Officials' clarification, plans on Warraq squatted lands

CAIRO - 17 July 2017: The Public Prosecution on Monday began interrogating 13 people who are in custody for assaulting security forces, preventing them from removing squatters from state-owned lands. The prosecution has already interrogated 22 security personnel who are receiving treatment from injuries in hospital.

Nine officers and 22 policemen were injured in clashes; four of which are in a critical condition. According to Reuters on Monday, at least 19 civilians have been injured in the clash.

The prosecution issued a permit on Monday to bury the body of Sayed Tafasha, a protester who died during clashes, after carrying out the autopsy. The prosecution also issued an order to check all weapons used during the campaign.

Among the officers injured are the assistant to the head of the criminal investigations unit in Giza, an officer at the National Security Agency (NSA), and several officers.

Member of Parliament (MP) of Warraq district Ahmed Ali Youssef told Egypt Today on Monday that the removal of all the residents on the island is false news, citing documents that said there are 700 infringements on the lands owned by the ministries of agriculture, and endowments (Awqaf), and 160 squatter homes on the Nile river floodplains.

The MP added that the government would not be evicting residents without first being compensated with a residential unit, if they need it, in social housing projects.

On Sunday, Youssef said to presenter Lamees el-Hadidy in a phone interview on CBC channel that he sat with the slum residents of Warraq last month to inform them that those who have legal documents proving their rights to the land should present them to official authorities so that a decision would be made on their situations and so that they would be given a substitute.

The Ministry of Endowments has also denied social media rumors that imams have been using mosques to incite citizens not to leave squatted lands.

Youssef demanded from residents who have a legal ownership of lands to show their documents. He also revealed that sessions will be held in the next few days with residents and the district MPs to raise the citizens' demands to the governor, the head of the municipal authority in the neighborhood and other officials.

The Giza governor Mohamed Kamal el-Daly told the press on Monday that 30 out of 700 infringements on state-owned lands in Warraq were removed during the campaign on Sunday.

The governor affirmed that inhabited buildings and cultivated lands "were not touched" and that the campaign only dealt with unpopulated lands the state said they were illegally seized.

"There is no one resident who has been asked to leave his/her house," El Daly stated, declaring he would hold talks with residents to clear up all information.

The governor said that those who have cultivated lands or have been residing permanently for years have the right to legalize their situation. According to El-Daly, many owners of illegal cabins have attempted to forge documents proving their residency and land ownership.

The governor said that Warraq is the most populated island in Egypt, with 90,000 inhabitants. El Daly extended his condolences to the island's inhabitants for the death of a citizen due to suffocation from tear gas.

The governor said in a phone interview on ONTV channel that the campaign aimed to recover 60 feddans (1 feddan = 1,025 acres), of which 10 are owned by the Ministry of Endowments (Awqaf).

The Minister of Irrigation Salah Ezzat told Hadidy on Sunday that the 160 residential buildings in Warraq do not have a wastewater system, dumping their contents instead directly into the Nile.

The Minister warned that the expansions around the island would block the riverbed. Ezzat stipulated that the Ministry has the authority to remove any infringements on an area of 30 meters over the river's banks to preserve it.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Endowments negated in a statement on Monday any attempts by citizens to use the mosques for inciting inhabitants to assault the security forces and to not leave the squatted lands.

Clashes erupted Sunday between security forces and residents of the Warraq district in Giza during a campaign to remove squatters, resulting in injuries on both sides.

A citizen was killed, and 37 security personnel, including two major generals, were wounded in clashes between citizens and security forces, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Nineteen civilians were injured in the standoff and 10 others were arrested.

The clashes erupted after security forces started removing encroachments and retaking state-owned lands from illegal residents of state-owned lands, according to the statement.

Fifteen ambulances rushed to the scene and moved the injured to three hospitals, head of the ambulance authority Ahmed el-Ansary said in a statement.

Some residents attacked the forces with rubber bullets and stones, often from roofs, in an attempt to discourage them from going on with the demolition operation, the ministry said.

The troops were forced to fire tear gas to disperse the protests, the Ministry said. Later on, security forces retreated.

The public prosecution listened to 16 injured policemen and officers at Agouza Hospital.

A doctor at Nile Hospital, Wael Mohamed, said that some Warraq residents assaulted security staff to get the body of the dead citizen before the autopsy and the autopsy report could be completed.

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail commented on the incident, saying there are 700 decrees to remove encroachments in Warraq, and that 1,000 campaigns to remove squatters have been conducted since mid-May.

“A committee has been formed to investigate the incident, and the state must regain authority over its territories,” Ismail added, claiming that no single citizen has been dismissed from Warraq so far.