Gomaa the Criminal

Is this finally the end of No'man Gomaa?

I can't yet find any online reports on the story, but what happened as far as I understood was that No'man Gomaa - the insane former dictator of the historic liberal Wafd party, who has since insisted on his right to continue to be the dictator despite being democratically ousted a few months ago - stormed the historic party headquarters with thugs armed with knives and guns, opening fire on the party members and injuring 17 of them. And this all happened under the protection of the police who stood by. The final scene ended as I saw No'man Gomaa on Al Jazeera looking down at the ground as he was being led into an armored truck together with his thugs, under order of arrest by the attorney general for the scene of carnage he had caused.

I think his attempted takeover of the party happened with the blessings of the government, but the carnage was too much that it had to do something to save face...so the arrest of "Dr. Gomaa" was the right decision for it to take (Gomaa the goon was the former dean of the Faculty of Law, so go figure with the current state of our public education).

But with Gomaa gone from the scene, who in his stead will the government plant to crash the historic popular party? Expect more episodes from the hope-crushing soap opera...

(Who is the brilliant director of these tragic series? Really, he deserves the international medallion for popular depression. If there isn't any, then his work calls for one to be made! First prize 3alatool!:-)

(...Cairo won first prize for the position of most polluted city in the world, beating Mexico city. Why can't we win this one as well? I say make the medallions. At least credit should be given for these unknown, yet significant achievements.)

Update:

The mole burns down the house.

Egyptian Sandmonkey gives an interesting account of the real motives behind Gomaa's violent attack on the Wafd; to destroy and steal self-incriminating documents with the support of the government and, according to Sam, this is exactly what happened.

Awatif Wali from the party's high council concurs with this:

"It's a desperate act by a man who wants to hide the things he did when he was chairman and wants to cover up his corrupt past at any cost," she said.

This is all the more reason to believe that it was Gomaa who burned down the headquarters and not the resident journalists and employees who were attacked and kicked out by the thugs, because how would they know how to make molotov cocktails? This isn't a well known Egyptian home recipe, unlike some of our more volatile neighbors.

Update:

The end of a lunatic.

It was Gomaa who burned the place. He is facing 8 charges: attempted murder, carrying unlicensed guns and ammunition, arson, damaging property, public gathering (I guess this is martial law), carrying knives, injuring 27 journalists and workers.

Zaghareed. The Wafdists celebrate :-)

* Photo from El Masry El Youm.