Police in civilian cloth beating a protester in Cairo 1

Baltagiya or Baltageya ( arz, البلطجية ) is an Egyptian slang word that generally means " goons" or "

thug Thug or THUG may refer to: People * Thug, a common criminal, who treats others violently and roughly, often for hire * Thug, a member of the former Indian cult Thuggee ** Thug Behram (ca 1765–1840), leader of the Thuggee cult Video game * ''T ...

s" or "

gang A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collective ...

s or criminals," who are often hired to attack regime targets, anti-regime protestors or any peaceful people even if they had nothing to do with politics, in the majority of times those gangs are paid thugs. Meanwhile '' "Baltaga" '' ( ) means doing harm or participating in corruption against someone or some people. Nonpolitical baltagiya gangs appeared in Egypt in the 1980s; in the 1990s the

Egyptian police , ') , mottotranslated = Police of the people ( ar, شرطة الشعب, ') Counter-terrorism and hostage rescue Combat all types of crimes Maintaining public health Achieve the tranquility of the citizen , formedyear = 1878 ( years) , for ...

decided to hire them, "outsourcing coercion to these baltagiya, paying them well and training them to use sexualized brutality (from groping to rape) in order to punish and deter female protesters and male detainees, alike". They gained international media attention when spotted in the fighting in

Tahrir Square Tahrir Square ( ar, ميدان التحرير ', , English: Liberation Square), also known as "Martyr Square", is a major public town square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The square has been the location and focus for political demonstrations in Cai ...

during the

2011 Egyptian Revolution The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...

. In the

Port Said Stadium disaster On 1 February 2012, a massive riot occurred at Port Said Stadium in Port Said, Egypt, following an 2011–12 Egyptian Premier League, Egyptian Premier League Association football, football match between Al Masry SC, Masry and Al Ahly SC, Ahly. S ...

on 1 February 2012, eyewitnesses accused the police of allowing baltagiya in plain clothes into the stadium with weapons and then not intervening to stop the violence.

References

Street gangs {{Egypt-stub

See also

References