{"id":15163,"date":"2012-01-20T12:15:33","date_gmt":"2012-01-20T17:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/?p=15163"},"modified":"2012-12-26T16:07:39","modified_gmt":"2012-12-26T21:07:39","slug":"the-egyptian-revolutions-smallest-soldiers-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/01\/20\/the-egyptian-revolutions-smallest-soldiers-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"The Egyptian Revolution’s Smallest Soldiers: Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Article:<\/strong> Egypt’s Street Kids Are Revolution’s Smallest Soldiers<\/a><\/em> by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson on NPR.<\/p>\n

The Text:<\/strong> In Egypt, a disturbing trend has emerged in recent clashes between protesters and security forces: children placing themselves on the front lines.<\/p>\n

Activists say several have been killed or wounded in recent months by gunfire and tear gas. Plus, 1 out of every 4 protesters thrown in jail following clashes in December was a child.<\/p>\n

Their advocates say most, if not all, of these kids live on Cairo’s streets, and that they see the revolution as a way to escape their isolation from society.<\/p>\n

Every Friday, crowds of Egyptians gather in Cairo to chant slogans against their military rulers. But recently, a small group tried to bring attention the plight of street children who take part in demonstrations \u2014 a problem few protesters like to talk about.<\/p>\n

They shout that the ruling generals should be ashamed for killing or jailing the children.<\/p>\n

Rally organizer Amira Abdelhamid hands the children who show up helium-filled balloons.<\/p>\n

Eleven-year-old Ahmed Adel says he likes going to protests to check out what’s going on. Ahmed admits he throws stones at the soldiers and then runs away.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Partners In The Revolution<\/strong><\/p>\n

Abdelhamid lauds children like Ahmed for braving bullets, beatings and tear gas on the front lines with other protesters.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old university student says the children are valuable partners in the Egyptian revolution given their speed, agility and small size, which make it harder for security forces to stop them.<\/p>\n

She adds that it is important to recognize their contribution, which is why she and a teen acquaintance organized the rally.<\/p>\n

“I wasn’t communicating the message of whether it was good or bad because I don’t know. It’s bad for them, but it’s good, it helps us as well, it helps us in the front lines. I was just saying thank you,” Abdelhamid says.<\/p>\n

Abdelhamid is frustrated that only a few dozen people showed up at the rally. Many more demonstrated nearby against Egyptian troops for attacking female protesters last month.<\/p>\n

The photo of one veiled woman stripped down to her blue bra and being dragged by soldiers who kicked and beat her drew worldwide condemnation.<\/p>\n

Abdelhamid says the story of an Egyptian boy who was shot by soldiers during the same series of protests drew far less attention.<\/p>\n

In a YouTube video of the incident, rescue workers try to stop the frightened teen from bleeding to death from a bullet wound to his chest.<\/p>\n

“A lot of controversy happened about the women’s march and about that girl who was stripped. [People asked,] ‘Why … was she there?'” Abdelhamid says. “But I don’t think anyone would say, ‘Why were the children there?'”<\/p>\n

Finding Comfort Among Protesters<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s a question the ruling generals are asking, however.<\/p>\n

At a recent news conference, Gen. Adel Emara accused activists he did not name of paying children and teens to throw rocks and Molotov cocktails at security forces.<\/p>\n

The general also showed a poor-quality video of a boy named Sami confessing to his interrogator that he received the equivalent of $33 to attack buildings.<\/p>\n

Many children’s rights activists in Egypt suspect the confession was coerced. They accuse the generals of using the kids to try to discredit the pro-democracy movement and justify soldiers’ use of deadly force.<\/p>\n

Lawyer Tarek El Awady is representing 82 children arrested for taking part in last month’s violent demonstrations outside the Cabinet and parliament buildings.<\/p>\n

He says these street children sought shelter, food and companionship from protesters encamped downtown.<\/p>\n

Abdelhamid says the children tell her and other protesters that they are the only Egyptians who make them feel they are important.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Article: Egypt’s Street Kids Are Revolution’s Smallest Soldiers by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson on NPR. The Text: In Egypt, a disturbing trend has emerged in recent clashes between protesters and security forces: children placing themselves on the front lines. Activists say several have been killed or wounded in recent months by gunfire and tear gas. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Egyptian Revolution's Smallest Soldiers: Kids - Prose Before Hos<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Article: Egypt's Street Kids Are Revolution's Smallest Soldiers by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson on NPR. The Text: In Egypt, a disturbing trend has emerged\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/01\/20\/the-egyptian-revolutions-smallest-soldiers-kids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Egyptian Revolution's Smallest Soldiers: Kids - Prose Before Hos\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Article: Egypt's Street Kids Are Revolution's Smallest Soldiers by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson on NPR. The Text: In Egypt, a disturbing trend has emerged\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/01\/20\/the-egyptian-revolutions-smallest-soldiers-kids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prose Before Hos\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-20T17:15:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-26T21:07:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Article of the Day\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pbhnetwork\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pbhnetwork\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Article of the Day\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/01\/20\/the-egyptian-revolutions-smallest-soldiers-kids\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/01\/20\/the-egyptian-revolutions-smallest-soldiers-kids\/\",\"name\":\"The Egyptian Revolution's Smallest Soldiers: Kids - Prose Before Hos\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-20T17:15:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-26T21:07:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1e19d7cf2b1a9aea1805fd7b4b4b2b4e\"},\"description\":\"The Article: Egypt's Street Kids Are Revolution's Smallest Soldiers by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson on NPR. The Text: In Egypt, a disturbing trend has emerged\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/01\/20\/the-egyptian-revolutions-smallest-soldiers-kids\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/01\/20\/the-egyptian-revolutions-smallest-soldiers-kids\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/01\/20\/the-egyptian-revolutions-smallest-soldiers-kids\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Egyptian Revolution’s Smallest Soldiers: Kids\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/\",\"name\":\"Prose Before Hos\",\"description\":\"The Far Side Of Politics\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1e19d7cf2b1a9aea1805fd7b4b4b2b4e\",\"name\":\"Article of the Day\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pbhnetwork\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/author\/article-of-the-day\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Egyptian Revolution's Smallest Soldiers: Kids - Prose Before Hos","description":"The Article: Egypt's Street Kids Are Revolution's Smallest Soldiers by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson on NPR. The Text: In Egypt, a disturbing trend has emerged","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/01\/20\/the-egyptian-revolutions-smallest-soldiers-kids\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Egyptian Revolution's Smallest Soldiers: Kids - Prose Before Hos","og_description":"The Article: Egypt's Street Kids Are Revolution's Smallest Soldiers by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson on NPR. The Text: In Egypt, a disturbing trend has emerged","og_url":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/01\/20\/the-egyptian-revolutions-smallest-soldiers-kids\/","og_site_name":"Prose Before Hos","article_published_time":"2012-01-20T17:15:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-12-26T21:07:39+00:00","author":"Article of the Day","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@pbhnetwork","twitter_site":"@pbhnetwork","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Article of the Day","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/01\/20\/the-egyptian-revolutions-smallest-soldiers-kids\/","url":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/01\/20\/the-egyptian-revolutions-smallest-soldiers-kids\/","name":"The Egyptian Revolution's Smallest Soldiers: Kids - Prose Before Hos","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-01-20T17:15:33+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-26T21:07:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1e19d7cf2b1a9aea1805fd7b4b4b2b4e"},"description":"The Article: Egypt's Street Kids Are Revolution's Smallest Soldiers by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson on NPR. The Text: In Egypt, a disturbing trend has emerged","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/01\/20\/the-egyptian-revolutions-smallest-soldiers-kids\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/01\/20\/the-egyptian-revolutions-smallest-soldiers-kids\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/article-of-the-day\/01\/20\/the-egyptian-revolutions-smallest-soldiers-kids\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Egyptian Revolution’s Smallest Soldiers: Kids"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/","name":"Prose Before Hos","description":"The Far Side Of Politics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1e19d7cf2b1a9aea1805fd7b4b4b2b4e","name":"Article of the Day","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/pbhnetwork"],"url":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/author\/article-of-the-day\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15163"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15163"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133703,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15163\/revisions\/133703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}