Egypt protests after el-Sissi gives islands to Saudi Arabia

Sioux City Journal ^ | April 16 2016 | HAMZA HENDAWI and MAGGIE MICHAEL

[BeadCounter]

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security forces arrested dozens and fired tear gas Friday at thousands of demonstrators protesting President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's decision to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. Chants of "leave, leave!" directed at el-Sissi marked the first significant wave of street protests since the former army chief became president in 2014.

Riot police first cracked down on protesters in Cairo's twin city of Giza, where demonstrators had gathered at two mosques after Friday prayers and started marching toward Tahrir Square, birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Many carried signs reading, "Land is Honor" and denouncing the surrender of the islands. Others chanted, "The people want the fall of the regime" and "Down with military rule!"

More than 80 people were arrested in Cairo, Giza and the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, security officials said.

[BeadCounter]

My guess is the Saudis are buying these islands and though, most of us have a favorable impression of El-Sissi, this looks like a Panama canal styled giveaway. They may even have a tourist industry in those islands, see map. In this case, looks like El-Sissi and the Egyptian government is in the wrong.

[vladimir998]

Probably had to happen to make this possible: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi%E2%80%93Egypt_Causeway

[montag813]

Saudis spend BILLIONS at Sharm Al-Sheik and surrounding resorts every year. Egypt will do whatever they have to to keep that money flowing. Also, there is probably a lot of concern over the Russian jets bombed flying out of there.

[Moltke]

No one goes there anymore. It's too crowded terrorist. /Yogi Berra

[Domangart]

They owned them in the first place. They loaned them to Egypt to use and now they want them back.