25 April 2016•Update: 26 April 2016
By Mahmoud Gharib
CAIRO
The Egyptian authorities on Monday stepped up security in capital Cairo in anticipation of planned demonstrations against a recent government decision to cede sovereignty of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.
Cairo’s downtown area saw particularly tight security, especially near Tahrir, Talaat Harb and Abdel-Moneim Riad squares -- all of which have served as protest venues in the past.
Police patrols combed the areas, subjecting passersby to arbitrary inspections.
The public squares were ringed by armored police vehicles and personnel from Egypt’s central security forces, who are typically deployed to counter street demonstrations.
Security forces also sealed the streets leading to the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate’s downtown headquarters, a frequent venue for previous demonstrations.
Similar measures were also seen at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square in eastern Cairo, where hundreds of supporters of Mohamed Morsi -- Egypt’s first democratically elected president -- were gunned down by security forces following a 2013 military coup.
Opposition groups have called for Monday’s demonstrations to protest a decision by the regime of President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to cede two Red Sea islands -- which for decades had been considered Egyptian territory -- to Saudi Arabia.
Al-Sisi, a former army chief who spearheaded the 2013 military coup against Morsi, has come under fire since the announcement earlier this month that sovereignty over the islands of Tiran and Sanafir would be ceded to oil-rich Saudi Arabia.
The Egyptian government, for its part, has defended the move, saying the islands were originally Saudi territory and that Egypt had only temporarily assumed control over them in 1950 due to Saudi fears they could be seized by Israel.
The two islands lie at the entrance of the strategically important Straits of Tiran, which separates the Gulf of Aqaba from the Red Sea.
The controversial maritime border readjustment, which was announced during a recent visit by Saudi King Salman to Egypt, has sparked public outrage and accusations that al-Sisi was "selling" Egyptian territory to Saudi Arabia, which was a major supporter of Morsi’s ouster almost three years ago.
Several Egyptian opposition groups have voiced support for Monday’s planned protests, including the April 6 youth group and the Muslim Brotherhood, both of which played leading roles in a 2011 popular uprising that ended the 30-year rule of autocratic President Hosni Mubarak.
The planned demonstrations come despite a government ban on street protests.
Ali Abo Rezeg contributed to this report
