CAIRO: Attorney General of the North Damanhour prosecution office ordered the detainment of 36 people from El Shammasa village, Beheira, pending investigations into clashes with the police.
Attorney General Hani Salama ordered the release of eight juveniles.
El Shammasa residents are facing charges of resisting authorities, damaging public property, endangering citizens’ lives, causing riots, the assembly of more than five people and refusing to abide by an administrative order.
The police had arrested tens of villagers on Tuesday, following clashes with security forces that attempted to execute a decision to remove one of the residents’ homes.
The clashes resulted in the injury of three police officers and three car windows were smashed, including a police car.
The police reportedly used teargas and shot rubber bullets to disperse the crowds.
In response to the arrest of 17 villagers, the residents took their protest to the Damanhour highway. They reportedly cut it off by placing trees across the road and setting them on fire, which led to the obstruction of the road for three hours.
The police arrived later and reportedly dispersed the crowd again using teargas and rubber bullets. They also raided a number of homes and arrested 27 other residents.
The defense team filed a report to the attorney general, requesting investigations with security services accused of raiding residents’ homes and assault.
The attorney general referred all the injured defendants to forensics, in addition to examining their homes which were allegedly sabotaged by security forces.
