Ahli's football victory could not overturn the fury over the continuing downtown sexual harassment story, writes Jailan Halawi Demonstrations, celebrations and anger marked the press coverage this week. The demonstrations had broken out in protest against a sudden government decision to add garbage collection fees to the electricity bill. Other demonstrations included women taking to the streets asserting their right to co- exist with men without fear of harassment. The protest was staged to denounce the downtown incidents of three weeks ago when several females were reportedly harassed in what appeared to be a coordinated attack. The alleged harassment remained a hot topic. In the independent Al-Fagr newspaper Nabil Omar wrote: "The Talaat incident reflects phenomenal immorality in a community that seems to have lost its understanding of the meaning of work and the role of women and their status. And, since the majority of the community's youth are unemployed, it seems their suppressed energies sometimes burst into committing abnormal actions. [But] has the state considered ways of utilising these energies?" Other newspapers carried news of MPs urging the passing of a law tightening the punishment of sexual harassment cases. In Sawt Al-Umma, Wael El-Ebrashi wrote in response to a Ministry of Interior statement that the incident was sparked by belly dancer Dina's performance in the street at the opening of her Eid movie. "Pointing fingers at Dina is a continuation of the regime's policies in finding a scapegoat for their failure," wrote El-Ebrashi, further urging the government to stop burying its head in the sand and embark on a plan to effectively deal with unemployment, frustration, corruption and tyranny. Not all the news was bad. The victory of Ahli's soccer team over Tunisian CS Sfaxien for the African Champions League injected an air of euphoria among Egyptians and in the press. Most of the week's sports pages were dominated by the colour red, the team's colour, carrying articles of praise and gratitude since the club's victory helped to make up for the nation's many frustrations and failures. "This might be one of the most difficult titles in the 100-year-old history of Ahli," wrote sports critic Hassan El-Mistikawi in the daily Al-Ahram. The daily independent Al-Masry Al-Yom dedicated more than four pages of Monday's edition to the victory. "The African cup for Ahli and glory for Egypt" read one headline. Many newspapers dedicated their pages to the Red Devils in what seemed to make up for earlier stories that suggested the team might not win the title. In Al-Ahrar newspaper, headlines read, "The players commitment and focus on the game was behind their historic victory". In the daily independent Nahdet Masr, the headline said: "The red hurricane squashed Sfaxien." Ahli will now play at next month's World Championship for Clubs in Japan. For the first time since 1977 demonstrations have broken out in the streets in protest at a government decision to raise the price of some basic commodities. A group of political activists staged a demonstration that for the first time was not politically motivated, denouncing the government's decision to add the fees of garbage collection to that of the electricity bill. The news was in the daily independent Nahdet Masr 's front page. The United States' vetoing of a UN Security Council draft resolution that sought to condemn the Israeli military offensive in Gaza and demand Israeli troops withdraw following the Beit Hanoun massacre was strongly denounced on many opinion pages. Under the headline, "Those present and absent", Fahmy Howeidy wrote in Al - Ahram : "Noteworthy is the shocking and bewildering silence of the international community. Even worse is the stance of Arab nations whose reaction did not exceed the issuing of statements of denunciation." Farida El-Shoubashi in Al-Arabi, the mouthpiece of the opposition Nasserist Party, wrote "Death by technical error", criticising the recent statements by Ehud Olmert regarding the Beit Hanoun massacre and that of George Bush regarding casualties in Iraq. "When the Israeli prime minister expresses his apologies for the killing of dozens of Palestinian toddlers due to 'a technical error', and a US military commander in Iraq expresses similar apologies for his soldiers' massacre of innocent civilians while under the influence of alcohol... I find it difficult to understand how they [US and Israel] expect us to dry our tears [over our martyrs] and continue believing peace to be the only strategic choice in the Middle East crisis. How could they imagine that a technical error or being drunk justifies our blood?" The scare of avian flu returned, with the minister of health continuing his campaign by urging citizens to raise their level of awareness. In the pro-government press, the policy seemed to be towards allaying citizens' fears by reporting that the disease is under control while urging them to follow safety instructions when handling birds. The independent and opposition press did not give much coverage to bird flu, announcing in some publications the spotting of a new site of the virus in Luxor. No human infection in Luxor was reported. Of note was an interview published in Al-Masry Al-Yom on Wednesday with the renowned TV producer Hamdi Qandil, who once hosted a critical daily TV programme, "Editor-in-chief", on domestic and international events by reviewing the press. Viewed as too liberal, the show was abruptly taken off the air, raising a plethora of questions. "The regime describes the Muslim Brotherhood [group] as banned while the people view the NDP as banned," said Qandil. "We live in a police state where [the security apparatus] is the president... I am very impressed with Hizbullah and Hassan Nasrallah [its leader] is the only charismatic person in the Arab world."
