Security sources say dozens have been detained or deported from Cairo airport and other locations.
Authorities in both Egypt and Libya have stopped activists seeking to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza, protest organisers have said, with reports of more detentions and deportations taking place.
“Forty participants of the Global March to Gaza have had their passports taken at a checkpoint on the way out of Cairo,” the organisers of the Global March to Gaza said in a statement on Friday.
“They are being held in the heat and not allowed to move,” they continued, adding that another “15 are being held at hotels”.
The activists are from France, Spain, Canada, Turkiye and the United Kingdom, it said, adding, “We are a peaceful movement and we are complying with Egyptian law.”
The group urged embassies to help secure their release so they could complete their voyage.
Activists arrived in Egypt this week for the Global March to Gaza, a grassroots initiative aiming to pressure Israel to allow the delivery of aid and humanitarian supplies to Gaza’s starving population.
Organisers said that participants from 80 countries were set to begin their march towards Egypt’s Rafah crossing with Gaza, with about 4,000 activists expected to take part.
The overland protest was to coincide with other solidarity efforts, including a boat carrying aid and activists that was intercepted by the Israeli military earlier this week as it attempted to reach Gaza.
Paul Murphy, an independent Irish member of parliament, who has travelled to Egypt to take part, said in a post on X, “We have had our passports confiscated and are being detained. It seems Egyptian authorities have decided to crack down on the Great March To Gaza.”
Mo, a member of the protest march from the Netherlands, said that his group had headed in taxis to Ismailia, but that at a checkpoint near the city foreigners were told to hand over their passports, with only Egyptians allowed through. He also described riot police who came to clear the road of protesters.
Now back in Cairo, Mo and the group from the Netherlands are deciding what to do next.
“We are trying to regroup,” he told media. “A lot of our group is splintered, some have been beaten up by the police… so they’re coming back battered and bruised and broken.”
“It seems like the Egyptian authorities are determined to stop us from reaching anywhere near the border.”
Detentions and deportations
Security sources told the Reuters news agency that at least 88 individuals had been detained or deported from Cairo airport and other locations across the country.
Three airport sources told Reuters that at least 73 foreign nationals were deported on a flight to Istanbul for violating entry protocols, with about 100 more still awaiting deportation at the airport.
Organisers of the march maintain they coordinated the trip with authorities and called on the government to release those detained.
Separately, a land convoy known as “Soumoud”, which had departed Tunisia carrying activists from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania, was stopped on Friday morning at the entrance to Sirte, a city in Libya under the control of forces loyal to military commander Khalifa Haftar.
“The caravan was barred from passing through at the entrance to the city of Sirte,” Tunisian organiser Wael Naouar said in a video posted on Facebook.
Naouar said the convoy needs Egyptian authorisation to reach Gaza but had received mixed messages from local security officials. “Some told us we could cross in a few hours. Others insisted that ‘Egypt has denied [passage] and therefore you will not pass,’” he said.
On Wednesday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the military to block demonstrators from entering Gaza from Egypt, claiming people involved were “jihadist protesters”.
“I expect the Egyptian authorities to prevent them from reaching the Egypt-Israel border and not allow them to carry out provocations and try to enter Gaza,” he added.
It comes as Israel continues its relentless air strikes on Gaza, while severely restricting the flow of aid, including food, water, and medical supplies, as humanitarian experts warn that the enclave could fall into full-scale famine unless Israel lifts the blockade.
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