Cyprus-Forum.com

[EricSeans]

Yes, a beautiful country with so much potential. It's still at the crossroads of shaking off its Islamic legacy and morphing into a truly democratic free nation. The transition time is the hardest.

Good luck Egypt. You deserve more than this.

I agree, they do deserve better especially considering their position towards the West and Israel. I was there a few years ago and while all was calm on the surface every 10th person seemed to be a cop. Had a lucky escape with a bottle of J&B while in military transit. The authoritarianism isn't far below the surface.

[alex_ruffneck]

Sad story, i wasn't aware of the current political situation in egypt; i've posted this on a large music forum of which i'm a member, trying to spread the word.

@ Get Real: America and the NWO make me sick tbh, the more you look into the corruption the more unbelievable it becomes, but as someone much wiser than me once said, the more ridiculous and unbelievable the situation seems regarding these matters, the closer you're getting to the truth

:recovering conspiracy addict:

[Gasman]

Yes the Police presence is startling. In the centre of Cairo there are sentry hut things on the four corners of every crossroads. They have city police, traffic police, tourist police.

And the security on the entrance to the hotel and the super swish shopping mall was higher than that at the airport! Send your bag in through the metal detector first and every time you stepped in or out you had to go through it all again.

I didn't see a single female resident who was not covered from head to foot - but I noticed in the 'posher' bits that they would be wearing really expensive designer dresses over the top of long sleeved, high necked t-shirts and leggings and their veils were clipped with brooches studded with diamonds and other precious gems with the latest state of the art mobiles tucked into one side!

One of the UN workers from Cyprus here that I was with on our trip was not allowed inside one of the mosques to have a look because her trousers did not come right down to the ground.

We were well advised to cover up completely - told that, as tourists, no one can insist on dress code but if you didn't have shoulders and legs covered you would attract a lot of unwelcome attention, some would even see it as an insult etc. We wore jeans, trainers and high necked long sleeve tops everywhere but inside our hotel. Even then the amount of (unwanted) attention every time we stepped outside the hotel was a pain. The police would start moving towards the blokes but it didn't stop them approaching to start with.

We did not feel relaxed anywhere outside the hotel, or away from the small group we were with (6 of us).

I've travelled a lot of the globe and a lot of it on my own, but never felt as uncomfortable as I did in Cairo last year with my daughter. She NEVER wants to go there again.

[SpartanGamer]

I love Egypt. I find it absolutly fascinating! The golden mask of Tutankamen was the most amazing thing I have ever seen! The history is one of the richest on Earth. It is horrible that they treat their people like this! When I went I felt very safe knowing that there was a policeman within 3 meters of me, but now that i know this, i feel scared that i was near some trigger happy cop with a massive machinegun or ak47!

[CrookedRiverGuy]

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/21/the_worst_of_the_worst?page=0,15

[Hazza]

I actually just cried reading the shocking story. I've only been to Egypt once and loved the place. I knew there was corruption there, but not to that extent.

[fig head]

im very sorry my self, things in Egypt at its worst . but we all hoping for change, please post this every where you can

regards.

Ruby

[EricSeans]

Yes the Police presence is startling. In the centre of Cairo there are sentry hut things on the four corners of every crossroads. They have city police, traffic police, tourist police.

And the security on the entrance to the hotel and the super swish shopping mall was higher than that at the airport! Send your bag in through the metal detector first and every time you stepped in or out you had to go through it all again.

I didn't see a single female resident who was not covered from head to foot - but I noticed in the 'posher' bits that they would be wearing really expensive designer dresses over the top of long sleeved, high necked t-shirts and leggings and their veils were clipped with brooches studded with diamonds and other precious gems with the latest state of the art mobiles tucked into one side!

One of the UN workers from Cyprus here that I was with on our trip was not allowed inside one of the mosques to have a look because her trousers did not come right down to the ground.

We were well advised to cover up completely - told that, as tourists, no one can insist on dress code but if you didn't have shoulders and legs covered you would attract a lot of unwelcome attention, some would even see it as an insult etc. We wore jeans, trainers and high necked long sleeve tops everywhere but inside our hotel. Even then the amount of (unwanted) attention every time we stepped outside the hotel was a pain. The police would start moving towards the blokes but it didn't stop them approaching to start with.

We did not feel relaxed anywhere outside the hotel, or away from the small group we were with (6 of us).

I've travelled a lot of the globe and a lot of it on my own, but never felt as uncomfortable as I did in Cairo last year with my daughter. She NEVER wants to go there again.

Sounds similar to what you'd expect in Morocco when you step off the boat in Tangier and get surrounded by hustlers if you attempt to walk about on your own. Don't think I'd do it these days...

[Zorba]

Very sad, but if other countries got involved what would happen ? They would get criticised,bombed etc like Iran.Iraq,Afghanistan.
The US and UK keep getting told to keep their nose out of other countries problems or suffer the consequences. What do you suggest the rest of the world should do ?

[bill cobbett]

Yes the Police presence is startling. In the centre of Cairo there are sentry hut things on the four corners of every crossroads. They have city police, traffic police, tourist police.

And the security on the entrance to the hotel and the super swish shopping mall was higher than that at the airport! Send your bag in through the metal detector first and every time you stepped in or out you had to go through it all again.

I didn't see a single female resident who was not covered from head to foot - but I noticed in the 'posher' bits that they would be wearing really expensive designer dresses over the top of long sleeved, high necked t-shirts and leggings and their veils were clipped with brooches studded with diamonds and other precious gems with the latest state of the art mobiles tucked into one side!

One of the UN workers from Cyprus here that I was with on our trip was not allowed inside one of the mosques to have a look because her trousers did not come right down to the ground.

We were well advised to cover up completely - told that, as tourists, no one can insist on dress code but if you didn't have shoulders and legs covered you would attract a lot of unwelcome attention, some would even see it as an insult etc. We wore jeans, trainers and high necked long sleeve tops everywhere but inside our hotel. Even then the amount of (unwanted) attention every time we stepped outside the hotel was a pain. The police would start moving towards the blokes but it didn't stop them approaching to start with.

We did not feel relaxed anywhere outside the hotel, or away from the small group we were with (6 of us).

I've travelled a lot of the globe and a lot of it on my own, but never felt as uncomfortable as I did in Cairo last year with my daughter. She NEVER wants to go there again.

Sounds similar to what you'd expect in Morocco when you step off the boat in Tangier and get surrounded by hustlers if you attempt to walk about on your own. Don't think I'd do it these days...

Quite right Eric, that was our experience back in the late '70s when visited Morocco. Think spent a few weeks there one Summer and yes that was often our experience, but we were young and we coped and joked about it.
Say think we visited Morocco, memories are a bit hazy for the usual reasons.