(Sept. 24)More than 500 people have been arrested in Egypt after recent protests against President Abdel al-Sisi according to the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights who published a list of those detained.
Human rights activist among those arrested
A recent article notes: "They include Mahienour El-Massry, a leading human rights lawyer who was arrested outside the state security prosecutor’s headquarters on Sunday as she was leaving after visiting others in detention."
The protests
There were large protests in Cairo and other cities on Friday night. There were smaller protests on Saturday night in the port city of Suez. Protesters shouted "leave Sisi" and called for the fall of the regime. Sisi had arrived in New York Friday for the UN General Assembly meeting. There were protests outside the hotel where he was staying.
Mohamed Ali's critical videos
Exiled businessman Mohamed Ali had posted critical You Tube videos: "Mr Ali, also a film actor, claimed in the video clips that he was owed millions of pounds by the military for work he has done. He accused the military, the president and his family of corruption which cost the treasury billions of pounds. He also accused Mr El Sisi of squandering state funds on new presidential palaces and of giving the go-ahead to projects he described as unnecessary or not economically feasible."
Egypt has not only suffered from corruption and mishandling of money under Al-Sisi. The poverty rate has increased since Al-Sisi took power. A third of the populations is now said to live below the poverty line. These are the first major demonstrations to take place since Sisi ousted the Mohammed Morsi the democratically elected president.
Earlier demonstrations put down with many casualties
In August of 2013 huge demonstrations in support of the ousted president were brutally dispersed: "On 14 August 2013, Egyptian security forces and army under the command of general Abdel Fattah el-Sisi raided two camps of protesters in Cairo: one at al-Nahda Square and a larger one at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square. The two sites had been occupied by supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, who had been removed from office by the military a month earlier in a military coup d'etat against him. The camps were raided after initiatives to end the six-week sit-ins by peaceful means failed and as a result of the raids the camps were cleared out within hours.[8] The raids were described by Human Rights Watch as "one of the world's largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history".[9] According to Human Rights Watch, a minimum of 817 people and more likely at least 1,000 died during the dispersal.[10] However, according to the Egyptian Health Ministry, 638 people were killed on 14 August (of which 595 were civilians and 43 police officers) and at least 3,994 were injured.[6][11][12] The Muslim Brotherhood and the National Coalition for Supporting Legitimacy (NCSL) stated the number of deaths from the Rabaa al-Adawiya Mosque sit-in alone was about 2,600." Whatever the actual number killed it is clear that it was at the very least in the hundreds.
However, US president Trump is still a strong supporter of Al-Sisi a support he stressed at his meeting with him at the UN General Assembly meeting on Monday. Trump said that Egypt had a great leader when he was questioned about the recent protests.
Previously published in the Digital Journal
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