“There was national consensus on ignoring human rights abuses if they happen to terrorists; let them burn. And many didn’t care about oppressing activists,” he said.
“Suddenly people realised it happened to them too. Incidents of average citizens dying in police custody sparked protests.”
Last month, more than 10,000 doctors protested against police brutality after policemen beat two doctors at a public hospital. It was the largest demonstration since authorities curbed the right to protest in late 2013.
Some of the doctors compared the beatings to the 2010 death of Khaled Said, a youth whose killing in custody helped spark the revolt that brought down Mubarak.
“No one who is educated matters in this country,” Momen Abdelazim, one of the doctors who was beaten, told Reuters. “I am seriously considering immigration, at least for the sake of my one-year-old daughter.”
A week after the demonstration, a policeman shot a driver in a busy Cairo street in a dispute over his fare.
“FILLED WITH TERROR”
But perhaps more damaging for Sisi’s image has been the failure of the economy, despite his promises that life would get better now that he had ended the turmoil.
Sisi hails the building a new branch of the Suez Canal in a single year as a key achievement. But the project, built with $8 billion borrowed from the public at the height of his popularity, has so far failed to boost the country’s income.
Meanwhile, imported commodities such as cooking oil have been in short supply at outlets that offer subsidised goods to the poor, because a foreign exchange crisis has made it harder for state importers to secure regular supplies.
The government failed to replenish its stockpiles of rice, which is now mostly available only at the market price, far beyond what Egyptians are accustomed to paying.
Businesses complain of rising prices, falling profits and uncertainty over the fate of Egypt’s currency.
Manufacturers, including General Motors, have been forced to pause production at times because of difficulties getting imported components that have piled up at ports. Small importers say they are being put out of business by regulations aimed at cutting the trade deficit.
Public sector workers were furious in November when Sisi issued a new civil service law that would cut jobs. Thousands of bureaucrats, normally hesitant to oppose the government, attempted to protest and were stopped by police. Egypt’s newly elected parliament repealed the law, a rare show of dissent from a body dominated by Sisi loyalists.
“This law filled seven million government employees and their families with terror,” Eissa said. “The middle class suddenly thought this man whom we brought in, whom we love, is working against us.”
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