Egyptians march to Gaza to demand border be opened

2011-03-06

Cairo: Hundreds of Egyptians on Sunday marched to the country's border with the Gaza Strip to demand that the border be opened, Press TV reported.

Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza in 2007.

The campaign was the brainchild of the Tahrir4Gaza campaign, whose organizers said they wanted to see to which extent Egypt has changed since the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak Feb 11, the media report said.

Ahmed El-Assy, the main campaign organizer, said: 'The Mubarak regime collaborated with Israel to keep the Palestinians weak, but now he's been overthrown, so there's no need to maintain the status quo.'

'There's a lot of fear and intimidation, but we know that the Palestinian issue is an important one for Egyptians, and we need to keep the momentum up following the successful revolution,' he said.

The uprising in Egypt forced Mubarak to quit after nearly 30 years in power. The Egypt revolution was inspired by the successful uprising in Tunisia that saw president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali being forced out of office Jan 14.

Another Tahrir4Gaza campaign member said: 'If we are refused entry to Gaza, we are thinking about setting up a permanent camp at the border. This is a test of whether this really is the new Egypt, or whether the old Egypt remains.'

Source: Sify.
Link: http://www.sify.com/news/egyptians-march-to-gaza-to-demand-border-be-opened-news-international-ldgo4fcebgb.html.