Officially sanctioned protests back state position on assault on Gaza

Students went out to demonstrate for the first time in years on Wednesday hours after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned Israel and “anyone who cares about peace in the region” about the potential of millions in Egypt protesting.

Sisi’s speech came amid an outpouring of public anger and condemnation in the region after the devastating impact of the Israeli bombing at Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital which killed at least 471 people and injured 314. 

On the 11th day of an offensive that has killed over 3,000 and deprived the enclave’s population of food, water and fuel, Sisi rejected on Wednesday the possibility of the strip’s population being displaced into Egypt saying that popular protests would break out to reject the scheme.

In what appeared to be a prompt response, parties organized demonstrations in public squares and a number of state-supported charitable organizations also held demonstrations. Scenes broadcast by domestic media outlets showed hundreds of students gathering at universities in Alexandria, Mansoura, Fayoum, the American University in Cairo and in 6th of October City, the first gatherings of their kind to take place within Egypt after almost a decade of heavy prohibition and securitization of public protest. 

A sit-in at the Rafah border crossing, where humanitarian aid convoys have been waiting for days to reach Gaza, was also announced by several state-affiliated charitable organizations.

The apparently state-sanctioned demonstrations come as Egypt staves off enormous pressure to take in thousands of displaced Palestinians from besieged Gaza into Sinai — a demand that Israel and the United States have reiterated over recent days.

Despite a United Nations warning about the decline in humanitarian conditions in Gaza, aid convoys have not been allowed to enter the strip for over a week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that, following a visit from US President Joe Biden, Israel would not block limited humanitarian aid from entering the enclave via Egypt, but that it would not allow aid in from the Israeli-held side until the hostages who were taken in the unprecedented Hamas operation last week are returned. Egypt is yet to comment on the apparent permission.

Egypt has escalated its tone over recent days regarding the closure of the Rafah border crossing, with Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry telling news outlets Tuesday that Israeli airstrikes have kept the border closed despite Egypt’s readiness to deliver humanitarian supplies to the strip. 

“Repeated Israeli bombing” of the Rafah crossing has prevented aid deliveries, said Sisi during a diversion from the press readout during a conference Wednesday morning, adding that if the situation called for it, he could mobilize millions of Egyptians to protest against the calls for displacing Palestinians to Egypt. During the piece-to-camera in Cairo following a one-on-one with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Sisi said, “You will see millions on the streets in rejection of this idea and in support of the Egyptian position.”

Near the Rafah crossing, where some 106 aid trucks are stranded awaiting orders to enter Gaza, drivers and volunteers affiliated with the National Alliance of Civil Work and the government’s poverty assistance program Hayah Karimah announced a sit-in, in what appeared to be a very prompt response to the president’s speech. Dressed all in black, the truckers were photographed standing in front of a banner bearing the slogan “resolute until relief.”

Over the ensuing hours, a wave of support emerged along with proclamations of faith in the president to act on behalf of the public “in support of the Palestinian cause.” Dozens of members of the public got air time on Extra News to say that they mandated Sisi to stand against the displacement of Palestinians. A statement by the Acting Professions Syndicate said that, on the basis of “our and the Egyptian masses’ full conviction that supporting the June 30 national project is for the protection of Egyptian and Arab national security, we declare our response and support to the president’s call.” A similar statement emerged just 10 minutes later from the Education Professions Syndicate.

Next to stand in line was the Egyptian Parties Alliance, a group of 42 parties that were among the first to request that Sisi run for reelection in December’s presidential ballot, announcing that they granted mandate to the president to do on their behalf “what he sees fit” for the “protection of national security.” Other parties outside the pro-state coalition also announced their support, including the Free Egyptians Party, the People’s Protectors Party, the Nour Party and the Congress Party, in addition to unprecedented support from the liberal, leftist and Nasserist parties in the Civil Democratic Movement.

The majority-holding Nation’s Future Party went a step further, calling on all its members nationwide to organize “demonstrations in solidarity with the Palestinian people and in support of the position of the political leadership in all the main squares of each governorate, carrying the flags of Egypt and Palestine, along with pictures of Sisi,” according to a text message sent by the organizational secretary of the party’s Alexandria chapter, Khaled Shalaby, of which Mada Masr saw a copy.

In what seemed like a response to the NFP calls, protests took place at public squares in Kafr al-Sheikh, 6th of October City’s Hosary and Assuit’s Mahatta, with attendees denouncing Israel’s violations against the Palestinians, while dozens, some of them holding pictures of Sisi, organized a demonstration outside Matrouh Governorate’s main office carrying Palestinian flags. There were no clear signs the protest was organized by Nation’s Future except for the participation of MP Hassan Abu Qadira, a Mada Masr correspondent observed.

In Mansoura, a protest of mostly young people began in the governorate’s main square, chanting for Palestine and the resistance, before buses loaded with employees and residents of the villages surrounding the city arrived in buses at 5 pm, before the chants slowly shifted to mostly in support of the president and the Armed Forces with some mentions of Palestine as most of the young people left, an eyewitness told Mada Masr.

At the same time, hundreds of university students were allowed to protest inside the universities in support of the Palestinian cause for the first time in nearly a decade. Some of the demonstrations came after a call for protest, while others were spontaneous, sources in the student unions told Mada Masr. The demonstration in Damanhour University was called by the university’s official page, while marches also took place at Mansoura and Fayoum universities.

While the time and space allowed for most of these protests were limited, some of them broke out of the universities and into the streets despite security agents trying to stop them, as happened in the universities of Cairo, Alexandria and Minya.

Protests were also held at the American University in Cairo, a week after students organized demonstrations in support of the Palestinian people.

Hundreds of journalists and activists also gathered today in the vicinity of the Journalists Syndicate in downtown Cairo, after syndicate chair Khaled al-Balshy called on syndicate members to protest last night in light of the attack on Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital, ahead of Sisi’s apparent green light for protests. The protestors, surrounded by security barricades erected by the police, called for opening the Rafah crossing and ending the Camp David peace treaty with Israel.

Dozens of lawyers also organized protests in Alexandria, Gharbiya and the Khanka area in Qalyubiya.