Demonstrators are angry Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has been invited to Downing Street despite being accused of a catalogue of human rights abuses

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Hundreds of protesters have gathered in Whitehall to express anger at David Cameron’s decision to welcome the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, to Downing Street.

Sisi is due to arrive in the UK to hold talks with the British prime minister on security cooperation at Number 10 on Thursday, despite being accused of a catalogue of human rights abuses since leading an army coup in July 2013.



At a noisy protest in Whitehall, a crowd consisting mainly of Egyptian emigrants – some who had travelled from as far away as Spain – expressed their anger at the invitation to the former army chief.

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Maha Azzam, head of the Egyptian Revolutionary Council, told the crowd: “What we have here is a big no to Sisi and prime minister Cameron for his invitation to a despot and a killer. We stand here today to say ‘Shame on you Cameron’. Not in the name of the honourable British people. Not in the name of the Egyptian people ...

“He [Sisi] has no legitimacy in the eyes of the British people. The free Egyptian people reject Sisi ... The message is loud and clear, no to fascism, no to military dictatorship.”

Other speakers came from organisations including the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party, the Federation of Student Islamic Societies, Stop Sisi, Muslim Association of Britain, Stop the War Coalition and Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT).

Haroon Siddique (@Haroon_Siddique) Protesters against UK visit of President Sisi of Egypt chant "Free Egypt" outside Downing Street pic.twitter.com/xLXwA8BBEB

All expressed anger at Cameron hosting a leader who has crushed opposition since ousting the democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood, in July, 2013. Among those in the crowd was Nadia Sholkami, a 21-year-old student from Madrid, who came to London with her family especially for the demonstration.

“We don’t want him, he’s a killer,” she said. “The person we elected democratically is in jail. The Egyptian people are in jail and a lot of people are dying because of him.”

Two coaches brought 100 protesters from Birmingham including Mona el-Shazli, a 32-year-old engineer. She said: “I’m coming to support my brothers and sisters being killed and the people in prison for no reason. I am against this invitation, it’s shameful. He [Cameron] is not supposed to support a killer in this country, he’s not welcome here.”

Human Rights Watch says Sisi’s regime has seen “a lack of accountability for many killings of protesters by security forces, mass detentions, military trials of civilians, hundreds of death sentences, and the forced eviction of thousands of families in the Sinai Peninsula”.

Mohamed Ali, 37, who works in retail, came from Brighton to protest. “Everyone around the world saw what happened in Rabaa [the massacre] on the TV. I don’t know why David Cameron would invite a dictator like that who killed 800 people in a few hours. It could be my brother or my sister. This is why we are here today.”

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Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hundreds of people gathered in Whitehall. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

Chants of “1-2-3-4 military no more, 5-6-7-8 we don’t want an army state,” and “David Cameron can’t you see? Sisi killed democracy”, rang out. At one point, two open-top buses filled with pro-Sisi supporters passed by, prompting the opposing groups to chant against each other in Arabic.

The family of Ibrahim Halawa, an Irish teenager arrested during the military’s breakup of protests in 2013, also spoke at the protest. Halawa faces the death penalty in a mass trial alongside 493 other people, and is being tried as an adult, despite having been a juvenile (17) when he was arrested. His family have written a letter to Cameron urging him to raise his case with Sisi.

“During his two years of detention Ibrahim has suffered terrible mistreatment by the Egyptian prison system,” the letter says. “In addition to not receiving medical treatment for a bullet wound to his hand during his arrest, he has been beaten, stripped and assaulted, and this abuse continues today ...

“We know that President Sisi takes the UK’s opinion very seriously – we believe that your intervention could help bring Ibrahim home.”

Another protest is planned outside Downing Street at 10am on Thursday when Sisi is expected to be inside Number 10. A pro-Sisi demonstration is expected at the same time.

Cameron’s spokeswoman defended the talks, pledging that “no issues will be off the table”.

Jeremy Corbyn condemned Cameron’s decision to welcome the Egyptian president and called for Britain to suspend arms exports to the country.

The Labour leader said Sisi’s visit to No 10 as the guest of the prime minister showed “contempt for human and democratic rights”.