CAIRO — When Hala Fawzi, a resident of the Nile island of al-Warraq, left home to buy food, she never expected that she would return to find her home reduced to a pile of rubble. “My four children were inside the house. The neighbors saved them before security forces began the demolitions,” she said.

In the early hours of July 16, the residents of the island woke up to see police and army forces implementing a government decision to remove what the state described as unlicensed buildings and illegal use of state-owned land.

Most of the islanders were asleep when the forces first arrived to begin attempts to execute 700 building demolition orders. Residents quickly came together to defend their homes, and clashes broke out with policemen who fired bullets and tear gas. Sayed al-Tafshan, 23, was killed, while 19 others were injured, according to a statement by the Ministry of Health. A statement from the Interior Ministry noted that 37 policemen had been injured.

Hala and her family are now homeless. She lives with her husband, Shaaban — a manual laborer who has been unable to speak since the incident and has stopped working — her elderly mother-in-law and children under the new al-Warraq Bridge project executed by the government.