Cym Gomery, organizer of World BEYOND War’s chapter in Montreal, Canada, has traveled with the Canadian delegation of the March to Gaza, now in Egypt trying to reach Gaza. Cym has sent reports and videos:
On the morning of the 13th, delegates headed in taxis to a remote site in the Sinai desert. There were three military checkpoints: at the first some delegates were turned back and forced into a bus that left them in Cairo; those of us that made it to a third checkpoint were stopped and all our passports were confiscated… about 1200 of us gathered and were gradually encircled by the Egyptian military. At that point we were told we could turn back or “risk being arrested”—about 50 people left and were bussed back to Cairo. Those remaining chanted and talked among ourselves and the time passed quickly despite the desert heat. We had some water but no food. Over time one by one we recovered our passports.
It seemed as though they were deliberately making it complicated by returning the passports randomly over many hours — if you were not close at the moment they called your name, it went back to the bottom of the pile.
Manuel the Canadian rep and other national delegation reps were negotiating with the Egyptian authorities and I am sure many Israelis as well. We heard that Iran had bombed tel aviv. Around 11 pm we were told that the delegations had been given the choice to turn back or risk arrest…the Canadian reps wanted to turn back. Personally I and a few others wanted to stay but we were told we had to be loyal to the group decision. So we all went back to Cairo and the plan for the next days is uncertain as I write this. . . .
An update from today regarding the Canadian delegation is: A new evolving issue that happened today. Our lead of organizing for the delegation, Manuel Tapial and another person was detained and arrested by police at their hotel this afternoon. Over 6 hours ago they were both taken by police around 4pm local time. The other person has been deported and is out of the country now. But Manuel remains detained and his whereabouts are completely unknown still. There were witnesses to this happening, and their phones were confiscated and wiped clean with possible new SIM cards inserted. We have reached out to the Canadian embassy in Cairo without any clear response currently.
Here’s a report on June 14 from another delegate and there is a meeting today for next steps:
Yesterday, on June 14 at 2:30pm, there was a meeting between a few delegates of the Canadian group on the 11th floor terrace of Hotel Amin where Manuel Tapial was a guest and staying at. Around 3:24pm when the meeting wrapped up, and people began to leave the meeting, Baya who is Manuel’s wife was the first one to leave and shrieked, followed by both of them being dragged away by Egyptian police. This took place on the 11th floor of Hotel Amin. For the other witnesses who saw this happen and tried to take photos/videos with their phones, their phones were confiscated by the Egyptian police. The phones were eventually returned but factory reset and not working properly. Manuel Tapial’s whereabouts are currently unknown. It’s been almost 24 hours since he’s been detained. His wife Baya was deported and put on a plane and is now already outside of the country.
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