Interrogations begin for 24 detained protesters

The prosecution started interrogating 24 protesters in a Heliopolis court after they were arrested on Saturday evening while marching to the Ettehadiya Presidential Palace.

According to lawyer Marwa Farouk, who attended the interrogations with the defendants, they face charges of protesting without permit and vandalism.

Lawyer Osama al-Mahdy told Mada Masr that one of the detainees, who is currently completing his military service, will be referred to military prosecution.

A march against the Protest Law, which was passed last November, was attacked by alleged "thugs" and police forces Saturday evening. It was the first time protesters attempted to march to the presidential palace since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to office.

Eyewitnesses recount that shortly after the march started at the Al-Ahram metro station, people began throwing stones and glass at protesters, alongside police trucks that fired tear gas at them.

Lawyers attending the interrogations said that several of the detainees suffered minor injuries from the attack.

Eyewitnesses added that the protesters were arrested by civilians, who then handed them over to the police. Four journalists and several protesters were released, while those that remained in custody spent the night in two separate police stations.

Photos and videos of the march show unidentified individuals with knives and other melee weapons attacking the protesters, along with police tanks.  

The protest took place simultaneously with demonstrations across the world in solidarity with political detainees in Egypt, calling for the removal of the protest law.

Seven women, including activist Sanaa Seif, whose brother Alaa Abdel Fattah was detained earlier this month following a 15-year sentence in absentia on charges related to violating the Protest Law, are currently being interrogated.

According to a lawyer attending the interrogations, Seif is taking responsibility for her participation in the protest without a permit, a move that was meant to express her rejection of the contentious law.

Human rights researcher Yara Sallam is also among the detainees.

The April 6 Youth Movement issued a statement denouncing the attack on the peaceful protest, announcing that four of its members have been detained.

The group said that the attack was a clear sign that the Ministry of Interior has orders to eradicate any remaining signs of the January 25 revolution, asserting that all those who participated are from the revolution’s youth.

The movement added that the Ministry of Interior had the chance to arrest the alleged thugs who were standing near the protest, but chose to go for the protesters peacefully expressing their opinion.

Shehab Ismail, a historian and PhD student who was arrested with Sallam and later released, told Mada Masr that informers in civilian clothing picked them up from a kiosk where they were buying water after the protest was dispersed. Once in the police station, Ismail saw the same people who arrested him and Sallam there. Novelist Ahdaf Soueif, who participated in the march, also reported on her Twitter account that some protesters were arrested as they were trying to take taxis to leave the area.

Ismail says that the protesters were insulted in the truck on the way to the police station and were accused of being agents and members of the now banned April 6 Youth Movement. Once in the police station, they were reportedly told that they would be accused of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood if they did not confess to their participation in the protest.