A Port Said man alleged security forces dragged him through
the street Wednesday and beat him as unrest continued in the coastal
city for the eleventh consecutive day.
The allegations are similar to accounts and video footage
of protester Hamada al-Masry being dragged and repeatedly beaten by
Central Security Forces on 1 February amid demonstrations at the
presidential palace in Heliopolis, Cairo.
The Port Said citizen, Alaa Mostafa Mohamed, said he was
headed with two colleagues to a sandwich shop near Shohada Square when
an officer in a passing police car made "inappropriate signals" and
exchanged insults with the men.
"I was surprised by a police officer and six of his
soldiers grabbing me by my clothes. They dragged me [on ground] then
they carried me to the car," he said.
"They sprayed [something] on my eyes so that I could not see them, then beat me severely."
The alleged incident comes amid an anti-government civil disobedience campaign in the city.
Demonstrators attempted to break through Armed Forces'
cordons around the local notary office Wednesday before soldiers calmed
them down.
The notary closed in the morning after dozens of protesters
led by Ali "Spicy", a leader of the local Masry Ultras football fan
club, were denied a request to notarize petitions for Defense Minister
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to take over the government from President Mohamed
Morsy. Notary employees reportedly said they would have to consult the
minister of justice before authorizing the petitions.
Unhappy with the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsy's performance, some protest groups in several cities have recently called for the military to seize power
