Egyptian novelist Alaa Al-Aswany was recently attacked by a mob of Muslim Brotherhood supporters during a lecture he was giving at the Arab World Institute in Paris. The crowd, chanting "Down with the military rule," stormed the stage, and Al-Aswany, calling them "traitors" and "criminals," who had "betrayed the revolution," beat a hasty retreat behind the glass doors of the lecture hall.
Following are excerpts from the October 21, 2013 Dream 2 TV report on the event and from an interview held with Al-Aswany afterwards.
Moderator: I ask you to leave the hall.
MB supporter: We want to hear you talk about the situation in Egypt.
Moderator: Nobody is allowed to speak now.
MB supporter: Go ahead. We are here to listen to Mr. Al-Aswany...
Female member of the audience: So let us hear him.
MB supporter: Fine, no problem.
Pandemonium breaks out in the hall
MB supporters: Down with the military rule!
Down with the military rule!
Alaa Al-Aswany: Down with the military rule of the General Guide. You are traitors, criminals. You are traitors. You've betrayed the revolution. You are the dogs of the MB General Guide.
MB supporters storm the stage and try to attack Al-Aswany, who is swept away beyond glass doors
MB supporters Traitor...!
Traitor...!
Traitor...!
Traitor...!
MB supporters shout in protest
MB supporters: Down with the military!
Down with the military!
Down with the military!
Down with the military!
[...]
In a later interview
Alaa Al-Aswany: I believe that these people were hired. They are not necessarily members of the Muslim Brotherhood. I believe that they were hired, because some Egyptians told me that these people had no legal documents.
Interviewer: So they had nothing to lose. They were not afraid of being deported.
Alaa Al-Aswany: Exactly. They were simply waiting for their cue. I was talking for twenty minutes, and you could not see any expressions on their faces.
[...]
I was thinking: "They want to film me fleeing, as if I am terrified." But I wasn't. First of all, they were in the wrong. Secondly, for someone like us who participated in the revolution... During the revolution, we were shot at.
Interviewer: This was trivial compared to the things you've experienced.
Alaa Al-Aswany: Right. All they wanted was to intimidate me so that they could film me running away.
Interviewer: So they wanted to embarrass you...
Alaa Al-Aswany: Exactly. Thank God, I didn't give them the satisfaction. Things were breaking in front of me, and glass was shattering over my head,
[...]