Cairo, January 22nd 2019

The Arabic ANHRI condemns the arrest of a number of residents of Nazelet al-Semman including more than 20 residents of the neighborhood yesterday.

Yesterday morning, security forces dispersed a peaceful protest by dozens of residents of the area of Nazelet al-Semman to protest the “Slum Clearance” decisions to remove their homes in Haram (The Pyramids) district of Giza.

Security forces used teargas to disperse protesters, causing a number of casualties, including cases suffering from injuries, fractures, and suffocation in Haram Hospital, and arrested more than 20 tourist guides and bazar owners for obstructing the implementation of the removal orders.

It’s worth mentioning that the Egyptian authorities have been conducting a wide campaign to remove entire lands and neighborhoods, that are private property of their owners, in order to resell them to Arab investors, without providing adequate compensation to the owners and inhabitants, as what happened before in the area of the Maspero Triangle, and in other areas.

Also, 22 residents of Al Warraq area are still detained pending the court’s decision, with charges of “demonstrating and stirring up riots”, against the background of the demonstrations organized by the residents of Al Warraq during the attempts to evacuate some of their homes on July 16th 2017, and resulted in the killing of a citizen and injuring dozens of people. The authorities have already evacuated the area of the Maspero Triangle.

ANHRI said: “Citizens protesting yesterday in Nazelet Al-Semman only exercised their right to peaceful assembly as provided for in both the Constitution and the law. Their arrest against the background of that peaceful assembly is considered a violation of the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Moreover the implementation of the removal order without providing adequate compensation or replacement is a form of enforced displacement. ”

ANHRI also demands the release of all those arrested from Nazelet al-Semman, against the background of their peaceful protest yesterday, and the cease of the execution of the removal orders until there’s either an adequate compensation or a suitable alternative.

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