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Monday, 23 September 2019

Anti-government protests dominate coverage in the foreign press

Weekend protests continue to hold the attention of the foreign press: Protesters clashed with police for the second night in a row in Suez on Saturday, AFP reports. Witnesses told the newswire that some demonstrators were met with tear gas and rubber bullets. The story continues to lead the conversation on Egypt (Associated Press | BBC | The Independent | The Guardian | Financial Times). The State Information Service yesterday called on foreign journalists to “strictly abide by professional codes of conduct” when reporting on the protests.

Onetime contractor and actor Mohamed Ali’s role in calling for the protests is the subject of a New York Times piece noting that he was not in the public eye until he began posting videos a few weeks ago alleging the government has been misusing public funds. The AP reports, meanwhile, reports that the brother of 2011 activist Wael Ghonim was ordered held in custody for 15 days pending investigation of charges he participated in the activities of a banned group and disseminated fake news.

GERD is also still a hot topic: The Ethiopian dam should not come at the expense of Egyptian lives, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told Al Monitor at the Egyptian mission to the United Nations in New York. “For Egypt, the matter of the Nile is a matter of life and death,” he said.

Egypt’s human rights record is also getting play in the international press two years after the unfurling of the rainbow flag at a Mashrou’ Leila concert. LGBT people continue to face threats in Egypt, Open Democracy says. The average number of LGBT people arrested in Egypt every year between 2013 and 2017 was five times that of the previous 13 years, according to data cited in the article.

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