Warraq resident’s arrest reignites protests against state eviction campaign

Following the Monday arrest of a Warraq resident, dozens of fellow inhabitants of the Nile island held a half-hour protest late on Tuesday night, according to a source who attended the protest and spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity.

Protesters gathered in an area facing the entrance to a government real estate project on the island, guarded by police forces from within.

The protest marked escalating friction between security agencies and residents over recent weeks as state authorities renewed a years-old push to evict the island’s residents of their properties to make way for lucrative urban development plans.

The source, an active member of the island's anti-displacement movement, said that protesters chanted, "We won't leave our homes," demonstrating their continued opposition to the state's displacement campaign. The protest was broadcast live on social media on Tuesday night and clips garnered thousands of views. The source said the broadcast was intended to show the police that "Warraq residents are still steadfast" in their resistance to evictions.

The movement member said residents’ anger was fueled by concern over the return of violent police practices on the island.

On Monday, police on the island arrested a resident who was working to demolish a relinquished building on behalf of the state, accusing him of opening fire at individuals attempting to steal debris from the site. According to the source, the police conducted the arrest in a humiliating manner and assaulted the person’s mother during the process.

The source also described recent efforts by state security authorities to accelerate the eviction of Warraq’s residents. Speaking to Mada Masr, the source said that they were among several residents summoned by the National Security Agency in April to be informed of the supposedly "good news" that higher rates of compensation would be offered to residents consenting to relinquish their properties.

Security forces subsequently spread out on the island and attempted to collect consent forms, but were met with resistance, according to the source.

Authorities proceeded to persuade some residents to help them obtain forms, offering them LE1,000 per form. The intermediary would pay LE300 in turn to those who filled out a form.

The forms were then submitted to the Warraq development authority under the New Urban Communities Authority to create an impression that residents were willingly consenting to dispossession, the source said.

But videos exposing the coercion were posted online over recent days, showing individuals who had filled out forms for an intermediary stating that they had claimed they were willing to relinquish their properties even though they were not registered in their names. The source added that only 17 genuine forms were filled out in three months, although over 4,000 forms were handed to the Warraq development authority.

The renewed efforts to clear Warraq of its inhabitants came after years of push and pull between the state’s development drive and residents’ efforts to resist.

Following the government’s announcement of planned real estate projects on the island and its intention to evict residents, its first attempt to conduct demolitions in 2017 was met with protests that escalated into clashes between authorities and the residents, one of whom was killed.

Tensions resurfaced in 2022, during days-long clashes between the police and the island’s residents over the government’s unannounced attempt to measure buildings in preparation for their demolition.

Interior Ministry forces have maintained a presence on and around the island for years.