Video of Egyptian military police officers holding and beating a man on the Cairo subway has spread rapidly on Facebook and Twitter, prompting memories of the country's repressive past.
According to eyewitnesses, the incident began when a young man left his fiancé to wait for him at the Dar El-Salam train station's underground platform. When he returned, he reportedly found a group of men harassing her.
The police conscript — the term for Egypt's police officers within the military — posted in the station did nothing when the unidentified young man complained, leading the young man to shout at the posted officer. Things took a turn when the officer's cohorts appeared on the scene and began beating the young man.
When the conscripts' ranking officer showed up to ask what was happening, the young man reportedly told his version of the story and added that he wanted to report the soldiers. The higher-ranking officer allegedly refused to file any report.