20:57, January 06, 2010
Jordan's Islamic Action Front (IAF) on Wednesday condemned Egypt's alleged assault on members of the Viva Palestina humanitarian convoy in the Egyptian port of El Arish.
"The attack by the Egyptian authorities on the Viva Palestina convoy late Tuesday is heinous and cruel. We condemn the assault on the convoy members who seek to break the siege imposed on Gaza and such behaviors do not reflect the history of Egypt," the IAF, the political arm of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood, said in a statement posted on its website.
Several media reports claimed that Egyptian forces assaulted members of the convoy late Tuesday after they staged a sit-in protesting Egypt's refusal to allow all the trucks escorting the convoy to head to Gaza.
Activists accompanying the convoy confirmed the assault. "Many of us were beaten up by the Egyptian forces on Tuesday night. The Egyptian security members used water cannons and tear gas bombs to disperse the activists who staged the sit-in Tuesday night, calling for allowing all trucks to head to Gaza," Ali Abu Al Sukkar, member of the convoy's coordination committee, told Xinhua from El Arish port.
"Over 30 of the participants in the caravan were seriously injured and many of them were taken to hospitals for treatment and some others were treated by physicians accompanying the convoy," said Abu Al Sukkar, claiming that convoy members "slept in the streets by the port" on Tuesday evening.
The convoy, which is accompanied by over 450 activists from the United States, Britain, Turkey, Malaysia, Jordan and other nationalities, includes over 200 trucks laden with humanitarian assistance to be given to the Palestinians in Gaza Strip.
The convoy, which started its trip on Dec. 6 of 2009 from London and has crossed several European countries including France, Germany, Austria, Belgium and Italy as well as Turkey, Syria and Jordan, was planning to enter the coastal enclave on Dec. 27, 2009.
But the Egyptian authorities' refusal to allow the convoy enter through the Nuweiba port on the Red Sea en route to Gaza, forced the convoy to head back late in December to Syria from where it later headed to El Arish port on the Mediterranean.
Source: Xinhua
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