Disappointment, Flux and Vigils on the Nile

Posted by CODEPINK Staff

Reposted from Coleen Rowley's article on Huffington Post

A lot was happening across the world in Cairo yesterday as I and a friend painted faces on our "I am Gaza" signs in preparation for our upcoming "Gaza Freedom Solidarity" march in Minneapolis on Wednesday, December 30. (See my prior HuffPost with details here).

My friend, Sylvia Schwarz, in Cairo as part of the Minnesota delegation, told me in a telephone conversation this morning that despite the great disappointment she and others are feeling with regard to the Egyptian government's continuing intransigence on allowing the international human rights activists to travel to Gaza and the state of flux and uncertainty they all face, they are making the best of the situation. Sylvia said that the number of activists assembled in various hotels in Cairo now far outnumbers the 1400 that was initially projected and that the thousands assembled include seven Minnesotans. Sylvia reported that various peaceful vigils have been held around the city and at the international participants' respective embassies.

As of this writing, the Egyptian police have apparently reacted in a respectful, non-violent manner at the various peaceful gatherings in Cairo which have been occurring. I have personally just called staffers in both Minnesota Senators' offices (Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken) asking that the Senators contact our U.S. Embassy to ensure the safety of the Minnesotans and other human rights activists in Cairo who are attempting to participate in the "Gaza Freedom March" and to do what they can in terms of asking for the impasse with Egypt to be resolved with diplomacy.

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