A group of Warraq Island residents has launched a new movement called “Staying on Warraq Island” to organize residents opposed to leaving the island, as tensions with security agencies escalate and clashes recur over a ban on bringing construction materials onto the island.
Roughly 60 members met Friday and agreed on a number of residents’ demands to present to the head of the New Warraq City Development Authority next Tuesday, giving him one week to respond, one of the movement’s founders told Al Manassa.
The meeting will be limited to submitting the demands, with no chants or protests, according to the source.
The new movement differs in its structure from previous efforts to organize island residents, including the “Warraq Families Council.” It began with a small core group that selected its members before opening membership to anyone who owns a home on the island and refuses to leave.
According to a statement by the movement reviewed by Al Manassa, its top demand is the allocation of a plot of land on the island to establish a “fully serviced, planned residential area” for Warraq residents.
It also calls for construction materials to be allowed onto the island in an organized manner, as the ban was one of the causes of recent tensions and clashes between residents and security forces.
The movement is also demanding services on the island for issuing death certificates, registering births, providing vaccinations and family health care, as well as reopening the post office to serve pensioners and older residents. It is also calling for the removal of construction debris and low-cost sewage pumping trucks.
The service demands reflect broader cutbacks on the island. Warraq residents built a hospital at their own expense last year after the state demolished the island’s only government hospital as part of measures accompanying its redevelopment plan. Other government services, including the post office, have also stopped or been scaled back.
According to the movement’s statement, its activities will include encouraging residents to remain on the island and to refuse to sell their homes. Committees will tour different parts of the island, while the group will also publish social media content under the hashtag “Staying on Warraq Island.”
Dispute over construction materials
The movement is also challenging restrictions on construction materials. The source, who asked not to be named due of the sensitivity of the issue, said the movement rejects a proposal by security representatives overseeing government projects on the island that would allow materials into some areas but not others, subject to residents submitting applications and approval by committees that inspect construction sites.
The source said the proposal “does not guarantee residents’ right to build” across the island. The movement instead wants construction materials allowed into all parts of the island under an organized system, rather than restricted to specific areas.
The restrictions have fueled renewed clashes between island residents and security forces over searches of residents and vehicles crossing by ferry for construction materials.
The most recent clashes occurred last week near the Al-Qollali ferry in the Warraq urban district, after an argument between an officer and residents during a search escalated into stone-throwing and injuries among residents.
Residents staged a sit-in and blocked construction materials from reaching government projects, two residents told Al Manassa at the time.
Security representatives overseeing government projects on the island then proposed allowing limited quantities of construction materials in as a compromise. The New Warraq Island Development Authority later denied the account in a statement.
Roots of the crisis
The dispute between the government and sections of Warraq’s population stems from plans to redevelop the island and relocate its residents.
In 2018, the Cabinet issued a decree establishing a new urban community on the island, followed by decisions expropriating land for the New Urban Communities Authority to implement the “New Warraq City” project.
The project calls for residential and investment towers as well as commercial and service areas. In July 2022, the State Information Service announced that the island would be renamed “Horus City” under a plan then estimated to cost about 17.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($350 million).
The government’s insistence on carrying out the redevelopment plan and clearing parts of the island has fueled persistent tensions with residents who refuse to leave their homes. The dispute has previously led to deadly confrontations, including the fatal police shooting of an island resident in July 2017.
Tensions have flared again in recent years over restrictions on construction materials, curbs on ferry movement, and the detention of residents.
Islanders say allowing regulated construction is one of the basic conditions for remaining on the island, while the government insists on carrying out its redevelopment plan.
