Sirsu, a village in Talkha Division of Dakahliya Governorate, witnessed a new episode of social conflict between the poor and regime-backed businessmen. Policemen cooperated with thugs under the employment of the businessman Farid Al-Masri, one of the disbanded National Democratic Party (NDP) kingpins whose underlings returned to interfering with the destinies of the people without the least regard to the rule of law. What happened confirms the partiality of the ruling authorities, represented by Talkha police investigation unit that supported the thugs in their attack on residents using birdshot. The attack left dozens of villagers injured, while the police detained activists supporting the villagers in their just cause.<\/p>\n
On 24 April 2015, Dakahliya police forces detained random Sirsu villagers hours after bodyguards of heirs of a wealthy landowner targeted them with birdshot to prevent them from reaching their lands. The security forces already handed over the lands to the heirs as per a general prosecutor decision until a judicial complaint is resolved, even though the villagers already received two court orders proving their right to the land. Police forces detained 24 villagers and referred them to the general prosecution, accusing them of resisting law enforcement, verbally offending police forces, and committing property theft and damage. On 26 April, a lawyer from the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) went as a member of the defense team to attend investigations of Talkha Prosecution in report number 6568\/2015 Talkha Misdemeanors. He was shocked to find a woman called Mona Sami Ibrahim being interrogated while holding her 7-month-old baby girl Hend.<\/p>\n
The woman and her baby were detained against the law from the day before. When the lawyer tried to record the incident during the interrogation, the prosecutor refused. The lawyer then withdrew from the investigations in order to submit a separate complaint.<\/p>\n