Egyptian soldiers and police stormed pro-democracy offices on Dec. 29, 2011, targeting groups critical of the military rulers while reinforcing activists’ charges that the military’s harsh tactics are no different from those of the deposed regime of Hosni Mubarak. Among the offices ransacked by police were well known US-based organisations like the International Republican Institute, which is observing Egypt’s ongoing parliamentary election process. IRI issued a statement denouncing the raid, as did reformers and rights groups.
The raids on 10 non-governmental organisations were part of an investigation into foreign funding of rights groups, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said. Egypt charges that foreign plots are behind the ongoing protests. The crackdown was sure to inflame almost constant protests in downtown Cairo, demanding that the ruling military that took over after Mubarak in February hand over power to a civilian authority after more than 60 years in power. A leading Egyptian reformist Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel peace laureate, denounced the raids. The raids and the acquittal of the police were certain to usher in a new low in relations between the ruling generals who took over from Mubarak and rights groups and activists who engineered the uprising that ousted him. Three US-based organisations — IRI, the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House, were among those searched.