Egypt detains police officer over anti-regime, pro-Palestine chants
Several local human rights groups have said they had attempted to locate the protester, but security authorities denied having him in custody.
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Lebanese activists block the road leading to the Egyptian embassy in Beirut in protest against the closure of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, on February 19, 2024 [Getty]
The Egyptian authorities have reportedly detained a man who appeared in a viral video shouting anti-regime and pro-Palestinian slogans in Alexandria.
The man in the video is seen climbing a billboard in the busy Sidi Gaber neighbourhood in the Mediterranean city and shouting publicly against Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, accusing him of giving up the rights of the Palestinians of Gaza under a brutal, indiscriminate Israeli onslaught for the fifth consecutive month.
"Al-Sisi is a traitor and an agent [of Israel]…I'm not afraid of you, Sisi…Allah is great…Allah is great," chanted the man in the video being circulated widely on social media platforms.
The New Arab could not independently verify the footage.
Security forces beat the man up after they resorted to a fire truck ladder to force him to go down and then detained him, according to witnesses at the scene, quoted in Arabic language.
The current whereabouts of the protester remain unknown, but Egyptian social media carried claims he is a low-ranking police officer named Abdel-Gawad Mohamed.
Several local human rights groups contacted by TNA have said they had attempted to locate the protester in question, but security authorities denied they had him in custody.
Egypt is known for engaging in forced disappearances into black sites.
Since the Israeli war on Gaza erupted on 7 October last year, Egypt has been criticised for only allowing critically injured Palestinians and dual nationals to enter the country from the besieged coastal enclave.
Previous dissent over Gaza and the government's inaction has been suppressed.
North Sinai Governor Mohamed Abdel-Fadeel Shousha declared in February this year that about 10,000 people had arrived through the Rafah border crossing, Gaza's only access to the outside world.
Local and international rights groups have recurrently accused Sisi of overseeing Egypt's worst crackdown on human rights in decades, with thousands of his critics behind bars. Some suffered medical negligence and were left to die slowly, while dozens of others were executed.
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