Activists detained protesting outside Egypt Shura Council
While the president-appointed committee met to prepare the new Egyptian Constitution, activists protested outside their meeting, only to be harassed and detained by security forces.
CAIRO — Dozens of young men and women activists were detained Nov. 26 in the courtyard of a garage belonging to the General Authority for Roads, Bridges and Land Transport, adjacent to the Egyptian Shura Council building. The activists were surrounded by security forces as they awaited the arrival of additional police transport vehicles to supplement the contingent on the scene, already filled to the brim with their comrades, following their protest in front of the Shura Council. This demonstration was held to affirm their rejection of the new protest law — which went into effect that day — and object to the article permitting civilians to be tried in military courts, which the 50-member constitutional committee is leaning toward including in the new constitution.
Such was the scene observed by Al-Monitor from inside the Shura Council building, where activists continued to challenge security forces by chanting slogans against the demonstration law, even after the police arrested them and dispersed their colleagues by using water cannons and firing weapons in the air.
