Activists demand probe in Cairo killings

CAIRO -- Rights groups yesterday demanded an inquiry into the conduct of Egyptian police after at least 25 Sudanese refugees were killed at a squatters' camp in Cairo.

The Egyptian government said it regretted the deaths at the camp early on Friday but defended the way the police had ended a three-month sit-in by about 3,500 Sudanese, who were demanding resettlement in the West.

In the evening, Egyptian and other sympathizers gathered near the site of the deserted encampment for a vigil in memory of the dead, many of them children crushed to death when police fired tear gas and a water cannon into crowds of Sudanese.

''We've come to stop the killing of poor people," said Mohamed Sallam at the vigil.

''When you kill little babies, things have changed," said Wael Khalil, a protester from the Egyptian opposition movement Kefaya. ''We will try you, and you won't be able to travel abroad again," he added, addressing Egyptian police commanders.

Minor scuffles later broke out with riot police sent to observe the vigil. Some of the protesters taunted the police, pointing at them and chanting: ''There are the murderers."

The international group Human Rights Watch called for an independent investigation into the deaths, which took place near the Cairo offices of the UN refugee agency UNHCR. The United Nations had said the Sudanese were mostly economic migrants, not people in danger of persecution if they went back to Sudan.

''President Hosni Mubarak should urgently appoint an independent commission to investigate the use of force by police against Sudanese migrants," the New York-based group said.

''The high loss of life suggests the police acted with extreme brutality. . . . A police force acting responsibly would not have allowed such a tragedy to occur," said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East division.

Eleven Egyptian groups blamed the Ministry of the Interior for the events and also called for an inquiry.

The ministry ''knows no way to deal with people, whether citizens or refugees, other than by beating, crushing, extrajudicial killing, or transfer to illegal detention centers," they said in a joint statement.

The Foreign Ministry said it was saddened by the casualties and accused the head of UNHCR of rushing to judgment, after he said on Friday there was no justification for the loss of life.

''The regional UNHCR office has all the details which show that the Egyptian authorities dealt with the matter with wisdom and patience for more than three months," it said.

Presidential spokesman Soleiman Awad said Egypt had no choice but to intervene and said the UNHCR office had asked the Egyptian authorities three times to break up the sit-in.

Witnesses said police beat the refugees with truncheons and used water cannon to drive them from the camp. The Egyptian authorities said the Sudanese died in a stampede after protesters started throwing bottles and rocks at the police.

Human Rights Watch said that by international standards police must use nonviolent means before resorting to force.

''The blood is still on the sidewalks, and already the government is blaming the Sudanese refugees and migrants," said Stork. ''Given Egypt's terrible record of police brutality, an independent investigation is absolutely necessary to assess responsibility and punish those responsible," he added.