Egyptian police fired water cannons on Sudanese war refugees and hit them with sticks Friday as they tried to dismantle a camp in a city park where they stayed for months. Ten Sudanese, including elderly people and children, died, the Egyptian government said.
According to the AP, hundreds of Sudanese have been living in the park since September to protest the U.N. refugee agency's refusal to consider them for refugee status. Thousands of security forces moved in before midnight and closed off the area around the city park where the camp is located.
According to reports, police beat the unarmed migrants with batons, continuing to hit them even as they were being dragged to government buses waiting to take them away. One officer carried a girl of about 3 or 4 years old who was unconscious. An ambulance worker said the girl was dead.
Thirty migrants, mostly elderly people and children, were wounded and transferred to a nearby hospital, where 10 of them died, the ministry said. Twenty-three policemen were also wounded.
