* Egypt detains, deports dozens of participants
* The March will continue, conveners insist
Egyptian authorities have detained and threatened to deport around 170 activists expected to join over 10,000 people arriving in Cairo to take part in a march intended to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza.
But the conveners have issued an urgent update to supporters confirming that its march to the Rafah crossing with Gaza will continue despite President Abdul-Fatah Sisi-led government’s directive.
Muslim News gathered that thousands of activists from around the world have been planning to trek to Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with the Palestinian territory on Friday as part of the Global “March to Gaza”, demanding the entry of humanitarian aid into the blockaded territory.
But Egyptian officials have been cracking down on international visitors planning to participate in the march, detaining them at Cairo airport and hotels in the Egyptian capital for questioning, and arresting and deporting dozens on Thursday.
An Egyptian official told The Associated Press that authorities had deported more than three dozen activists, most of whom held European passports, on arrival at Cairo International Airport in the past two days.
The official, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorised to brief the media, said that the deported activists had intended to travel to Northern Sinai “without obtaining required authorisations”.
The Reuters news agency reported that at least 73 foreign nationals had been deported on a flight to Istanbul on Thursday, with 100 more at the airport awaiting deportation.
Activists from US, Australia, France questioned
Saif Abukeshek, spokesperson for the Global March to Gaza, told the AFP news agency that more than 200 activists had been detained at Cairo airport or questioned at hotels in the city.
Among those detained were nationals from the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Algeria and Morocco.
He told AFP that plainclothes officers had gone to Cairo hotels on Wednesday with lists of names, questioning activists, searching their belongings and confiscating their phones in some cases.
“After interrogations, some were arrested and others were released,” he said, adding that some had been deported after being detained at Cairo airport.
A group of Greek activists said in a statement that dozens of their contingent had been detained at Cairo airport “despite having all legal travel documents, having broken no law and followed every legal procedure in entering the country”.
The March will continue, organisers insist
The march’s organisers said in a statement that they had followed guidelines laid out by the Egyptian government, and indicated they would proceed with the march as planned.
A statement from the group explains:
Urgent statement from the organization:
As we stated in our last press release, we want to clarify that the Global March continues despite about 170 people facing delays and deportations at Cairo airport.
Our legal services are working on these cases, as we have all complied with all the legal requirements of the Egyptian authorities.
Meanwhile, thousands of march participants are already in Egypt, ready to begin the journey to El Arish tomorrow and then continue on foot to Rafah, where we hope to arrive this Sunday.
“We look forward to providing any additional information the Egyptian authorities require to ensure the march continues peacefully as planned to the Rafah border,” said the statement.
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