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Security Forces Detain GFM Marchers

[I will cross-post some more inter­est­ing and literate stuff tomorrow; today, information]

    What: American citizens detained at U.S. Embassy by Egyptian Security Forces
    When: Tuesday December 29, 2009, 12 PM

    Egyptian security forces have detained approx­i­mately 25 American citizens inside and 7 or 8 American citizens outside the US embassy compound in Cairo, Egypt.

    Gathered in Cairo as part of the Gaza Freedom March, a coalition of over 1400 inter­na­tion­als from over 40 countries, the US marchers went to the American embassy to beseech their help to facil­i­tate the nego­ti­a­tions with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry in gaining entrance to Gaza with their human­i­tar­ian aid.

    Almost imme­di­ately, security forces converged on their position. After calling the American Embassy 5 or 6 times, Gael Murphy one of the orga­niz­ers of the Gaza Freedom March was asked by embassy staff to where the citizens were willing to be moved. Murphy says that this “suggests the American embassy is respon­si­ble” for calling Egyptian Security Forces to the compound to protect it from peaceful American citizens.
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The Gaza Freedom March Loves the Egyptian Government

28-12-2009
Cairo--All 32 members of the Greek del­e­ga­tion and 130 members of the French delegation–the latter had a letter from their gov­ern­ment autho­riz­ing onward travel to Rafah–attempted to leave Cairo and head to the border crossing.

In 3 buses, they attempted the bus journey to el-Arish. The Egyptian government–meaning the secret police, the security forces, and the army– stopped them just out of Cairo. They stayed for 3 hours. The French team nego­ti­ated directly with the gov­ern­ment. After nego­ti­a­tions, they went back to Cairo proper, with a heavy police escort, perhaps 30 total. The Greek/French convoy requested to be dropped off in front of the Circle Hotel, where they had pre-arranged a meeting with jour­nal­ists. They were let off there with a police escort, but were not allowed to stay there. In turn, the police ushered them back onto the bus, in order to prevent com­mu­ni­ca­tions with jour­nal­ists. They tell me that their hotel is full of police, asking questions, harassing. What fun.

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French Activists, Not Bad

What: A con­tin­gent of several hundred French activists takes over the boulevard in front of the French embassy, demanding buses to go to Rafah

When: Sunday, December 28, late evening. A group of French activists from the sol­i­dar­ity group EuroPales­tine take over Mourad Street, the boulevard in front of the French Embassy in Cairo, next to the Four Seasons Hotel. They occupied the street with tents for 4 hours, stopping traffic, demanding buses to take them to the Gaza strip, forcing the French Ambas­sador to come and negotiate on their behalf.

29-12-2009
The French sol­i­dar­ity group Europales­tine, part of the Gaza Freedom March, a group of 1,400 activists from 42 countries, con­gre­gated in Cairo after the Egyptian gov­ern­ment barred their entry to the Gaza strip.

The inter­na­tional coalition had intended to take part in a non-violent demon­stra­tion with 50,000 Pales­tini­ans to com­mem­o­rate Israel’s Cast Lead operation and protest the ongoing blockade. When Egypt refused to give them per­mis­sion to board buses for the Rafah crossing, the French group, over 300 strong, sprung into action, occupying Avenue Charles de Gaulle—Mourad Street—in front of the French Embassy and demanding that their ambas­sador take action.

Dozens of armored police transport vehicles line the far side of the boulevard. Hundreds of riot cops with Plexiglas shields are blocking the French activists in. Red water cannons sit on the other side of the street. The French activists are talking with the riot police, asking them about their pro­fes­sions and their children. There are on-going nego­ti­a­tions, but they insist that they will not leave until they have buses that will take them to Rafah. According to Olivia Zemor, the coor­di­na­tor of the French group, “we are waiting for the buses, we are staying in front of the French embassy, even if it’s not com­fort­able, it’s much more com­fort­able than Gaza.” The Gaza Freedom March coor­di­na­tors have put out a call to action for all to join them in front of the French Embassy.

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En Route to Cairo

28-12-2009
I’m in Amsterdam, on a really, really long layover on my way to Cairo. Will arrive at around 2 AM, Cairo time. Egypt has barred all political demon­stra­tions and any un-permitted political activity.

A demon­stra­tion under Egyptian law is any group of more than six people gathering, pre­sum­ably in a public place, which makes ori­en­ta­tion sessions fairly difficult. Alongside of our problems the Viva Palestina convoy is stalled, too, at Aqaba, in Jordan. The Egyptian gov­ern­ment is forcing it to re-route all the way to el-Arish, ordering it to go all along the exterior of the Sinai Peninsula and in turn through the Suez Canal, instead of the short hop over to Nuweiba.

You can call or write your embassies and con­sulates, again, e-mail or, better, call your representatives/parliamentarians to push them to allow the Gaza Freedom March into Gaza. You can follow me on Twitter here for the blow-by-blow, as much as I can tolerate (not being a very assiduous Twitterer), follow the Gaza Freedom March on Twitter here, or follow the Gaza Freedom March official blog here.

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