Cairo: People of the Fayoum province in south Egypt have lashed out at a television serial for portraying their area as a hideout of terrorists, the latest protest against TV works in the country.
The series entitled “Kalabsh 2” (Handcuffs II) features a police officer out hunting down terrorists.
The drama, being broadcast on some Egyptian TV stations, has triggered an outcry in Fayoum and prompted some of its residents to file lawsuits against makers of the show accusing them of harming the name of their city.
One scene in the serial, starring Egyptian star Amir Karara who plays the officer, shows terrorists attacking a security checkpoint in Fayoum.
“The Fayoum people are outraged by the series which depicts them as Daesh-like terrorists,” said Hesham Wali, a lawmaker for the province.
“Fayoum has been on security alert for years, but it has not witnessed any terrorist incidents. This proves that terrorism has been eradicated from Fayoum,” the legislator added in a press statement.
Egypt has experienced a wave of deadly militant attacks mainly targeting security forces in the largely desert Sinai since the army’s 2013 overthrow of president Mohammad Mursi of the now-Banned Muslim Brotherhood.
Fayoum, some 100 kilometres south of Cairo, was once an Islamist stronghold.
“Fayoum has lost many men fighting terrorists in the Sinai,” MP Wali said.
He demanded the show be taken off the air as well as an apology.
“This serial will cause financial losses to Fayoum and damage prospects for investment and tourism,” he said, citing natural attractions in the province.
The lead actor Karara has sought to allay Fayoum’s anger at the series.
“This is just an artistic work that wasn’t meant to offend the good people of Fayoum,” he told private Egyptian Dream TV.
“The series also showed how the people there were happy after the elimination of criminal and terrorist hideouts. There are good and evil everywhere,” Karara added.
Over the past days, there have been a string of protests against Egyptian TV soap operas being broadcast in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Khartoum said this week it had summoned the Egyptian ambassador and officially protested at the Egyptian TV series “Abu Omar Al Masri”, accusing the show of suggesting that Sudan is a shelter for terrorists, a claim that makers of the series denied.
Egypt’s Coptic Christians, meanwhile, criticized the TV comedy “Sleight of Hand” because a fraudulent character in the show appears dressed as a priest.
Traditionally, big-budget TV shows are broadcast in Ramadan when viewing rates usually peak in the Arab world.
