For three months, Egyptian police have embarked on periodic sweeps of downtown Cairo streets to clear them of presumed homosexuals. They're part of an effort by governments throughout the Middle East to out-moralize Islamic parties that have denounced the perceived depravity of Arab societies under autocratic rule. ``Meaningless crackdowns have become a regular thing,'' Hani Shukrallah, executive director of the Heikal Foundation for Arab Journalism says. ``If not gays, devil worshippers. If not devil worshippers, apostates. The government needs to outbid Islamic opponents as guardian of morals.''
Maybe someday they'll round up the Islamists. Everyone knows where those people hang out.
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