Cairo vigil remembers police killing of Sudan refugees

Dec 29, 2006 (CAIRO) — Egyptian rights activists held a candlelit vigil in central Cairo alongside a heavy police presence to commemorate the killing of 28 Sudanese refugees when police stormed their camp a year ago.

“We organised the vigil in memory of the dead, who included seven children,” said Wagdi Abdel Aziz, who heads the Al-Ganub (South) Centre that organised the event.

“But most of all to remind people of the tragedy that refugees live around the world and especially in Egypt, where they are denied all rights,” he said.

On December 29, 2005 thousands of riot police wielding batons and water cannon stormed a protest camp of refugees and asylum seekers near the offices of the UN refugee agency, leaving 28 Sudanese dead and hundreds injured.

Carrying candles and signs reading “We are against racism”, around 30 people gathered on Mustapha Mahmud square in central Cairo where the refugees were killed.

Abdel Aziz said there were no Sudanese refugees at the commemoration because “of the fear they feel for the police and the fear that they will once more be attacked”.

More than 100 Egyptian police surrounded those taking part in the vigil.

The protesters had demanded resettlement in a third country, complaining of harsh living conditions in Egypt and discrimination against them.

Egyptian authorities said that the UNHCR put enormous pressure on the government to end the protest, threatening to suspend its activities in Cairo should the authorities fail to deal with the situation.

Abdel Aziz said the UNHCR had “failed in its role to protect refugees … and continues to turn a blind eye to refugee demands to improve their conditions”.

(AFP)