Police detain 7 residents of Warraq island, assaults residents protesting against island’s siege

Seven residents of Warraq Island have been held in police custody since Tuesday night, after residents held a protest against a siege imposed on the island by security forces, three sources from the island told Mada Masr on the condition of anonymity.

Security forces began arresting people at the Tuesday night protest, and clashed with the protesters afterwards, the sources said.

The clashes were described as the most violent to occur on the Nile island where residents have been locked for years in a dispute with state and security forces who have sought to prevent further real-estate development on the island, evictions and expropriation of people’s homes.

The demonstration began on Tuesday with a number of residents gathering in the area outside the police checkpoint stationed in Warraq al-Hadar, under the Tahya Masr bridge, to protest the continuing siege imposed on the island.

At the same time, four residents who were heading to take the ferry to reach the island to the river bank were arrested.

When the residents learned of the arrests, the demonstration intensified. Police forces responded by firing heavily at the protesters using birdshot and tear gas against the crowd before arresting three more of the residents in attendance, the three sources said.

The demonstrations expanded even more upon the further arrests, reaching the area of the government housing project, which the residents attempted to storm.

“The extreme violence from the police and the heavy use of tear gas resulted in injuries that we were unable to count, especially since the police were deliberately firing tear gas at the level of the protesters’ bodies, in a way that would lead to direct injuries, not just firing in the air to disperse us,” one of the sources said.

The clashes, which lasted for hours, subsided late in the evening after police informed protesters that they intended to release the seven detainees. The seven had not been released as of the time of writing.

One of the sources noted that they were able to establish contact with two of the detainees, who had informed the source that they were mistreated by the police, who threatened them with prolonged detention if the Warraq residents did not stop posting footage of the clashes.

The past months have witnessed frequent demonstrations by the residents of Warraq to protest a security-enforced blockade restricting the delivery of construction materials to the Nile island. 

Similar security tactics were deployed during two campaigns undertaken by authorities to measure buildings in preparation for their confiscation and demolition, which were met with resistance by the residents.

The ban on materials reaching the island is the latest chapter in a tussle between residents and the state, which has sought for years to evict those living on the island in order to undertake urban development projects.