Members from the Steadfastness Convoy heading to Gaza to break the siege are staging a sit-in at the Ismailia checkpoint, announcing they will spend the night in the streets in protest of their forced eviction.
📍"عار عليكم .. انظروا إلى #مصر التي تمنع مسيرة سلمية بينما يُذبح الناس في غزة"
🔴شاب تركي يفضح تواطؤ نظام #السيسي بعد منعه النشطاء من المشاركة في #قافلة_الصمود الهادفة لكسر حصار #غزة، وترحيلهم بالقوة من #مطار_القاهرة.
BREAKING: Egypt has paid locals from the Ismaeli area in Cairo to assault March on Gaza activists
These paid agents assaulted, attempted to rob and threw garbage at international activists who travelled from all over the world to try and break the siege on Gaza by marching to the Rafah border.
The Egyptian regime was given orders by Israel to stop the activists and is now using various tactics to implement Israeli demands.
An update on #GlobalMarchToGaza - myself and many others including Canadians are being held up at a checkpoint between Cairo and Ismailia. Everyone’s passport has been taken. We have been told that no one is allowed to cross this checkpoint unless if they are Egyptian. People are not getting their passports back. Some have been waiting for hours. Some people have been told to get their passports back, they have to get on a bus to the airport to be deported. There are hundreds and estimated 1000 people at this checkpoint alone. People are rallying and chanting at this checkpoint - “Free Free Palestine”.
URGENT: Canadian physician @yipengGe, who is marching to the Rafah crossing, just told me he and many others — including Canadians — are being held up at a checkpoint between Cairo and Ismailia.
Everyone’s passport has been taken and they aren’t being allowed to cross.
🚨 BREAKING | Egyptian Authorities Violently Remove Global March to Gaza Protesters
The situation near Ismailia has escalated rapidly. According to organizer @Melaniebelizi, Egyptian forces are now physically removing protesters from the area and forcing them back onto buses.
In a video sent to Drop Site, Melanie reports that several people were beaten, including one woman struck in the face. “This is an emergency,” she said. “We need help.” She added that some protesters may be injured.
This follows hours of activists being held at a checkpoint, blocked from advancing toward the Rafah crossing.
More updates soon.
@globalmarchgaza
I recorded this video over an hour ago. We are still waiting at the checkpoint for our passports. Gaza must have food and water, Israel end the slaughter. This is why we are here. We have not broken any local Egyptian laws.
#GlobalMarchToGaza
⚡️Sources: One of the injured in the attack by thugs sent by Egyptian authorities against the Sumoud Convoy, after blocking their advance toward the Rafah crossing, was a Turkish Member of Parliament participating in the convoy.
BREAKING: Global March to Gaza organizers are urgently calling on all participants to return to Cairo immediately, citing escalating violence along the route.
@globalmarchgaza
An update on #GlobalMarchToGaza - People from all over the world, including Palestinians from the diaspora, attempted to leave Cairo today for Ismailia so we can gather as a group to meet one another from over 50 different country delegations. With the plan to continue the journey onwards towards Al Arish so we can march to the Rafah border crossing. This is all in solidarity with the Palestinian people who are now experiencing a telecommunications blackout on top of an ongoing famine and genocide that has lasted 20 months at the hands of Israel.
People came here to do this solidarity work knowing the risks and knowing how important bringing attention to ending the famine and stopping the genocide is. We have already seen people be detained and deported for simply being accused of participating in the march. Today, we saw more forms of repression like people being detained with their passports taken, not only at checkpoints but also when people were on their way to a hotel or walking on the street in Ismailia. More people were detained and deported today.
I have seen some messages about how this is not unexpected from Egypt, how foreigners are naive about Egypt, or simply messages of “I told you so, why even try?”. But here is the thing… we have to try. When we give up and we no longer try to help end a 20 month long genocide using all the ways possible within our power as ordinary citizens of this world, and as people of conscience of this world, what are we really giving up on? We aren’t just giving up on the Palestinian people, but we give up on the idea of shared humanity and collective responsibility in this world.
These people that came to Egypt to participate in this march come from all walks of life, but share this beautiful idea that we are collectively responsible for helping to change the conditions in this world so that they are better for everyone, especially for people who are most oppressed in this current moment.
I will leave you with what is currently on my mind. My friends who came with me from Ottawa on this trip are currently still detained and held on a bus for over 8 hours now with no timeline for release or deportation - they have done nothing wrong, and were simply pulled off the streets for being accused of being a part of the march. What are they sharing on their social media? What is on their minds? It’s not their release, nor their wellbeing that is top of mind. It is the genocide and the famine that is continuing in Gaza. That the oppression they are experiencing now pales in comparison to what Palestinians are going through everyday. I care about their wellbeing deeply, and I have been trying to get Canada to push for their safe release, but most of all, I am proud of them for their steadfastness and courage to do things despite the risk. To try and to not give up or give in to defeatism.
We must keep trying to break the siege, to end the blockade, and to stop the genocide. Gaza is the story, and has always been the story.
Ending genocide is a collective responsibility and a moral duty if we truly believe in shared humanity. That my life is not more valuable than a Palestinian’s life in Gaza. Even if the world sees it in such a way, we refuse to. And in fact, we understand the importance of using the privilege we do hold to put our bodies on the line so that we get closer to a world where Palestinians have their inherent rights to life, dignity, and self-determination respected in this world. This is why we are doing what we’re doing. Join us.
NOW: Egypt is holding up the Global March to Gaza at a checkpoint on their way to the Rafah border.
Many of the peaceful participants have been detained, harassed, physically harmed, and deported, physically harmed and deported.
More than 40 Canadians who were taking part in a global march to Gaza have been detained in Egypt and blocked from reaching the border of the war-torn enclave. https://t.co/zOujtzg0ir