(Photo courtesy of Maheinour El Masry Facebook Page)
Protesters were arrested in front of Al-Raml police station in Alexandria on Friday night on charges of storming the police station, disrupting police work and attacking police officers, blocking traffic, and terrorising citizens.
Lawyers Maheinour El Masry, Amr Said, Mohamed Ramadan, Mohamed Samir, and Nasser Ahmed were among the detainees, in addition to journalist Youssef Shaaban.
“After negotiations it was agreed that protesters will be transferred to Al-Raml court to stand before the prosecutor,” lawyer Amr Imam said.
According to Ragia Omarn, the renowned human rights lawyer, Alexandria-based Lawyer Ayman Magdy said the Public Prosecutor requested from the head of the Borg Al-Arab prosecution to move the interrogation to Al-Raml district, but the latter refused.
Lawyers in solidarity with the detainees have decided to carry-out a sit in at Al-Raml Prosecution to protest said decision.
According to Ahmed El Mansi, all protesters were beaten during the protest and 13 were arrested.
“We did not attack the police station. Our numbers were fewer by night, and the security director Nasser Al-Abd was standing in our midst,” El Mansi added.
Ranwa Youssef tweeted that her clothes were torn and she was sexually harassed by Ministry of Interior (MOI) forces.
The MOI spokesperson refused to comment, saying that “the prosecution has heard no report of that incident”.
In an online statement, the MOI accused protesters of attacking security forces, causing injury to eight police officers and three recruits. Security forces therefore had to “use force to control the situation.”
The Lawyers Syndicate President Sameh Ashour has condemned the incident, describing it as a “massacre and thuggery against lawyers,” reported state-owned Al Ahram. He called for an emergency meeting on Monday in the General Syndicate Council to discuss responses against “the attack on lawyers”.
The Revolutionary Socialists (RevSoc) have organised a protest in front of Al-Bahareya Court in Al-Mansheya in solidarity with the detainees on Saturday morning. University students have organised a similar protest, according to Revsoc activist Hakeem Abdel Naeem.
A protest was scheduled to take place in front of the High Court in Cairo on Saturday afternoon in support of the detainees.
Three men were apprehended by members of the Muslim Brotherhood and taken to the police station to be arrested earlier on Friday in Alexandria. Violence began when an anti-Brotherhood and anti- Morsi march encountered members of the Brotherhood near Sidi Gaber train station, according to Al Dostour spokesperson in Alexandria Haitham El-Hariri.
