-[SPEAKING ARABIC]
SUROOSH ALVI: Can you explain a little bit
about what you do?
TAREK NOJARA: We are Tahrir bodyguards.
We are, you can say, a movement for now, a movement
trying the best we can to stop the sexual harassments in the
Egyptian streets.
SUROOSH ALVI: We were filming from the rooftop and we saw
all the female protesters, and there was a circle around them
of the men in the orange vests.
TAREK NOJARA: Yes.
Orange and green.
SUROOSH ALVI: Is that the Tahrir bodyguards?
TAREK NOJARA: It was definitely
the bodyguards, yes.
SUROOSH ALVI: This sexual harassment started.
Were you surprised, as you started this group as a
reaction to that?
TAREK NOJARA: Sexual harassment was one of the
biggest problems that was really bothering us when we
see it, because you cannot stand to see one girl standing
between sometimes they reach 100, trying to harass her or
kidnap her or rape her.
That's mob harassment, and it was a big shock, not surprise.
We were shocked.
SUROOSH ALVI: Shocked, right?
TAREK NOJARA: Yeah, it was a shock.
SUROOSH ALVI: And have you guys been attacked when
you're doing it?
TAREK NOJARA: It always happens.
SUROOSH ALVI: Always.
TAREK NOJARA: But most of the time, the people who are
harassing the woman, when they see guys with vests and
helmets, they get scared at me.
-[SPEAKING ARABIC]
SALMA SAID: What we are facing now, which is also not a new
thing, is what we think is organized state-provoked
sexual assault against female protesters.
We don't use the word "harassment" because it's more
than harassment, like finger-raping and sometimes
using knives against women's body parts.
I can't think that this is spontaneous.
I really hope it's not.
I mean, the Shura Council today was discussing this
problem and they said that the state has no responsibility
over women who choose to participate in such protests
with thugs, and they have to protect themselves.
And also, over the two years, if any governmental official
want to bad-mouth Tahrir, they would come on television and
say that the women that come to Tahrir or go to the
protests are prostitutes and that the tents in Tahrir are
places for illegal sex and stuff like this, inciting
people to come to the square thinking that all the women in
the square are ready to be harassed
and ready to be assaulted.
This in itself is an evidence that the state wants Tahrir to
become a place that isn't safe for women, that isn't safe for
families; that they are trying to make the square a place
full of crimes, to make people not want to come to the
square, to make women not want to come to the square, to
leave just a small group of men that
only fight the police.
And this is what the square is going to be.
They want to break the main thing that made Tahrir strong
during the beginning of the revolution, which was that all
sorts of people from all different classes, all women,
children, felt safe to come here.
SUROOSH ALVI: Could you speak on a larger level about
women's rights in Egypt?
Do you feel like the revolution, right now, is this
something that you're fighting for, in terms of making sure
that nobody's taking a backwards step,
at least for women?
SALMA SAID: As the fight is growing, the position of women
in the society is being challenged, of course.
And because we have the Muslim Brotherhood in power, they are
all constantly challenging women, talking about female
circumcision, talking about marrying
younger, underage girls.
And I know that these women who protested for days and
months and helped to bring down Mubarak will not be
silent for their own rights.
I have a lot of faith in the women of the revolution and
the women of Egypt.
I think it's, of course, a
challenge, but I'm not terrified.
The majority of the people that volunteer in the
operation against sexual assault are women, because
they want to come down to the square and fight these
harassers themselves.
So I'm very impressed.
I have a lot of faith, really, in the women of this country.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[SINGING IN ARABIC]
-[SPEAKING ARABIC]