndicate alleges. It was opened. No glass was broken. No rooms were searched. Less than eight policemen calmly arrested the two fugitives. It was all over in three to five minutes. The security guards, who’ve now been fired for telling the truth, say they were not assaulted and blame syndicate heads for leaning on them to sign “urgently required” statements, which turned out to be false. Videos widely disseminated on social media, show television reporters from the Muslim Brotherhood channel Al Sharq airing live from inside the syndicate’s HQ.
Secondly, the instigators didn’t bargain on the public’s reaction. Citizens have launched counter-demonstrations and have been furiously calling television chat shows to air their disgust. There are reports of journalists being asked to leave restaurants and minibuses. On Friday, the syndicate instructed newspapers to publish Saturday’s editions with blacked-out front pages. Not a single daily was compliant, even those who had earlier adhered to its demands to publish insulting photographs of the Interior Minister in negative. The tables were beginning to turn. My astute Egyptian friend Ines Hanna sums up the majority view. “My sense is that a lot of journalists are shocked by the popular backlash,” she says. “It’s been building for a long time, and this latest stunt has broken the dam.”
Those that were initially spearing the anti-government charge began speedily back-tracking. One journalist caller described the syndicate’s actions as ‘suicide’ and he may be right. Newspaper vendors on Alexandria’s Sidi Gabr train station bemoan a dramatic fall in sales.Al Ahram’s editor-in-chief Mohammad Abdul Hady invited dozens of journalists to attend a meeting on Sunday. Most were critical of the syndicate’s actions and agreed that politics has no place in journalism.
According to Al Ahram, a movement was established by a number of journalists and board member Hatem Zakaria calling itself “Correcting the Path”. It aims to persuade journalists to support “an emergency general assembly to withdraw confidence from the board and hold new elections for all the board’s seats”. Zakaria announced that he and four other board members were “considering resignation over the syndicate’s handling of the dispute …”
Yesterday, the day after eight Egyptian policemen were tragically gunned down in Cairo’s Helwan district, the row between the syndicate and the Interior Ministry was discussed in parliament. The majority of lawmakers attacked the syndicate demanding an apology. “Nobody should put himself above the law… including the Journalists’ Syndicate,” said the Speaker. Prominent journalist and Member of Parliament Mustafa Bakri accused the syndicate of becoming a sanctuary for revolutionary socialists, the banned April 6 Movement and Brotherhood remnants. Others slammed journalists for referring to the police as “thugs” when they put their lives on the line daily and up to 1,000 have paid the ultimate price in recent years.
Throughout this debacle Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi and the Interior Minister have maintained silence, wisely standing aside while syndicate chiefs hung themselves with their own noose. Unfortunately, journalists legitimately seeking greater press freedoms will no doubt pay a price for the board’s folly when parliament drafts a much needed press law in the coming weeks. They’ve been duped by people elected to represent their interests and their jobs have just got that much harder. They deserve an apology too.
Linda S. Heard is an award-winning British political columnist and guest television commentator with a focus on the Middle East.
