Amr Nabil/AP/Press Association. All rights reserved.A few weeks ago, while I was watching a contemporary dance performance in a government building in downtown Cairo – part of a local independent arts festival – three policemen entered the premises. Their ranks ranged from brigadier general to major general, some of them clad in civilian clothes, others in police uniforms ornamented with stars, eagles and swords. I won’t lie to you: I was nauseated and furious. I felt stressed. Seeing police in this country is never a happy moment. Which brings me to the issue of murdered policemen, for whom I do not feel any real sympathy. That’s how I feel – call me extreme or fanatically prejudiced against the policemen who sacrifice their lives for their country; it does not change a thing.
It is a matter of emotion rather than reason. The image of a policeman has been conditioned in my mind. It is linked to oppression and injustice against any vulnerable person who cannot obtain their rights unless they have strong support. In my mind, the police are the killers of Khaled Said, Sayed Bilal and Emad Effat. In my mind, the police are those responsible for forcible disappearances, political detention, rape in police stations, and the unjust abuses of power that reflect inferiority complexes among policemen of all ranks.
I am not able to see the police officer who slapped this man or kicked that woman as an “isolated incident”. Why do we consider the bad examples as ‘isolated’, rather than the good examples? How can a man be given the power to manipulate the fates of other people and destroy their lives with the stroke of a pen and without hesitation, then ask for that to be considered an isolated incident?
