SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Egyptian expat voters in Paris said the Egyptian Embassy banned a number of them from entering the embassy to cast their votes in the second round of the presidential elections.
The voters, activists affiliated with the April 6 Youth Movement, who wore shirts that had pro January 25 statements written on them, were barred by the guards from stepping inside the embassy’s premises and roughed by the guards.
The embassy then called the French police and the police chief told the citizens the Egyptian ambassador had alerted the authorities concerning the activists, calling them “riot inciters and troublemakers.”
French police gave an ultimatum to the voters, either they leave the area or be arrested.
The voters were then surrounded by 10 police cars and had to leave.
The incident was captured on camera and published online on Sunday. The news stirred anger in Egypt while Egyptian activists shared the video on social networking websites.
In the video, two men are barred from entering the building and guards surrounded them to keep them out. They objected to other Egyptians standing there saying “they think the revolution is dead, it is not.”
Egyptian activists blamed the government for keeping the ambassadors who were appointed by imprisoned dictator Hosni Mubarak, who activists say are still loyalists to the old corrupt regime.
They called on a complete shift and removing those who are loyal to the deposed regime.—www.shafaqna.com
