Pro-Palestinian activists from Turkey and several other countries were blocked in Egypt and Libya on Friday while attempting to march to Gaza as part of a campaign to protest Israel’s blockade on the territory, organizers said.
“Forty participants of the Global March to Gaza have had their passports taken at a checkpoint on the way out of Cairo,” the organizers said in a statement. “They are being held in the heat and not allowed to move,” the statement added, noting that 15 more were being confined in hotels.
Activists in the group include citizens of Turkey, France, Spain, Canada and the United Kingdom.
“We are a peaceful movement, and we are complying with Egyptian law,” the group said, calling on foreign embassies to intervene to secure the activists’ release so they can complete the journey.
Later on Friday, video footage shared with AFP showed Egyptian security forces dispersing sit-ins. Protesters said some of the women were mishandled during the intervention.
“Women were molested and carried like cattle onto the bus,” said Florence Heskia, one of the protesters held on the road.
Another activist, identified only as Nadia, told AFP that authorities had confiscated their passports and were “pressuring us to board a bus to take us to the airport where we will be deported.”
The Global March to Gaza had previously announced plans to gather around 4,000 participants from over 40 countries in Cairo on Friday. The route called for travel by bus to the northern Sinai city of El-Arish, followed by a 50-kilometer march to the Gaza border. The group planned to camp near the border until June 19 before returning to the Egyptian capital.
Convoy halted in Libya
Separately, a convoy called Soumoud — Arabic for “steadfastness” — was stopped on Friday at the entrance to the Libyan city of Sirte, which is controlled by the forces of military commander Khalifa Haftar.
“The caravan was barred from passing through at the entrance to the city of Sirte,” said Tunisian activist Wael Naouar in a video posted on Facebook. The convoy includes around 1,000 activists from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania.
Naouar said the convoy needed authorization from Egyptian authorities to proceed. While some Libyan officials told him the group might be allowed through within hours, others said Egypt had denied access altogether.
“We will not turn back,” he said.
Meanwhile, in central Cairo, one person was arrested on Friday as activists attempted to stage a protest amid heavy security, according to an AFP journalist on the scene.
Organizers had said on Thursday that more than 200 activists were detained in Cairo, with some deported and others later released.
“We did not expect the violence with which many people were arrested, deported and threatened,” said Hichem Al Ghaoui, a coordinator of the march, in a TikTok video on Thursday.
Egypt’s foreign ministry has said that while it supports efforts to increase pressure on Israel, any groups traveling to the Gaza border must receive prior approval through official channels.