More than 1 000 protesters — including sixteen South Africans — have converged on Cairo, and still hope to participate in the Gaza Freedom March (GFM).
But with the Egyptian government announcing a week ago that they would refuse them entry, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arriving on Tuesday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the protesters are becoming angry.
The protesters had planned to travel to al-Arish, the town closest to the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt, on Monday, and from there attempt to travel to Gaza, where they planned to march with Palestinians to the Erez crossing, the closed border between Israel and Gaza.
But when they arrived at the pick-up point, the buses did not arrive. Organisers said the government had threatened to revoke the permits of bus companies if they transported delegates.
Some protesters tried to make their own way to Rafah and bore the wrath of the Egyptian police. Thirty delegates were arrested in al-Arish on Sunday night when armed policemen stormed their hotel, and kept them under house arrest until Monday afternoon.
Two British citizens went missing on Monday on their way to Rafah, and they cannot be contacted. ‘There are seven police checkpoints in the 30km distance between al-Arish and Rafah,†said Haroon Wadee, a coordinator for the South African delegation, headed by Judge Siraj Desai.
But the protesters are certainly making the most of their time in Cairo, trying to put pressure on the Egyptian government as well as their own to enable the delegation to enter Gaza. On Sunday, some protesters hung a larger-than-life Palestinian flag over one of the pyramids at Giza.
On Monday about 300 French delegates protested outside the French Embassy in Cairo, where they were allegedly violently dispersed by riot police.
The atmosphere of protest was strong in Cairo, with about 500 delegates from countries including Great Britain, the Unites States, Libya, France, Italy and Canada, gathering at the United Nations office in Cairo’s World Trade Centre, also on Monday, to try and put pressure on the UN. ‘We want to ask the UN to intercede on our behalf,†said Medea Benjamin of GFM.
The South African delegation received a warm welcome when they arrived and held up a large Cosatu-branded banner. ‘Palestine is a core area of our work,†Crystal Dicks, Cosatu’s education secretary, told the Mail and Guardian. ‘It was important to ensure that Cosatu was involved in this march, to show that we are committed to the BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions] campaign.â€
At this demonstration, 85-year-old Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein embarked on a hunger strike.
There was a strong police presence at the demonstration and they appeared to be making a concerted effort to hide the protest from the Egyptian public, forming a human shield around the group, threatening arrests and appearing in riot gear. But the protest remained peaceful. ”They [the Egyptian police] are very nervous,” Ziyaad Lunat, a coordinator for GFM, told the M&G. ”What we are doing is illegal here, but they won’t interfere with us. This is us stepping up. We still want to go to Gaza.”