Witnesses in Kerdasa: Security forces burn houses to terrorise residents

Residents of the Kerdasa neighbourhood in the Giza Governorate say that Egyptian security forces have burned residential areas in the neighbourhood under the pretext of searching for residents who are wanted by the law, according to an Al-Jazeera report.

The witnesses broadcast amateur videos showing a burning house, which they claim had been raided several times. Other Kerdasah residents also claim that Egyptian security forces have raided their homes and arrested several inhabitants.

A resident told Al Jazeera that security forces have been conducting a wide campaign of raids against the neighbourhood, burning more than five houses. One of these houses is allegedly owned by the father of one of the protestors who fell during the operation to disperse anti-coup demonstrations at the Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square. According to one witness, security forces usually raid the houses first and when they do not find their owners, they intentionally burn them.

The witness explained that residents are trying to control the fires; however, security forces are preventing fire-fighting services from reaching the burning houses and threatening to arrest those who help to extinguish the fires.

One witness also told Al Jazeera that security forces have arrested the wife and 12 years old daughter of a renowned Kerdasa doctor, and pointed out that the neighbourhood suffers from a crippling blockade that has been imposed for several days, and which has led to a shortage in food supplies, pointing out how residents now live in a state of terror and cannot reach the hospitals or their jobs.

The witness stressed that the neighbourhood’s residents have not shown any resistance to the security forces and the demonstrations that took place on Friday were entirely peaceful. The witness believes that the security forces wish “to subjugate the neighbourhood’s residents who oppose the military coup” because “90 per cent of them had voted in favour of President Mohamed Morsi and the Constitution.”