In their latest video, “Why Riot†the activists of Cairo’s Mosireen film collective argue that violent resistance to an unreformed police force is not only justified, but necessary. They write, by way of introduction to the film: “Two years after the start of the January 25 revolution we still riot because the ruling elite still exploit us, because the police still torture, maim and kill us and none of them are brought to justice.â€
As The Lede reported in 2011, one well-known Egyptian activist and blogger, Alaa Abd El Fattah, said in the aftermath of the revolution that the most important technology deployed in defense of the Tahrir Square sit-in that year was “rocks â€" rocks and clubs.â€
In a series of Twitter updates that summer, as protesters in Spain were beaten by the police and clashes continued in Egypt, Mr. Fattah argued that a willingness to fight back against the abusive police force that drove Egyptians to revolt in the first place was an essential component of the protest movement.
