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The Egyptian Government Asks the U.S. to “Show Restraint in Ferguson” and Twitter Users Respond With This Brilliant Hashtag

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Egypt, U.S.A., Citizen Media, Human Rights, Humor, Politics, Protest

Egyptian and non-Egyptian Twitter users are giving tips to U.S. police on how to deal with the ongoing unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.

The sarcastic hashtag #EgyPoliceTipsToUS [1] was launched on Twitter in reaction to a statement [2] by the Egyptian government urging U.S. authorities “to show restraint” in Ferguson, where local police in military-grade riot grade and protesters have been facing off for 11 days, after an officer killed an unarmed black teenager [3]. The police in Ferguson are predominantly white and have been strong-arming journalists on the scene, using tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters. 

According to Twitter users, Egypt should be the last country to provide such advice to the U.S., given its track record in handing its own unrest, from the start of the Egyptian revolution [4] on January 25, 2011. The hashtag brought up some the atrocities committed by Egyptians authorities against protestors since, including one of the bloodiest days in modern protest history, when more than 800 protesters were killed in Rabaa [5]on August 14, 2013. 

MENA research associate at the Committee to Protect Journalists Jason Stern tweeted at his followers:

He shared the following tips with videos showing Egyptian police brutality and tactics:

Other Twitter users followed with their own tips.

User @befroggled, with 760 followers on Twitter, referred to the forced virginity tests [15] conducted by the Egyptian military on female protesters in Tahrir Square in 2011.

She also hinted at the authorities’ use of counter-terrorism as a pretext to crackdown on protesters:

Bilal Zrebel tells his 5,200 followers:

And in reference to the Rabaa massacre [5], in which Egyptian government forces killed more than 800 protestors in one day a year ago, burning some of them to death, he writes:

OthmaNation, with 1,500 followers, mentioned the beating of the ‘blu bra protester’ [22] by members of the Egyptian army during an anti-military protest in December 2011.

And lawyer Sherif Saaadni shared this advice with his 3,902 followers: