Egyptian authorities have detained more than 400 people during this week’s protests against the transfer of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, the biggest wave of arrests since 2013.
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The public squares were ringed by armored police vehicles and personnel from Egypt’s central security forces, who are typically deployed to counter street demonstrations.
Local rights groups reported that over 90 people across eight provinces have been arrested over the four days preceding Monday.
Mr. Sissi called protests against him over the two islands to be the work of “forces of evil”, and called out security forces loyal to him to put them down.
AFP tried several times in vain on Tuesday to contact the interior ministry’s press service and spokesmen for a reaction to the Amnesty statement.
The following day, as the protests against the government were trying to get started, hundreds of Sissi’s supporters demonstrated across the city under the protection of the police.
The demonstration had been planned by a coalition of political groups and activists who urged Egyptians to take to the streets Monday to protest “giving up on Egyptian soil and commemorate the lives of those who died while defending the two islands”.
“The minute we started gathering they attacked us and we fled”, said another protester from the impoverished and densely populated Cairo district of Nahya.
After years of unrest that has decimated the economy, many Egyptians say the country needs a firm hand and they have little patience with protesters they consider troublemakers.
“We have paid a high price to get where we are now, and we will not let anyone harm Egypt’s security, stability and institutions”, El-Sisi said in a televised speech on Sunday.
Saudi Arabia is a critical ally of the Egyptian regime, providing billions in financial assistance in recent years.
Sanafir and Tiran are islands, lie about 4km (2 nautical miles) apart in the Red Sea.
“These are the true Egyptians, not the idiots who want to destroy Egypt”, shouted one shopkeeper, who gave a thumbs up as the demonstrators passed by. In practice, the authorities have facilitated protests by supporters of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, while routinely dispersing demonstrations by his opponents. An activists’ group, Freedom for the courageous, said more than a hundred people were arrested last week.
The former defense chief rose to power on a platform of bolstering national security in the wake of former president and Muslim Brotherhood leader Morsi’s ouster.
El-Sissi insists that Egypt has not surrendered an “inch” of its territory and has demanded that people stop talking about the issue.
Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the top USA military officer, made his second trip to Egypt in two months this weekend, a visit that underscored growing concern about Islamic State-linked militants and ongoing efforts to address friction in the countries’ military partnership.
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“Egypt needs the truth revealed to its people: Through dialogue, not suppression, with documents, evidence and maps, not security raids and random detentions”, prominent columnist Abdullah el-Sinnawy wrote in Monday’s edition of the Al-Shorouk daily.
