Clashes broke out Thursday on Cairo’s Warraq Island as residents confronted police carrying out home demolitions tied to a disputed state redevelopment project.
Live-streamed videos posted by local youth showed volleys of stones and the sound of gunfire as officers advanced near the island’s entrance beneath the Tahya Misr Bridge. Locals said the confrontation led to the arrest of one young man from the island.
“They’re trying to take our homes with bulldozers,” Makram Mahros, a longtime resident and prominent community figure, told Al Manassa. “They want to steal and plunder our land and houses.”
The clash broke out as government bulldozers, backed by security forces, rolled into the island to demolish structures authorities say are illegal. Residents insist their homes are legally owned and have been passed down through generations.
Police from the Giza Security Directorate entered the island in coordination with private contractors seeking to seize “frontline and central plots,” escalating a long-running dispute between the community and state-backed developers, Mahros explained to Al Manassa.
Residents say they have resisted eviction attempts for more than a week.
The confrontation comes just weeks after the Cabinet announced what it described as a “new plan” for Warraq Island. The proposal divides the island into a 300‑feddan “residential block,” where homes would remain in place, and “scattered zones” with lower population density earmarked for state development, as reported by Mada Masr.
In mid‑October, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly ordered the acceleration of construction on a Nile‑side promenade and a central park within the new urban district planned for the island. He also instructed officials to expedite the handover of more than 2,000 newly built housing units.
But many residents say they remain unconvinced, viewing these decisions as a continuation of forced displacement under the guise of development.
The dispute traces back years. In 2018, the Cabinet issued Decree No. 20 establishing a new urban community on the island, triggering mass expropriations. Authorities issued eviction orders and seized land—including a 61,013‑feddan parcel—to build 68 residential towers under the New Urban Communities Authority.
By July 2024, the Ministry of Housing said more than 76% of the island had been cleared—993 feddans out of 1,295 targeted for redevelopment.
The campaign took a symbolic turn in July 2022 when the State Information Service rebranded the area as “Horus City,” announcing a redevelopment project requiring 17.5 billion Egyptian pounds in investment, with projected revenues of 122.54 billion pounds over 25 years. The plan, described as a “Manhattan style project,” features eight investment zones, luxury housing, commercial districts, a cultural area, green space, and twin riverfront marinas.
Yet for residents like Mahrous, such promises ring hollow.
“We’re not against development,” he explained. “But it can’t come at the price of destroying our homes and our history.”
