Egyptian police beat & injure 'Viva Palestina' convoy during Al Arish protest

Wednesday January 06, 2010 11:09 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

Protester beaten by Egyptian police (photo -Viva Palestina)

Several dozen people with the Viva Palestina convoy have reportedly been injured Tuesday evening after 2000 Egyptian riot police attacked a sit-in at the Port of Al Arish, where the convoy was re-routed on its way to the Gaza Strip.

520 people and 220 vehicles full of humanitarian aid have faced one obstacle after another, as the Egyptian government re-routed the convoy hundreds of miles from their original route through Aqaba, Jordan. When they finally arrived in Al-Arish, Egypt, almost a week behind their schedule, the Egyptian government walked out of negotiations with the convoy's organizers, saying that one quarter of the 220 vehicles would have to be re-routed yet again – through Israel. Viva Palestina organizers said that sending vehicles through Israel would result in the aid not reaching the people of Gaza as intended.

Most recently, the Viva Palestina convoy has reported that at least 11 convoy members have been arrested by Egyptian police and several dozen have been injured, when Egyptian riot police moved in on a non-violent sit-in held by the activists to challenge the refusal of ¼ of the humanitarian aid that they have collected for the people of Gaza.

Alexandra Lort-Phillips, 37, from North London, said, “I have 42 people in my team, and out of those three Britons have been injured. There are head injuries, cuts. We started getting pelted with stones by people in plain clothes, then the police started moving in, using tear gas and batons. People were quite severely beaten.”

British Parliament Member George Galloway, who is leading the convoy, told reporters Tuesday evening, “It is completely unconscionable that 25% of our convoy should go to Israel and never arrive in Gaza.”

This is an update from the following press release from Viva Palestina posted Tuesday afternoon:

Viva Palestina Faced With 2,000 Riot Police In The Port Of Al-arish To all friends of Palestine, Our situation is now at a crisis point! Riot has broken out in the port of Al- Arish. This is a press release by Viva Palestina.

This late afternoon we were negotiating with a senior official from Cairo who left negotiations some two hours ago and did not return. Our negotiations with the official were regarding taking our aid vehicles into Gaza. He left two hours ago and did not come back. Egyptian authorities called over 2,000 riot police who then moved towards our camp at the port. We have now blocked the entrance to the port and we are now faced with riot police and water cannons and are determined to defend our vehicles and aid. The Egyptian authorities have by their stubbornness and hostility towards the convoy, brought us to a crisis point.

TV: Egyptian soldier shot dead on Gaza border

Published today (updated) 06/01/2010 15:44

Gaza – Ma’an –

An Egyptian soldier was shot dead along the border with the Gaza Strip following clashes with Palestinians on Tuesday, Egyptian state television reported.

Earlier, twelve Palestinians were injured during clashes with Egyptian police along the border after a demonstration against perceived Egyptian complicity in an Israeli-led blockade.

The Hamas movement called for a mass demonstration along the border denouncing what they said was an attack on international activists who were bringing aid to Gaza.

Following the demonstration, some 50 people broke away from the crowd of hundreds, pelting Egyptian troops with stones.

The soldiers opened fire on the crowd, wounding two people, according to medics. Ten people were also hurt in a stampede of protesters fleeing the gunfire. Ambulances raced to the scene to retrieve the wounded.

A Ma’an reporter saw Hamas security officers moving in on pickup trucks, forming a cordon in between the protesters and the border. The officers ordered the protesters to disperse through loudspeakers, warning that provocateurs were trying to escalate the protest into a clash with Egypt.

Egyptian security sources told a Ma’an journalist in Al-Arish that a state of alert was declared on the border, and hundreds of troops were sent to the area known as Salah Ad-Din.

On Tuesday night more than 50 international activists were wounded in clashes with riot police in the Egyptian port town of Al-Arish, some 40 kilometers from Gaza. Police threw stones and trained water cannons on more than 500 members of the Viva Palestina convoy, including British MP George Galloway.

Members of the convoy said they blocked the entrance to the Al-Arish port when the Egyptian government demanded that some vehicles of the convoy enter Gaza through an Israeli checkpoint.

British MP George Galloway, who was travelling with the convoy, said Israel was likely to block the shipment of aid.

"It is completely unconscionable that 25% of our convoy should go to Israel and never arrive in Gaza," Galloway told Reuters news agency.

Hamas angrily denounced the violence. “This attack shows that there is no Egyptian will to end blockade or even deliver aid to the besieged people in the Gaza Strip,” movement spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

Israel sealed its borders with Gaza following Hamas’ June 2007 takeover of the territory, causing shortages of vital goods, including fuel and all but 36 types of food items. Gaza’s 1.5 million residents are also largely banned from travelling.

Egypt has come under fire recently for playing a role in the blockade, including building a steel wall along its border with Gaza to cut off smuggling tunnels dug to import goods made scarce by the siege. The wall has also strained relations between Hamas and Egypt.

Egypt however dismissed Hamas’ criticism on Tuesday.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Husam Zaki said Fawzi Barhoum’s comments “were sarcastic.”

He told the London-based Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, “Barhoum’s comments about Egyptian security violating sovereignty of 40 countries who have representatives in the Lifeline convoy mean that Barhoum has no idea about the meaning of sovereignty, and if he has any idea, I herby tell him that Egypt’s sovereignty is above all.”

“Does sovereignty mean demolishing the main gate of Al-Arish terminal? Or does it mean damaging platforms to use the tiles as stones to pelt them at Egyptian security?” Zaki said.

He added, “I am sure that if Egyptian authorities had allowed entry of the fancy private cars which are part of the convoy, he would have changed his mind. If these cars which will eventually serve the upper class in Gaza were allowed, he wouldn’t have said what he said.”

55 activists injured in clashes in Egypt

Press TV, Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:16:54 GMT

 
Around 55 people have been injured in clashes between Egyptian riot police and Viva Palestina activists at the Egyptian port of El-Arish.

The scuffles broke out after Egypt said it would not allow 59 humanitarian assistance trucks of the Viva Palestina convoy to enter Gaza.

Talks in which a delegation of Turkish lawmakers sought to convince Egyptian officials to change their minds proved fruitless.

The convoy arrived in El-Arish to attempt to break the siege of Gaza.

Earlier, Cairo had said it would only allow 157 members of the Viva Palestina convoy, which is led by British politician George Galloway, to drive to Gaza. However, later the Egyptian government agreed to allow 400 of the group's volunteers entry to the Gaza Strip.

The convoy has over 200 vehicles laden with basic food items and medical supplies.

Hamas: Egypt has no will to end Gaza blockade

Published today (updated) 06/01/2010 16:31

Gaza – Ma’an –

Egypt has no desire to aid Palestinians living under siege, Hamas said on Tuesday, after Egyptian forces wounded dozens of international activists bringing aid to Gaza.

“The Egyptian security’s attack on the Lifeline convoy in the Al-Arish port, injuring dozens of them, is plainly an attack on the forty Arab, Islamic and European countries represented by the convoy,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement.

“This attack shows that there is no Egyptian will to end blockade or even deliver aid to the besieged people in the Gaza Strip,” he added.

More than 50 people were reported injured when Egyptian riot police threw stones and trained water cannons on more than 500 members of the Viva Palestina convoy, including British MP George Galloway.

The protest reportedly began when Egypt demanded some of the vehicles in the convoy enter Gaza through an Israeli-controlled crossing point.

Galloway, who was travelling with the convoy, said Israel was likely to block the delivery of aid.

Hamas, which controls the local government in Gaza, denounced the violence as “a scandal.”

“This convoy came to perform a humanitarian task and attacking it is something inhuman,” Barhoum said.

“It is strange how Israelis can move freely in Egypt backed by Egyptian security while Gazans are dying due to blockade and even supporters are prevented from standing with them,” he said.

Israel sealed its borders with Gaza following Hamas’ June 2007 takeover of the territory, causing shortages of vital goods, including fuel and all but 36 types of food items. Gaza’s 1.5 million residents are also largely banned from travelling.

Egypt has come under fire recently for playing a role in the blockade, including building a steel wall along its border with Gaza to cut off smuggling tunnels dug to import goods made scarce by the siege.

European organizations, Turkish masses protest Egyptian assault

[ 06/01/2010 - 10:34 AM ]

LONDON, (PIC)--

An alliance of solidarity with the Palestinian people in Europe has called for demonstrations in front of the Egyptian embassies in a number of European capitals to protest the Egyptian security authorities' assault on members of the international aid convoy Lifeline-3 in El-Arish on Tuesday night.

The alliance, grouping 14 European organizations, said that the rallies would take place at the same time in a bid to pressure Cairo into halting the blackmail against the Lifeline convoy and to protest the savage assault on its members.

The alliance, in a press release, predicted that thousands would attend the sit-ins including Palestinian and Arab communities in addition to foreign sympathizers and human rights groups.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Turkish people gathered in front of the Egyptian consulate in Istanbul after midnight Tuesday to denounce the Egyptian assault, which injured many of the international solidarity activists.

A number of angry protestors threw stones at the consulate building and threatened to storm the premises in the event the Egyptian authorities attacked the convoy anew.

The convoy includes five Turkish lawmakers and tens of Turkish trucks.