ABSTRACT
The Security Forces comprised mostly illiterate youths from the countryside; their service conditions were extremely poor, as was their public image. The police kept a watchful eye on the activities of the radical groups, frequently harassing them and making clear its firm intention to check their plans and activities. The basic grievances of the student sector — tight police control of their activities, overcrowded classrooms, poor campus services — remained unresolved, while the national problems, about which they were used to voicing their views loudly, became increasingly complicated. The Opposition continued to complain of insufficient freedom and of the slow pace of progress in the democratic process. The February riots thus served to emphasize the limited range of options available to a leadership with problems as formidable as those of Egypt. Egyptian-American cooperation on broader Middle Eastern issues was given a low profile in 1986.
