Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

Egypt bedouin protest over killing, fire in air
11 Nov 2008 09:23:07 GMT
 Source: Reuters
ISMAILIA, Egypt, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Hundreds of bedouin in an Egyptian village fired into the air and burnt tyres overnight in protest about police killing one bedouin man and wounding another, security sources said on Tuesday.

"There are 700 bedouins at least taking part in the protest. Some opened fire heavily in the air," said Moussa Salem, a bedouin who was taking part in the demonstration.

He said the protesters in a village in the Sinai peninsula near the Egypt-Israel border had also burned tyres and barricaded a road with rocks, while police had pulled back from the area. Two bedouin sources who asked not to be named said the protesters had torched a police vehicle.

Security sources said the demonstration erupted after police opened fire on Tuesday on a vehicle driven by "two bedouin suspects" when they ignored orders to stop and tried to flee. One was killed and the other wounded.

State news agency MENA identified the dead man as a drug dealer, although bedouin sources denied that.

Relations between the police and bedouin have been tense for a long time and deteriorated further in 2004, when police detained thousands on suspicion of possible links to a group that had bombed Sinai tourist resorts.

Egypt has blamed a series of attacks on tourist targets in Sinai between 2004 and 2006 on a group of bedouin with militant Islamist views. Bedouins resent the mistrust and complain of police harassment.

Northern Sinai is home to about 200,000 formerly nomadic bedouin. It is one of Egypt's poorest areas with high unemployment levels. (Reporting by Yusri Mohamed; Writing by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Matthew Jones)


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

NGO latest

•  African child rights organisations urge governments in Africa to ban all forms of corporal punishment of children
Save the Children - Sweden

•  Egypt conference on avian and human influenza : "We must remain vigilant," says IFRC expert
IFRC - Switzerland

MORE >>

Latest news

•  Egypt bedouin protest over killing, fire in air

•  Egypt working to defer ICC Sudan indictment - MENA

•  U.S. judge dismisses case over Egypt hotel bombing

•  EU says Israel OKs fuel for Gaza power plant

•  Egypt could host unity talks in two weeks-Fatah

MORE >>

AlertNet news is provided by

Background information

Facts & figures
Egypt

Related articles

Breaking stories
 Egypt bedouin protest over killing, fire in air (1 minute ago)

Egypt working to defer ICC Sudan indictment - MENA (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
 MEDIAWATCH: Food summit thwarts hope (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
 African child rights organisations urge governments in Africa to ban all forms of corporal punishment of children (1 minute ago)

Blogs
 Yes, people over 50 have sex too (1 minute ago)

Maps
 MAP: Global Incidence of H5N1 Virus (1 minute ago)


Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-11-10T165001Z_01_JER27_RTRIDSP_2_GAZA-POLITICIANS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/JER27.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-11-10T164314Z_01_JER26_RTRIDSP_2_GAZA-POLITICIANS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/JER26.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-11-10T163944Z_01_JER25_RTRIDSP_2_GAZA-POLITICIANS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/JER25.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-11-10T163555Z_01_JER24_RTRIDSP_2_GAZA-POLITICIANS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/JER24.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-11-10T162929Z_01_JER23_RTRIDSP_2_GAZA-POLITICIANS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/JER23.htm

Hamas naval policemen stand guard as a boat carrying European politicians leaves Gaza's seaport November 10, 2008. The boat arrived at Gaza from Cyprus on Saturday after attempts to get to ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Tue Nov 11 09:25:00 2008