People Before Investment: Supporting the Residents of Warraq Island Against Their Displacement

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

In a continuation of the ongoing repression that has prevailed for years and the policy of forced displacement in recent years, the residents of Warraq Island are currently facing intensified repression as a punishment for holding onto their homes. On December 27 of last year, the Cairo Criminal Court sentenced 35 residents of the island to life imprisonment on charges of gathering, using force, and violence during the events of the forced displacement of Warraq Island on July 16, 2017. Subsequently, the court decided on September 25 to postpone the retrial of 17 defendants, who had been sentenced in absentia to life and severe imprisonment for the events on Warraq Island, to December 25 for review.

The detainees were accused of assaulting security forces. However, most of them were arrested from hospitals around the island after being injured by police bullets during the events, and some still suffer from permanent disabilities as a result of their injuries. In addition to the arrest and injury of dozens, the island is experiencing a severe blockade on ferries, security control over the passage of goods, and the prohibition of construction materials entering the island.

On September 16, the Council of Ministers, headed by Mostafa Madbouly, decided to confiscate lands totaling more than 60 acres belonging to the residents, just days after they protested against their displacement. The residents of the island have experienced unprecedented repression over the past four years.

The Revolutionary Socialists Movement stands in solidarity with the residents of the island in their demands, primarily:
1. Immediate release of all detainees from Warraq Island and cessation of fabricating political and criminal cases against the residents of the island.
2. She is lifting the blockade imposed on the island and stopping the restrictions on citizens at the island’s ferries.
3. They are halting the desertification of agricultural lands on the island and stopping the withholding of fertilizers from farmers.
4. I am stopping the plan to displace the residents of Warraq Island and halting the plan to establish the investment project on the ruins of residents’ homes and agricultural lands.
5. They involve the residents in plans concerning their lands and homes, considering them the rightful decision-makers due to their historical and legal entitlement to these lands.
6. Prosecuting the killers of martyr Said El-Tafshan, who was martyred by police gunfire during the attempt to demolish residents’ homes on July 16, 2017, compensating the injured and holding those responsible for these events accountable.

While the Revolutionary Socialists Movement supports the ongoing struggle of the island’s residents over the years, it affirms the citizens’ right to decent housing in their living and working areas, rejects the policies of forced displacement in favor of investors, and the repression of residents opposing this displacement. It also calls on all political parties and forces to stand in solidarity with the struggle of Warraq Island and support it by all possible means, demanding the release of all detainees from the island’s residents.