The "Arab street" and the media coverage

There is a widespread idea, especially in the Western public opinion, and caricatured in the below cartoon, that the hate trailer about Prophet Muhammad results in more reactions in the Arab world than the tragic events in Syria. Not that I want to minimize anything, but the below elements tend to show that it is merely a question of focus and attention on where and when you open your eyes on the events happening in the Arab world.
The Syrian embassies in Libya, Algeria, Jordan, Tunisia, Kuwait and Oman have all been stormed in the last one year and a half. Nevertheless, I would like to focus here just on the incidents in Cairo since I have been living there for a while, close to the Syrian embassy while it was still based in Giza. I do not even count the daily sit-ins in front of the embassy, nor the permanent marquee on Tahrir Square beside the building of the Arab League where Syrian opponents and other Arab sympathisers are staying day and night, but just the major incidents.

Already on 5 February 2011, Hundreds of Syrian and Egyptian youth protested outside the Syrian Embassy in Cairo to denounce what they described as crimes committed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime against peaceful pro-democracy protesters. The protesters demanded that Assad step down and called on Youssef Ahmad, the ambassador in Cairo, to join the "revolution." 

On 17 March 2011, hundred demonstrators gathered in front of the embassy in Cairo and some of them were even assaulted by thugs.

On 26 April 2011, around 500 demonstrators gather outside the embassy demanding President Bashar al-Assad steps down. I remember we met that day the two daughters of our neighbour in the lift, covered with Syrian flags and excited to go to the demonstration like if they were Syrians. 

On 31 October 2011, there were 3000 people in front of the embassy asking for the removal of Bachar Al Assad. Some clashes were reported. 

Then, I don't know if that was a result of the recurrent demonstrations, but the Syrian mission moved from Dokki (Giza) to Garden City (Cairo) beside the Canadian embassy, in a better protected area (where are also located the American as well as the British embassies). 

Nevertheless, on 27 January 2012, the embassy was stormed in Cairo. A video is embedded below, I let you imagine the reactions in the West if this was motivated by Muslims outraged by insults targeting their religion.


A few days later, on 3 February, the embassy was again stormed by an angry mob, essentially Syrian.

On 17 February 2012, Hundreds of Syrian and Egyptian activists gathered outside the Syrian Embassy in Cairo Friday to call for the end of the regime of Bashar al-Assad, shortly after Friday prayers concluded at Omar Makram Mosque, near Tahrir Square. 2,000 protesters rallied outside the embassy to demand the authorities expel the country's ambassador from Egypt because of the ongoing crackdown against the demonstrations in Syria. Did we see any image on Fox News, Euronews or LCI ? 

On 18 July 2012, several hundred protesters tried to storm the embassy again and raise the green-striped flag of Syria's rebels. A security official says that 14 people were detained. Police threw tear gas canisters at scores of Egyptian and Syrian activists demonstrating before the Syrian Embassy in the Garden City area of Cairo on Wednesday evening, demanding death to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the severing of diplomatic ties between Egypt and the Syrian regime.

On 4 September 2012, Egyptian police fired tear gas to scatter about 100 activists who tried to storm the embassy. Activists and police also threw stones at each other, inflicting minor injuries on both sides, a security source said. Security forces arrested about five of the demonstrators. Earlier a crowd had gathered in front of the headquarters of the Arab League, the night before a meeting expected to discuss the Syrian conflict. Thirty Three people were reported injured as soldiers and police came under a barrage of rocks.

In total, thousands of demonstrators, in a continuous protest movement lasting for almost two years now, just for Cairo. But barely a few lines in the mainstream press mainly because it does not answer to the idea the people have of the "Arab street" like if nothing happened in the Spring 2011 and after. Are the media asleep when the news in the middle east is not linked to Muslim fundamentalism ? is there a good cartoonist who could illustrate this ? 

Sources: 
Syria Embassy In Egypt Stormed By Protesters (Hufftington Post, July 18, 2012)
Syrian Embassy Stormed in Cairo (Fox News, January 27, 2012)
Protests at Syrian embassy in Cairo (reuters, 26 April 2012)
In Cairo, clashes continue near Syrian Embassy (bikyamasr, 18 July 2012) - please read this report
Hundreds outside Syrian Embassy demand Assad's fall (Egypt Independant, 17 February 2012)

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