Testimony from an Assaulted OpAntiSH Member - January 25th, 2013 (code: T.A.Eng.)by Op Anti-Sexual Harassment/Assault قوة ضد التحرش/الإعتداء الجنسي الجماعي on Sunday, 27 January 2013 at 00:43 ·
يتم تحضير الترجمة الى العربية، تابعونا
A testimony of courage, resistance and fighting back from one of the OpAntiSH team members who got attacked during the operation yesterday January 25, 2013. We would like to express our love and support to our fellow OpAntiSH member and thank her for her courage and for sharing this with all of us. We disagree that she was useless, each member gave their all to defend the square against mob sexual attacks, all your efforts managed to spare many women this horrible aggression, and extend a supporting hand during many other incidents. Our fight against mob sexual attacks continues.
"I was a member of the safety group as a part of OpAntiSH. I got to our meeting point at exactly 6 pm. We were supposed to pick up the bag that contains the first aid, clothes and anything an assaulted girl might need. All of my team members got to our meeting point within 30 minutes and our rescue team was scheduled to arrive at 7pm. Within that short amount, there were already many rumors of girls getting attacked. One of the rescue team members of another group barged into the building ( our meeting point) and yelled out "Why aren't any of you out there? There'´s a girl infront of KFC who was stripped naked and is getting assaulted as we speak! Why are you not in your positions?' I told him our rescue team hadn't arrived yet and we can't intervene because we wouldn't know what to do.' He left and I'm guessing he went to look for other members. Some of the other teams had all their members assembled already and so dispatched to their positions. They came back about 30 minutes later and one of the girls I talked to said that the situation was really bad. 'Girls were getting assaulted left and right'. A girl wearing the anti-harassment T-shirt then came in saying that one of the girls was attacked and that they needed a person with a bag. My rescue team hadn't arrived yet so I volunteered to go with her. We held hands and I followed her. She stopped and pointed to a crowd of men. She said "I think that's where the girl was." We weren't sure whether it was just a regular fight or if there was a girl in the middle. It looked more like a fight. She tried calling the hotline to ask where the girl was but she couldn't get through to them. We thought that there was no point in standing around here. We talked to the guy that had previously come barging into the building yelling about the KFC girl. He said that she was rescued and they formed a cordon around her ( and there were two other women with her) to get her to an ambulance that took her to the hospital. Most of my rescue team had arrived by then and were getting ready, putting on their shirts and what not. In the mean time, a girl from another safety group came in and said that on her way here, people kept telling her to go back because it was too dangerous.
My team were ready and we prepared ourselves to get our designated area but we never made it there because as soon as we stepped out of the building, we saw a large group of men assaulting a girl. Our rescue team moved in immediately. They formed a large empty space around the girl by using flamethrowers, machetes and other weapons that they were using to drive away the crowd. Anyone who tried to get to the girl was deterred by the rescue team who would swing their flamethrowers and weapons to force the men back. The captain then started yelling out 'SAFETY' "SAFETY".
My friend and I stood on chairs and started calling to them "WE'´RE HERE". I was nervous about attracting attention to ourselves that way but I couldn't think of any other way to let them know where we were. They saw us, I think, but they didn't look like they were about to bring the girl over to where we were so I tried to move towards them myself as I was the one carrying the bag. One male team-mate easily made his way through the crowd towards the girl and I tried to hold on to him so I'd pass through as well but he ran off quickly. I still tried to make my way through the crowd even though I knew that this was the crowd of men that sexually assaulted the girl. Many men kept telling me and my other female team mates to get back and leave. That it was dangerous for us here. A couple of women behind me tried to drag me to where they stood, telling me "Come here. You'll be safe here." But I wanted to get to the girl and I kept trying to explain that I was a part of OpAntiSH and that if they really wanted to help me, they open up a path for me to get to where the girl was. They knew I was a girl even though I was wearing the baggiest clothes I owned and I had my hood up so I'd blend in. The men started closing in on me and some of them had this predatory animalistic look in their eyes that I knew all too well. At this point, I backed away from them and I couldn't see any of my other female team mates. There was a railing behind me so I jumped over it to the other side. I saw one of my team mates making her way over to me. She called my name and I held her hand and tried to help her cross to the other side of the railing with me. She almost made it then suddenly, I saw hands all over her body and they pulled her to them. I kept yelling out her name and I felt like I was getting pulled into a mob. Suddenly, I was in the middle, surrounded by hundreds of men in a circle that was getting smaller and smaller around me. They were cramped around me in such a tight manner that I was starting to suffocate. I'm very claustrophobic, so I was breathing heavily. At the same time, they were touching and groping me everywhere and there were so many hands under my shirt and inside my pants. I knew the risk of being in the square so I had worn so many layers of clothing as a precaution. They weren't directly touching my skin but it still felt like the most disgusting thing in the world. In an effort to get their hands of my body, I went down on my knees. That proved to be really stupid though because the force of the shoving and pushing almost made me fall on my face and I knew that if I were to fall on my face, I'd be smothered to death. I mustered all my will power and strength into getting up again and started struggling for breath. I couldn't breathe at all and I truly believed that I was going to die of suffocation. One of the men around me looked like a good young man who' had gone in to really try to save me. When I emerged and he saw me, I could see the horror and worry on his face. He yelled 'You a're going to kill her! You fucking bastards, she's going to die' It gave me a little bit of comfort to see someone scared for me. Of course, as soon as I came up, the sexual assault started again and I kept alternating between going up and down because I honestly couldn't decide what was worse, getting smothered to death or getting sexually assaulted by a large group of men. I knew that none of my rescue team was going to save me. They were busy with the first girl and, besides, I was pretty sure all of my female team mates were getting assaulted as well. I kept thinking, 'They' are gonna tear my clothes off and they´'re gonna do to to me what they did to that other girl. What they did to all the girls I'd read the personal accounts of.' I screamed at the top of my lungs, which made it even harder for me to breathe. I prayed to God and forced myself to calm down. 'I'm wearing hundreds of layers of clothing. I'm wearing spandex and corsets. It'll take them a while to rip my clothes of, by which time, my team will come and save me.', I reasoned. It was all wishful thinking, I know.
Anyway, there was lots of shoving and pushing and I found myself in front of the entrance of the building that was our meeting point. I forced my way towards it. They were people helping me by pushing me in its direction and others were trying to pull me away from there. One guy wound his arms around my waist and started dragging me away from the building saying, 'Come with me. I'll take somewhere safe.' I didn't trust anyone at all so I shoved and kicked him away and forced my way towards the entrance again. As soon as I got close to it, they opened the door for me and I fell inside. They closed the door as soon as I got in and many girls rushed to my side and started rubbing my back and comforting me. I asked them if any of my team mates was here. They said all of them were safe. They took me to the apartment where the OpAntiSH operation room was and there were lots of people there. Many of them really sweet and comforting. I met many girls who were also assaulted, after checking up on my team mates, and we shared stories and stuff. It felt like any girl that was in the square was attacked. I spent some time there and I felt very useless. I kept asking if there was anything i could do to help and everyone said that there was nothing I could do and that I should just rest. The apartment was the operation'´s base, per se. The people there were in charge of the hotlines and directing the rescue groups that were on the ground to places where girls were getting assaulted. They also prepared the rescue bags and were checking up on everyone. I asked them for some shoes because I lost mine during the assault. I really wanted to help in some way. I was completely useless and I couldn't even help one girl. I was prepared to go down again but I knew I'd be more of a burden than any sort of help. I told them I wanted to go home so a couple of members escorted me outside the square."
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