How Cairo was able to stop April 25 protests
Although mass protests had been planned following Egyptian popular anger at an agreement to cede the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia, efforts by the security forces seem to have thwarted major demonstrations.
CAIRO — The Egyptian security forces began an intense arrest campaign the evening of April 21 aimed at nipping in the bud the second wave of popular protests against the Egyptian government's ceding the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia.
On April 25, 16 human rights organizations — most notably the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights — issued a statement denouncing the arrest campaign, stressing that police had arrested at least 100 people in eight provinces. The statement described the arrest campaign as an attempt to intimidate and thwart the protests planned for April 25.
