Clashes between security forces and residents inside Al-Warraq Island have renewed over the past few days, against a backdrop of sustained assaults on those wishing to bring in building materials such as cement, needed for maintenance and renovation work on their homes, while authorities have strictly prevented such materials from entering the island for years, in a measure residents consider the maximum pressure tool to force them into “displacement.”<\/p>\n
Days ago, security forces detained<\/a> the car of young citizen Mohamed Saad, who lost his left eye four years ago following his participation in peaceful protests against the eviction and demolition of homes and his resistance to the displacement of residents, as he recounts to Zawia3.<\/p>\n Last Sunday, Saad was traveling in his car with some bags of cement when security forces stationed at the Al-Warraq checkpoint at one of the ferry crossings stopped him, detained the vehicle, and assaulted him, with officers and soldiers attempting to confiscate his personal phone to prevent him from documenting the incident.<\/p>\n The incident, which reignited public anger among residents, was not the first of this month. About two weeks earlier, residents documented in videos<\/a> a blatant assault by police officers at one of the ferry crossings (al-Qilali) on a person with a disability named Ashraf Atta, after he attempted to bring a bag of cement on his motorcycle, leaving him with serious injuries.<\/p>\n