Detention of Demonstrators in Egypt Amid Israel-Hamas Conflict: Latest Updates and Human Rights Concerns

2023-10-31 09:24:43

The number of detainees in Egypt once morest the backdrop of demonstrations in support of the Palestinians, in light of the continuing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has risen to at least 56 people, according to human rights lawyer, Khaled Ali.

Ali published the names of those arrested due to the demonstrations of the past two weeks on his page FacebookHe pointed out that 42 detainees are from Cairo, and 14 are from Alexandria Governorate, the second largest Egyptian city overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

According to Ali, 11 of them were arrested from their homes, and it was decided to imprison them with the others for 15 days pending investigations in Case 2468 of 2023, State Security, noting that among those detained were journalists.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights condemned the arrest of dozens of citizens who participated in demonstrations in support of the Palestinian people, and demanded their immediate release, considering that “those arrests represent a serious violation of the constitutional guarantees of the right to peaceful assembly.”

The Egyptian Initiative also expressed its “deep concern regarding the use of serious charges under the Terrorism Law to intimidate political opponents and peaceful protesters, which is what happened with those arrested for demonstrating support for the Palestinian people.”

Tens of thousands of Egyptians demonstrated on the twentieth of October in Tahrir Square and various parts of Egypt in support of Gaza, even though demonstrations have been banned in Egypt since 2013.

The demonstration took place following Friday prayers at Al-Azhar Mosque, and a large number of its participants were able to reach Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo, the epicenter of the 2011 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

The demonstrators chanted slogans in support of the Palestinians, inspired by the slogans of the Arab Spring, including: “Live, freedom is an Arab Palestine.” They chanted, “With our soul and blood, we will sacrifice for you, O Al-Aqsa,” “Israel is terrorism,” and “One and two, where is the Arab army?”

The demonstrators were keen to confirm that they were going out to demonstrate on their own, chanting, “These are serious demonstrations, not a mandate for anyone,” while calls circulating in the media loyal to the authorities have been spreading for two days now to “authorize the Egyptian President” Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to take the necessary decisions to preserve “Egyptian national security.”

The police then quickly evacuated the square and dispersed the demonstrators into the streets branching from it, and arrested some of them.

In Alexandria, large demonstrations took place as an expression of solidarity with the Palestinians. Governorates in Delta Egypt in the north and Upper Egypt in the south also witnessed similar demonstrations.

The war broke out following an unprecedented Hamas attack that killed 1,400 people, most of them civilians, on the Israeli side, while the number of victims of the Israeli bombing of Gaza reached regarding 8,525 people, including 3,542 children and 2,187 women, according to health authorities in the Strip on Tuesday.

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