France’s yellow vest fever reaches Egypt
Since the breakout of French protests and the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Jacket) movement, Egyptian media have been keen on showing the demonstrators in a bad light.
CAIRO — An Egyptian court rejected Dec. 17 the appeal of lawyer Mohammed Ramadan against a 15-day detention sentence for incitement to demonstrate, disorder and wearing a yellow jacket. Egyptian police arrested Ramadan Dec. 11, accusing him of promoting false news and using social networking sites to promote the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group that was designated as a terrorist organization following the ousting of President Mohammed Morsi in 2013. He was apprehended after he published a picture on social media in which he was wearing a yellow jacket in solidarity with the French protests.
According to press reports, Egyptian authorities demanded stores not to sell yellow jackets to individuals unless they have security approval.
The state-owned newspapers condemned the French protests as chaos.
Private newspapers also focused on the news from a similar perspective, publishing photos of the destruction near the Arc de Triomphe and confrontations between police and protesters, stressing the decline of tourism in the French capital.
