Our National Shame
The stand-off between the Egyptian security forces and the sudanese refugees ended up being more deadly than originally imagined: At least 20 sudanese died in the clashes. This is the kind of violence that took place: In a showdown played out during the first five hours of Friday, the protesters dismantled their plastic sheeting and cardboard, but most refused to leave on buses brought in to take them to camps elsewhere in Cairo.
Shortly before dawn, thousands of riot police encircled the camp, set up near the refugee agency to draw attention to the refugees' demands. Police fired water cannons at the protesters, then invaded the park when the Sudanese refused to leave.
Protesters could be seen fighting back with long sticks that appeared to be supports for makeshift tents.
Police beat the unarmed migrants with batons, continuing to hit them even as they were being dragged to the buses. One officer carried a girl of about 3 or 4 years old who was unconscious. An ambulance worker said the girl was dead.
A policeman clubbed a Sudanese man with a tree branch as two officers hauled the refugee away.
And what's the response of the interior ministery?The Egyptian Interior Ministry said it had acted in part after the UNHCR asked for protection because it had received "threats to attack the commission offices and its members."
The Interior Ministry blamed the violence on the Sudanese and said the dead and injured were victims of a stampede.
Of course. The Police is never at fault huh? I bet the Sudanese government will have something to say about this:
Sudanese Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ali Ahmed Kerti, speaking to reporters in Cairo before returning to Khartoum, joined Egyptian authorities in blaming the refugees, some of whom "sought to escalate the situation with no regard to the consequences," Egypt's MENA news agency reported.
Oh. Nevermind! And don't develop any conspiracy theories either: Just because the refugess were christians and the government is controlled majorly by muslims has nothing to do with its blaming their own people response or anything. After all, the sudanese government isn't secterian or biased against the christians or anything. Right? Right? Riiighhht! Sigh... Nora Younis has a first hand eye-witness account of the clashes with pictures that's a must read. Make sure you check it out!
posted by The Sandmonkey @ 12/31/2005 12:16:00 AM
5 Comments:
That was simply the saddest and most rivetting account I've heard. I saw some AP jackoff write some excuse for the UNHCR saying that the civil war had ended and intimating they were right not to consider them refugees.
What a bunch of bullshit.
I know that ur probably all hyped up because u witnessed this urself, also it seems that you have a sudanese women working for u or what not, but i think ur being a bit byass. 1st: The UN supposedly did whatever they could, they couldnt send them to third countries like the US and Canada, but they did reach a compromise with the leaders of the group, that said, they should have left last week already, thats one thing that accounts as their fault. Second: We let them spend 3 months on that turf, that is probably the longest sit it i have ever heard of, that said, u should also keep in mind that all this time the police forces guarding them were pretty damn pissed and might i add, scared shitless(talked to a couple of policemen at the site last month, turns out they were friends of three of the policemen that died during the last outbreak the sudanese had with the UNHR in cairo)....anyway, to justify the excessive force used by the police, would be at the very least inhumane since 20 innocent people died, but to claim that these people were brave and fought back?no screw that, they should have freakin left if they cared about their lives...the police warned them once, twice, obviously the egyptian police were about to end it, now to stand defiant against that with ur baby in ur shoulder?
not a very responsible act, and they should be blamed as well...
yo sm that was a response to nora,
nora the blogger u linked.......
Anon...where were they supposed to go? That is the question. To some detention center out of sight out of mind so when they got shipped back to Sudan to be slaughtered we can pretend that it was their fault for being born Sudanese, right, and we don't have to worry about them. At least they are no longer making an unsitely camp in the park where you had to see their misery.
Nice.
Kat et all,
They were offered safe haven in Sudan it is not true that they will be slaughtered if they go back. There is no excuse for 20 something people to die. This is the kind of Gov. The US is not fighting and calling it democratic.
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