Egyptian police kill, injure island residents

Egyptians shout slogans against the government during the funeral of Syed Tafshan, who died in clashes with residents of the Nile island of al-Warraq island, when security forces attempted to demolish illegal buildings, in the south of Cairo, Egypt July 16, 2017, photo by Amr Abdallah Dalsh

After giving away Egyptian islands to Saudi Arabia, Egyptian dictator Sisi apparently now wants to sell an island to the United Arab Emirates.

From Reuters news agency:

July 16, 2017 / 9:13 PM / 9 hours ago

Cairo police clash with Nile island residents, at least one dead, 56 injured

Amina Ismail

CAIRO (Reuters) – At least one person has been killed and dozens injured in clashes between police and residents of a Nile island in Cairo, when security forces attempted to demolish illegal buildings, the ministry of Interior said in a statement.

The violence erupted when police arrived at al-Warraq island on Sunday morning to eradicate encroachments on state-owned land, the statement said. …

Security forces withdrew from the scene to minimize losses, a police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, told Reuters.

“The mission failed from A-Z … there hasn’t been proper coordination,” he said. …

The island residents say they built their houses on this land over 30 years ago.

“We were born on this island … we have proof of ownership, our parents were born here.. they want to give it to the Emirates to build hotels,” said Marzouk Hany, 20, butcher, as he was marching along with hundreds in the funeral of the man who was killed.

In May Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi began a campaign to demolish thousands of buildings that were alleged to have been built illegally on state-owned land. …

About 90 thousand people live on the 1300 acres al-Warraq island, said Mahmoud Jaffar Salman, a former member of parliament for Giza, which the island is part of.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

“We are poor people,” says Abdallah Mohamed. “We must make every effort to get food on the table.”

On Al-Warraq island there is a lot of poverty. There is a large lack of facilities like clean water and good sewage. There are also no decent hospitals and the infrastructure leaves much to be desired.

In the time of President Mubarak, the government had already tried to drive the inhabitants away, but those attempts failed after resistance.