EGYPT: At least 10 Sudanese migrants died when thousands of Egyptian riot police brutally evicted them from their protest camp in an affluent district of Cairo yesterday.
An estimated 2,000 Sudanese people had been camped for three months in Mustafa Mahmoud Square, Mohandiseen - in an upper middle class suburb where the UN high commissioner for refugees has an office - protesting about conditions in Egypt and seeking to be resettled in another country.
The attack began shortly before dawn when riot police fired a water cannon at the group. The authorities then negotiated with the protest leaders in between bursts from the water cannon. At about 5am police swarmed into the camp.
A reporter for the Associated Press who witnessed police attacking the refugees with truncheons said that in many cases they continued to beat the protesters even as they were being dragged away.
The reporter also saw two adults and a young girl, apparently three or four years old, being carried away unconscious. A medical worker in an ambulance said the girl was dead.
One protester being dragged away by two policemen was clubbed with a tree branch by a third officer. Egypt's interior ministry blamed protesters for the violence.
"Attempts were made to persuade them to disperse, but to no avail," the ministry said in a statement. "The migrants' leaders resorted to incitement and attacks against the police." The statement said 10 protesters died and 50 more were injured, "mostly elderly and children". It said 75 police were also injured.
According to the ministry, the casualties among protesters resulted from a stampede. The AP reporter saw no stampede but said the protesters could not flee because the camp was completely encircled by police.
"Protesters could be seen fighting back with long sticks that appeared to be supports for makeshift tents," the reporter wrote.
Officials at the South Centre, a Sudanese human rights monitoring group, said 1,280 protesters were put into buses and taken to three camps outside Cairo.
The migrants were thought to be a mixture of Muslims, Christians and animists from various parts of Sudan. They are believed to have included recognised refugees, asylum seekers and possibly some economic migrants.
"We're very shocked and saddened by what's transpired," said a UNHCR spokeswoman in Geneva. The protesters had been seeking resettlement in a third country "but that is not really in UNHCR's gift - it's dependent on a third country agreeing to take them", she said.
"We tried to maintain a dialogue with the protesters and there were several mediation attempts. What they seem to be saying is that conditions for them are tough in Egypt, but they are not in danger of being sent back [ to Sudan]. They can work in Egypt and have education." - (Guardian Service)