Egypt Security Cracks down on Relief Convoy Heading to Gaza, Cordons Doctors Syndicate

Egyptian police has blocked the relief convoy that left Cairo Wednesday morning with humanitarian and medical aid to the Gaza Strip, and assaulted two of the convoy activists, Ikhwanweb reporter said. Opposition leaders who went with the convoy have expressed their concern to Ikhwanweb that the convoy will return to Cairo after having no other option.  

The convoy is part of a national campaign to break the siege on Gaza with the collaboration of a variety of national Egyptian trends, including the Muslim Brotherhood.

Moreover, the doctors syndicate, from where the campaign was launched, is currently besieged by a heavy security blockade in what appears to be an intention by the government to crackdown on the campaign.  

The convoy (the first of two) consists of four buses, and was organized by the Labor Party  and the National Committee for Breaking Gaza Siege. It was stopped by security personnel on the entrance of the Suez Canal governorate of Al Ismailiyya.

Kefaya leader Dr. Yahia Gazzaz told Ikhwanweb that the convoy now has no other option but to return. The buses are heavily besieged by police, he said.

“Instead of assuming its duty in protecting citizens, Egyptian police has violently crackdown on our convoy, preventing our passengers from moving freely inside their homeland, and blocking any attempt to offer humanitarian and emotional aid to Gaza residents,” Gazzaz told Ikhwanweb.

Gazzaz also confirmed that police has assaulted two persons in the convoy and hit them violently without any obvious reason.

“This is absolutely a regime security apparatus, not a state security apparatus,” he said mockingly.

“The vehicles moved at 8.00 am, but we were stopped by heavy security blockade after we arrived at the entrance gate of Al Ismailiyya,” opposition leader Magdy Qorqor said in a phone call to the MB website.

“Police took the driving licenses of the drivers of the four buses and refused to return them, and then they gave us only three in an attempt to further delay our mission.”

Qorqor added that police officers asked them to submit a detailed list of the people on board, but he refused to do so, and the youth participating in the campaign went out of the buses and held a demonstration in protest.

Qorqor affirmed that the convoy does not intend to carry out any sort of violent protest.