Protesters arrested in Egypt
2005-03-11 18:09
El Arish, Egypt - Police on Friday arrested seven activists protesting against the mass detention of suspects in last year's Sinai resort bombings, police officials said.
Hundreds of Bedouin men and women led the demonstrators gathered in this northern Sinai town to protest against the detention of their relatives, taken into custody after the October 7 hotel bombings in Taba and Ras Shitan that killed 34 people.
The protesters shouted anti-government slogans and demanded release of the detainees. Seven people were taken into custody, a police official said on condition of anonymity.
Human rights groups claim Egyptian authorities have arrested some 2 400 people in the wake of the bombing, the first significant terror attacks in the country since 1997.
The Egyptian government has since released some detainees, but has never revealed how many people it has in custody.
The group of about 400 men and women began their protest after Friday Muslim prayers, congregating in El Arish's main square. Police intervened to stop them from gathering and later scuffled with the male protesters. El Arish is 350km northeast of Cairo.
"You, the government of our country, where are our sons?" demonstrators demanded as they marched through streets in the desert town which borders the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Men in traditional Bedouin robes and red chequered headdress and black-clad women also called for an international probe into the arrests, claiming their relatives were innocent of any involvement in the attacks.
It was the third organised demonstration in three months by the relatives; they marched through the streets last Friday, and during a protest in January three policemen and about ten protesters were injured in clashes.
Last month Human Rights Watch said the government had yet to release the detainees' names, their locations, or whether they'd been charged. The human rights organisation also accused police of torturing some of the detainees.
Eleven detainees were released this month, and 90 were freed last month.
Egyptian authorities have cracked down on Bedouins living in the Sinai since the October attacks to try and find those responsible.
Egyptian security forces engaged in shootouts with militants in the Sinai hills last month, killing three suspects. The government has said that five others implicated in the bombings are in custody.
- SAPA