Canadian demonstrators held, passports confiscated ahead of planned global march to Egypt-Gaza border

More than 40 Canadians planning to participate in the global march to Gaza, alongside thousands of other foreign activists, have been detained in Egypt and had their passports confiscated by authorities, organizers told CBC News.

A group of 83 Canadians arrived in Cairo on Wednesday and Thursday, ahead of the scheduled march to Egypt's border with Gaza, an attempt to draw attention to the deepening humanitarian crises facing Palestinians under Israel's blockade of the war-torn territory more than 20 months after attacks began.

The Global March on Gaza was slated to be among the largest demonstrations of its kind in recent years, coinciding with other efforts, including a boat carrying activists and aid that was intercepted by Israel's military en route to Gaza earlier this week. Thousands of demonstrators from 80 different countries gathered in Cairo this week in preparation for the march.

Tatiana Harker, a member of Palestine Vivra Montreal and march co-ordinator, said Canadians were among the thousands of demonstrators en route to Al-Arish, where they were expected to begin a three-day march toward Egypt's Rafah crossing with Gaza to hold a peaceful demonstration there.

"A lot of people are being detained, left in the [heat] without any answers, for two to three hours," Harker told CBC News on Friday from Montreal.

Harker said Egyptian authorities confiscated their passports at a checkpoint in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia on Friday without providing a reason.

"The [Canadians] have been contacting the Canadian embassy in Cairo with no answer whatsoever. Our government is completely ignoring us."

Passports confiscated, protesters told to board buses

Canadian demonstrators at the checkpoint were told by authorities to board buses in order to retrieve their passports, without any other details, according to Harker.

Ottawa family physician Dr. Yipeng Ge, one of the demonstrators in the Canadian group, said they were told they would not be allowed to cross the Ismailia checkpoint unless they are Egyptian.

"People are not getting their passports back. Some have been waiting for hours," Ge said in a post on X on Friday, with a video of hundreds of protesters chanting "Free, Free Palestine," as they are held at the checkpoint.

Global Affairs Canada said in an earlier statement to CBC News that it advises Canadians to avoid all travel to the Governate of North Sinai in Egypt and to Gaza.

"Canadians who choose to travel to the region do so at their own risk," it said Thursday.

Protesters ready to initiate hunger strike: organizers

Demonstrators were set to travel by bus to Egypt's coastal city of Al-Arish to start the walk on Friday. Canadian organizers told CBC that authorities did not allow demonstrators to bus to Al-Arish, and they had to find other modes of transportation to get there.

The 48-kilometre walk between Al-Arish and the Rafah crossing is expected to take up to three days, with protesters sleeping in tents along the way. After reaching the Rafah area, they plan to camp there for roughly three more days before returning to Cairo, according to the coalition's website, though it noted that much of their plans will depend on authorization from Egyptian officials.

Egyptian authorities on Friday detained more activists who were joining the planned march, while security forces in eastern Libya blocked a convoy of activists en route to meet them.

Organizers on Friday said authorities confiscated the passports of 40 activists at what they called a "toll both-turned-checkpoint" being patrolled by riot gear-clad officers and armoured vehicles. They said security forces had begun detaining and using force to remove activists from the area and suppress protests.

"If individuals are forcibly taken to the airport for deportation under false pretenses, participants are prepared to ... initiate a hunger strike," organizers said.

The group's spokespeople urged officials from the activists' home countries to push Egypt to release their citizens. Egypt's Foreign Ministry didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Friday's detentions come after hundreds arriving in Cairo were previously detained and deported to their home countries in Europe and North Africa. Before authorities confiscated their passports, the activists said they planned to gather at a campsite on the road to the Sinai to prepare for Sunday's march. They said authorities had not yet granted them authorization to travel through the Sinai, which Egypt considers a highly sensitive area.

"We continue to urge the Egyptian government to permit this peaceful march, which aligns with Egypt's own stated commitment to restoring stability at its border and addressing the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza," the activists said in a statement.

Group to refrain from demonstrating for now

Hicham El-Ghaoui, one of the group's spokespeople, said they would refrain from demonstrating until receiving clarity on whether Egypt will authorize their protest. 

The planned demonstrations cast an uncomfortable spotlight on Egypt, one of the Arab countries that has cracked down on pro-Palestinian activists even as it publicly condemns aid restrictions and calls for an end to the war.

Alexis Deswaef, a Belgian human rights lawyer, said he woke up on Friday to dozens of security vehicles packed with uniformed officers surrounding Talat Harb Square, where he and other activists had found hotels. Members of his group snuck out of the lobby as security entered, holding up a guidebook and asking an officer for assistance booking taxis to the Pyramids of Giza, where they've been since.

"I am so surprised to see the Egyptians doing the dirty work of Israel," he said from the Pyramids. He hoped there would be too many activists at the new meeting point outside Cairo for Egyptian authorities to arrest en masse.

Meanwhile, an aid convoy travelling overland from Algeria picked up new participants along the route in Tunisia and Libya, yet was stopped in the city of Sirte, about 940 kilometres from the Libya-Egypt border.

The efforts — the activist flotilla, the overland convoy and the planned march — come as international outcry grows over conditions in Gaza. 

Israel has continued to pummel the territory with airstrikes while limiting the flow of trucks carrying food, water and medication that can enter, saying it is applying pressure on Hamas to disarm and release Israeli hostages.