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A video circulating online shows two protesters outside the Egyptian Mission to the United Nations in New York being forcibly dragged inside and assaulted by staff members. The incident led to a massive outrage on social media, with users linking the detention to Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty's phone call leaked earlier.
The protesters were demonstrating outside the building, calling for the reopening of Egypt’s Rafah border crossing and the passage of aid into Gaza.
They were reportedly detained by New York police.
One of the two detainees was reportedly a minor, which drew scathing criticism over the treatment meted out toward the protesters.
Some social media users even questioned whether the treatment of protesters abroad reflects how authorities handle dissent inside Egypt.
The incident occurred just days after a leaked phone call in which Abdelatty, in conversation with Egypt’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Emad Hanna, discussed what he described as an “attack on the embassy by locking its doors.”
In the leaked audio, he can reportedly be heard urging ambassadors to “deal harshly” with political activists, including detaining them inside Egyptian embassies until they are handed over to local police.
The angry tone used by the Egyptian minister has sparked controversy both in diplomatic circles and on social media.
While some initially dismissed his remarks as mere exaggeration, events outside the Egyptian Mission to the United Nations in New York have proven otherwise.
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