Egypt detains 200 plus activists ahead of ‘global’ pro-Palestine march

Cairo: Ahead of an international pro-Palestine march, authorities in Egypt detained 200 plus demonstrators who were intending to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza through the march, Agence France-Presse reported.

Thousands of activists planned to travel to Egypt’s Rafah border and enter Palestine on Friday as part of the Global March to Palestine. They intended to demand the entry of humanitarian aid into the war-torn land after Israel blocked the same.

AFP was told by the march’s spokesperson, Saif Abukeshek, on Thursday that over 200 participants were detained at Cairo airport or questioned at hotels across the Egyptian capital city. He said that those detained included nationals from the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Morocco and Algeria.

According to him, police in plain clothes entered hotels in Cairo on Wednesday with lists of names and questioned activists. In some places, their mobile phones and personal belongings were confiscated. When some were arrested after interrogation, some were released, he said. Some detainees were held for long hours at Cairo airport without explanation, he added, citing the instance of 20 French activists being held in the airport for 18 hours.

AFP acquired footage of dozens of people with their luggage crammed inside a holding room at the airport. A German national said in the video that they are locked up there in that room. When the person called her embassy, she was informed that they were “trying to figure things out”.

A Greek national said that there were dozens of people from the person’s country who were being detained at the airport.