Egypt prevents aid convoy to Gaza under Isarel siege

Egypt prevents aid convoy to Gaza under Isarel siege

Egyptian police prevented an aid convoy carrying medical supplies to the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip and arrested at least 30 activists on Monday, security officials said.

 
Police detained leading activists in the border town of Rafah and in Cairo, where a bus was about to leave for the border from in front of the Journalists Syndicate, a popular gathering point for demonstrations.
 
The detainees include prominent activists Magdi Ahmed Hussein in Rafah and Mohamed Abdel Qaddous in Cairo, as well as at least 20 others, the sources said.
 
The campaigners, including judges, independent MPs, members of the main opposition Muslim Brotherhood and other parties, want to protest the continued closure of the Rafah crossing by Israel and Egypt.
 
The organizers had prepared trucks loaded with supplies but none of them were able to cross the Suez Canal, which divides the Sinai peninsula from the rest of Egypt, the sources added.
 
Hussein told Reuters by telephone that he and 17 others had reached the Rafah crossing point but police detained him and five of his colleagues. The others escaped, he added.
 
Police prevented a similar effort by Islamists to take supplies to Gaza on Sept. 10.
 
The Egyptian government collaborates with Israel, which is meant to undermine support among Gaza Palestinians for the Islamist movement Hamas, which runs the territory.
 
But Egyptians oppose the government's pro-Israel policy.
 
PHOTO CAPTION
 
Egyptian riot police surround activists as they gather near the Egyptian Journalists' Syndicate to protest against the blockade of the Gaza Strip, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Oct. 6, 2008.
 
Agencies

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