2006年VOA标准英语-Police Crush Cairo Protests

By Challiss McDonough
Cairo
11 May 2006

Egyptian riot police have broken up demonstrations¹ around a Cairo courthouse where two pro-reform judges were to face a disciplinary hearing following their allegations of fraud in last year's elections.  

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Egyptian riot policemen try to disperse² pro-reform protesters outside a courthouse in Cairo, Egypt Thursday, May 11, 2006  
  

Again and again demonstrators gathered in the streets and sidewalks of downtown Cairo, chanting slogans like "Freedom, Freedom, where are you?"  Again and again the police had the same response.

They rushed the protesters, dragging the leaders away, pushing others to the ground, kicking and beating them.  The protesters scattered³, regrouped, and the police charged them again and again.

Some of the officers wore uniforms and riot gear, others wore plain clothes but carried heavy batons⁴.  The demonstrators came from many groups, including the pro-reform movement known as Kifaya, several leftist political parties and the banned Muslim Brotherhood⁵. 

Human rights activist⁶ Hossam Bahgat is head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.  He saw police attack protesters to disrupt a television interview.

"The police then using excessive force dispersed⁷ this interview and arrested some of them," he said. "I saw some of them being carried into police trucks while their noses and mouths were bleeding."

Several people were injured when they fell to the ground as people fled the advancing officers.

An Egyptian policeman, center, kicks a pro-reform protester near a courthouse in Cairo, Egypt Thursday, May 11, 2006  
  
An American reporter, Hannah Allam of Knight⁸ Ridder newspapers, was surrounded by plainclothes security and manhandled as she attempted to take a picture of someone being beaten.

She said the police groped her and tried to tear off her blouse before colleagues heard her screams and intervened. 

A few meters away, an al-Jazeera cameraman was severely⁹ beaten, his videotape confiscated¹⁰.  Television crews from Reuters and CNN were also attacked and had their cameras smashed or taken.

A uniformed officer tried to smash the digital camera of a VOA reporter. 

Thousands of riot police sealed off the area around the courthouse where the judges' disciplinary hearing was to take place.  The fate of the judges is seen as a sign of the strength of democratic reforms and judicial¹¹ independence in Egypt.

Lawyer and women's rights activist Ragia Omran said police were not always differentiating¹² between protesters and innocent bystanders.

"We tried to get to the Syndicate, the Judges Syndicate," she explained. "All the streets leading are completely blocked.  I do not know what is happening.  It is crazy.  People, normal ordinary citizens are not able to go to their daily chores, do their things.  It is crazy.  They are just preventing everyone from just walking down the street now."

The chaos¹³ forced authorities to postpone¹⁴ the disciplinary hearing for a week.  One of the judges, Hisham El-Bastawisy, said police would not let a group of his fellow judges into the courthouse to support him, and he refused to enter himself after they were barred.  He said he will boycott¹⁵ the hearing until police release all of the detained protesters.

"They are beating the people in the street," El-Bastawisy says. "The women.  It is like a war in Cairo.  I will not go to that court until releasing everyone they catch.  I cannot go to a trial in this situation.  Thousands of policemen.  It is not a trial.  It is a war.  It is a real war.  War in the streets."

Bastawisy and another judge, Mahmoud Mekki, faced the disciplinary hearing and could lose their jobs because they went public with allegations of fraud during last year's parliamentary elections.  Egypt's judges were responsible for overseeing the poll.

The judiciary is seen as the only branch of Egypt's government with any independence from President Hosni Mubarak.

Police have cracked down on demonstrations in support of the judges, during the last several weeks. More than 100 people had been arrested prior to Thursday's demonstrations.   

1 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

2 disperse   

vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散

参考例句：

• The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
• The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。

3 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

4 batons   

n.（警察武器）警棍( baton的名词复数 )；（乐队指挥用的）指挥棒；接力棒

参考例句：

• There were many riot policemen with batons. 有许多带警棍的防暴警察。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Chinese police fight? Number one is a person with batons to fight! 满街飘的中国国旗，是一个老华侨在事发时那出来分给大家的，很感动，真的，从来一向多一事不如少一事的中国人今天团结到一起站出来反抗。 来自互联网

5 brotherhood   

n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊

参考例句：

• They broke up the brotherhood.他们断绝了兄弟关系。
• They live and work together in complete equality and brotherhood.他们完全平等和兄弟般地在一起生活和工作。

6 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

7 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。

8 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

9 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

10 confiscated   

没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Their land was confiscated after the war. 他们的土地在战后被没收。
• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。

11 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

12 differentiating   

[计] 微分的

参考例句：

• They succeed in differentiating the most commodity-like products. 在最通用的日用产品方面，它们也能独树一帜标新立异。
• The simplest and most effective method of differentiating areas is to use different colours. 区别面状要素最简单而又行之有效的办法，是使用不同的颜色。

13 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

14 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

15 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。