The Scuffle In Al Arish
by Adriano Contreras | Saturday, January 9th, 2010

By now you’ve seen clips of what happened earlier this week at the seaport in Al Arish, Egypt. Ten people were seriously injured. A number were taken by the cops and many experienced bruises and minor cuts.

How it started? I’ve come to the conclusion that no one person really knows. The people lusting to confront the police have their story. The people who were serious victims have their own. The people no where near the initial attack say one thing and the one’s behind a camera viewfinder say another. And of course the police too… but fuck them.

What is important to note is that what happened was inevitable. Even though convoy members used a last resort tactic, becoming destructive and disobedient, as their first resort… the experience of the first convoy last March can tell you that the Egyptian police have no problem resorting to dirty tricks. The first convoy was stoned after lights went out in a compound they were residing in. A barrage of stones followed and nasty things were written in Arabic on convoy vehicles. So whether our side helped initiate any actions against us is beside the point. I’m not claiming they did or didn’t. Egypt didn’t want us there to begin with and were ready to make it difficult for us to move on.

Our first problem occurred actually before the fight at the port. Four flights left Syria at different times. I was on the first flight so my experience is different than many others. We turned in our passports at the arrival gate. About five hours in we began to demonstrate as it became obvious that they were delaying us. We chanted and banged on anything that would make noise. We weren’t going to stay in that tiny space all night. They’ve already made us drive up from Jordan to take a flight from Syria. WE WOULD NOT BE DELAYED FURTHER!

We were then told that we’ve already been stamped not only for entry but for exit through the Rafah border. They intended for us to drive all the vehicles at the port into Gaza. We were still missing two thirds of the convoy that were waiting for flights. So we demonstrated again. Eventually after 2 hours they gave into our demands: 1. To cancel our exit stamp in our passport and 2. The vehicles in Al Arish would not leave till every convoy member arrived in Egypt.

After the arrival of all convoy members to the Al Arish port, negotiations stalled when Viva Palestina refused to give in to leaving in the middle of the night to the Rafah border and leaving 60 vehicles behind.

At around 11pm the following night at the port, convoy members organized a protest and marched around the port and to the closed gates. Not a minute went by after approaching the gate that one of the doors was detached from its hinge. People began pouring out and demonstrating. Minutes later Egyptian riot police arrived. I’d say 100 of them unfurled, one after the other standing side by side, surrounding the port entrance. Some convoy members backed up into the port and others walked further away realizing the escalation of the situation.

At the front lines of the gates people linked arms with one another. Chants began ranging from “God is Great” to “Viva Viva Palestina”. Certain people stepped up and took on leadership roles. People chanted for quite a while and eventually entered into prayer. Soon after people sat in at the gates. Eventually fire trucks arrived with hoses mounted on top. More police units joined ranks and a standoff began that lasted over 2 hours.

The combination of physical exhaustion led me back to my van for some sleep as it seemed that after this much time not much else was going to happen for a while. Well I fell asleep and then felt sick. Minutes after falling asleep the scuffle occurred. Minutes after I awoke it was over. It lasted about 30 minutes. I have no footage of what happened that night and never saw a rock thrown.

It was a bit of nightmare to wake up to wet pavement and rocks everywhere. People walking around holding their head with some gauze or bloodstained keffiyehs. Some folks were shocked at what had just occurred while others debated the unfolding of the night’s events.

The world got to see first hand what the Egyptian police state was willing to do to prevent us from breaking the siege. Even with various media outlets embedded within our convoy broadcasting live throughout the night!! Still they attacked us.

Tags: Al Arish, convoy, egypt, Viva Palestina

9:23 pm. Viva Palestina.