Mohamed El-Shahed/AFP/Getty Images. All rights reserved.Over the past few months, news of repression coming out of Egypt has witnessed a qualitative shift: it has been worsening.
First, there was the murder of the Italian PhD scholar, Giulio Regeni, who was conducting field research on independent trade unions in Egypt. His battered body was found dumped on the outskirts of Cairo, showing signs of “inhuman, animal like” violence. Even though there is no hard evidence, accusations have been pointing at the Egyptian police, who had supposedly apprehended Regeni shortly before his death.
This was followed by the murder of a tuk-tuk driver by an ameen shorta, a lower-ranking police official, over an argument about the fare in the lower-class area of Al Darb Al Ahmar. The driver was shot in the head then and there, which prompted the crowds to attack the ameen shorta and march in angry protest to surround the police station.
