Egyptian blogger and activist Salma Said is latest to be shot during protests

Julie Tomlin
WVoN co-editor

Prominent activist and blogger Salma Said has joined the growing numbers of protesters injured by Egypt’s security forces using rubber bullets and bird shot.

Said claimed she was shot while filming an armoured personnel carrier (APC) after police responded violently to a peaceful protest in Cairo, following the Port Said football stadium tragedy on February 1 that left at least 74 people dead.

“We were protesting to denounce police negligence, and to signal that we believe they deliberately plotted this crime against innocent football fans,” said Said in a video posted on Youtube by film collective Mosireen.

Said was first shot in her face and in her hand by a masked man as she was filming shots being fired at protesters from an APC.

“My right side wasn’t shielded, as I was trying to film what the APC was doing, which wasn’t very smart,” said Said, who was shot again in her legs after she fell and a third time as people were carrying her away.

“I was shot with shotgun pellets in my face, arm and chest and in my stomach, pelvis and legs, both right and left,” she said. “I don’t know how many are still left, but there are about 33 in my right leg.”

Said added she was “so lucky” that a pellet missed her eye by about 4 mm - many have lost eyes after being shot in what is claimed is deliberate targeting of protesters' heads by Egyptian security forces.

“People rose up and revolted because they were living in misery, and here we are a year into the revolution and nothing has changed,” said Said, who said the revolution had reached an “impasse” because its tactics of peaceful demonstrations and sit ins had failed against the regime.

She called on "all sectors", including “industrial workers, teachers and doctors” to take part in a campaign of civil disobedience that is scheduled to begin on 11 February unless the Military Council responds to its demands.

Their participation was key to the success of the partial strikes that could build to a general strike to bring down the “dictatorial state that is killing and wounding us every day” Said said.

Announcing she was “leaving hospital and going home” on Twitter yesterday, Said added: “what I've been through is nothing in comparison to the many heroes lying in many hospitals. Let's visit them”.

This piece appeared on Women's Views on News on 9 February, 2012