"A group of thugs, or as they are called in Egypt 'baltageya,' infiltrates the demonstration and clashes with protestors," says an official commentator. "Those who threw the Molotov cocktails at the protestors are thugs," says another. "The police force clamped down on the thugs," states an announcer, validating the force's dubious reaction; and the best one is, "No real Egyptian would act in this manner. It was the baltageya, i.e. thugs."

Both the officials and the activists use the word "thug" to define an individual whom they don't want to associate with. His misdeeds repel and embarrass. The thug makes his way into the midst of a standoff and spreads mayhem. He vandalizes and ransacks property, burns cars, throws rocks at the army and the activists simultaneously, and harasses female protestors. Most of the time we cannot fathom his intentions; he doesn’t seem to be siding with the activists or forces, and definitely not with Egypt.

When an official cannot hold any one person responsible, the event crasher becomes a thug. And protestors use the term in a similar, loose fashion. Premeditated havoc or childish hooliganism, it is often not very clear; what is clear is that thuggery is becoming an aspect of life in today's Egypt.

But who is a thug exactly and how can he be identified? Does he wear a badge with the word "thug" embossed on it? Does he dress differently, and why is he so easily recognized? If two Egyptians, a thug and non-thug, are walking side by side, how do other Egyptians distinguish one from the other? And one very poignant question is, "But aren’t thugs Egyptians, too? And if they are, why are they so determined to destroy Egypt?" A truly interesting phenomenon those thugs are.

To spot a thug, we need to recognize three different types -- all existing in Egypt today. The first is the easiest to identify -- childish and young, a mere hoodlum, he is usually jobless, crass, and aimless. He appears at an event, totally oblivious of the cause but definitely there for the ride.

This thug is, in many ways, similar to thugs all over the world -- the one that riots after his hockey team is defeated in Vancouver, burns cars and properties in London to express his discontent, or cheers as the Egyptian Scientific Institute, an irreplaceable treasure, burns.

This is the common thug, but at a different level, thuggery has escalated into a business in Egypt; the conspiracy theorists say that today it has become a vocation with manipulators, those who want to control Egypt, hiring thugs to devastate. According to these theories, thugs charge a costly per diem and make their own intentionally led-astray subordinates wreak havoc. The goal of the manipulators is obvious: to keep Egypt down so they can continue to reign.

On Wael Elebrashi's January 4 El Haqiqa program, his guest, a 13-year-old escapee from an orphanage speaks out. Having fled with a few cell phones and some pocket money, he roams the streets. And in an Oliver Twist formula, he meets his own "Fagin," who turns him into a thug; he's taught how to make Molotov bombs and what to do with them; the payment: sustenance.

With an estimated 2 million "street children" living homeless and neglected lives, and with 40 per cent of Egyptians living below the poverty line, this brand of thug is all too real. Street children grow up to become thugs, or as youngsters they are recruited by thugs. They utilize circumstances available to make a buck -- be it by begging, becoming squeegee kids, or filling odd jobs. More often than not they perform any action, evil or malicious if need be, with profitable results.

The third thug is quite elusive. As much as Egyptians enjoy their new-found liberty and freedom, many confuse freedom and democracy with chaos and an I'll-do-as-I-please attitude. Many Egyptians take to the streets assuming that if they block a road, barricade a building, or raid an office or a court, they are practicing their rights as free Egyptians. This is yet another thug.

Of course, this is the result of decades of living in a society that has been denied its right to democracy and self-rule. Still, these "free Egyptians" have gotten it all backwards. Exercising freedom of speech should not entail cursing opponents or adversaries; democracy does not mean my way or the highway; and retribution or retaliation, at the personal level, is nonexistent in a true democracy.

Egypt will have to live with all these kinds of thugs until awareness, education, dignity, and freedom become realities.

Capilano University communications professor Dr. Azza Sedky is living in Cairo for the winter. She frequently blogs about Egypt.