How Egypt forcibly evicted this beachfront community to attract investments

Port Said governor defends the demolition of El-Gameel neighbourhood as part of development plans. But residents and legal experts have another story to tell.

On a sunny spring day in Egypt’s Mediterranean city of Port Said, a woman stood on the top floor of her home, watching as a bulldozer demolished it, balcony by balcony. “I still cannot believe that I am alive. The house could have collapsed and I would have died,” Ragaa Muharram Ali, a medical scan specialist, told Middle East Eye, a week after a video documenting the incident went viral online. “But even if I survived, being forcibly evicted from my family’s home is like taking my life away,” she added. On Thursday 14 March, the house was fully demolished. Ragaa is among hundreds of residents of El-Gameel neighbourhood in Port Said, whose homes have been razed or are slated for imminent removal to pave way for investments on the prime beachfront land.
The demolition began in early February and continues unabated as of the time of this report. According to the residents who spoke with MEE, 290 homes were demolished and approximately 25 homes remain, whose owners await the same fate. The El-Gameel neighbourhood in western Port Said was built in 1978, when the governorate allocated 317 pieces of land located directly on the Mediterranean coast, 10km from the city, to alleviate pressure on other overpopulated parts of the governorate, according to the El-Gameel Environmental Protection and Development Association. The residents built their homes on the land with their own funds, with permits from the governorate, under a usufruct arrangement. They also collaborated to introduce facilities at their own expense without government support, according to three residents who spoke to MEE.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt-forcibly-evicted-residents-mediterranean-el-gameel-sell-land-port-said

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