Khaled Fahmy’s report on the February 2 thug brigade

I just noticed this piece now, though it’s from way back on February 4, which feels like a lifetime ago for those involved with Egypt.

Khaled Fahmy is the Chair of our Department of History, and spent much of the past three weeks in Tahrir itself. I had worried somewhat about him, given his recent public call “for a historian of the Mubarak regime.” He couched it as only mildly sarcastic: i.e., Mubarak has been in power for so long that he needs to be the subject of the History Department rather than Political Science. But there was an obvious second meaning to calling for a historian of the regime, and the newspapers seemed to realize this, given the extensive coverage they gave to Fahmy’s speech.

In any case, here is an opinion piece that includes an account of WHAT HE SAW in relation to the assembly of thugs on February 2.

I’ve already told you what I saw myself that day as I came in from the airport: a very large pro-Mubarak motorcade made up of excessively burly young males with a brutal attitude about them, checking their mobile phones for messages. I didn’t realize at the time who these people were, but they were soon to take part in one of the ugliest displays of street violence against a peaceful protest. If there is ever a trial or series of trials, I would love to know exactly who was behind this.