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Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Egyptian play satirizing Islamists forced to move after threats

It would be bigger news if this hadn't happened:
Chairman of the Cultural Palaces Authority, Saad Abdel Rahman, said that the authority did not ban the play ‘Diwan Al-Baqar’ (Salon of the Cows) by Mohamed Aboulela El-Salamooni, as was reported in the media, but rather decided to "relocate the show, to avoid problems."

The play, which was scheduled to run for seven nights at the Hurghada Cultural Palace, reportedly satirises Islamists and pokes fun at the wardrobe and beards of members of the trend.

Abdel Rahman said that following two nights of the show, it was brought to the attention of Islamist figures that the play was critical of them, "which led them to threaten to stop the show and destroy the theatre."

"In response, the play's troupe called for help from members of the 6 April Youth Movement and the anonymous Black Bloc, which was when we decided to move the show to a different location, to avoid violence," said Abdel Rahman.

Abdel Rahman admits that the director of the Red Sea Cultural Centre called him to deliberate over the situation, and together they decided to relocate the show.
sounds exactly like how Scotland's "pro-Palestinian" crowd acts, doesn't it?

Notice who the people behind the play didn't call for protection - the Egyptian police. That says a lot about how much people trust Egyptian security authorities to protect their remaining freedoms.