Cairo - Khaled Ali
Several Egyptian artists have responded angrily on social media networks after a video of an anti-government protester being stripped naked, dragged and beaten by a group of policemen emerged on Friday. The video footage screened on many Egyptian television channels, showing 48-year-old Hamada Saber being assaulted by a gang of security officers, has spread rage throughout the country and its artistic community was no different. Tunisian-born actress Dorra took to Twitter, saying: "Any person with a sense of humanity must be shocked about what we have seen today. Words cannot reflect my feeling." Actor Ahmed Zaher did not shy from holding the government responsible. "After watching a citizen stripped, dragged and beaten,” he said, “I would like to tell Morsi, his government and his Interior Minister: Leave.” "Can anybody remind me what charge Mubarak was put in jail for?" actress Nelly Karim asked on Twitter, suggesting the recurrence of violations seen during the Mubarak-era clampdown on January 25 protesters. President Mubarak faced a life sentence for his part in 2011 clashes. Another actress, Rim Baroudi, said: "May God retaliate for what we have seen." Rania Mahmoud Yassin pointed users to another incident from December 2012 when a young woman was also stripped, dragged and beaten by army soldiers near cabinet headquarters. "It is normal to see men dragged on asphalt after those who dragged a woman went free,” she said. “We thought we’d regained our dignity when we chanted for the removal of Mubarak: ‘Raise your heads up because you are Egyptian.’ Where is our dignity now?” Actress Rania Farid Shawqi meanwhile aimed her anger at the Muslim Brotherhood, saying: "I really feel sick when I see any of those Brotherhood members on TV."