At least 10 people were killed in Cairo after police broke up a three-month-long protest by Sudanese refugees demanding to be resettled in a third country.
Riot police stormed the refugees' makeshift camp before dawn today-Friday after trying for hours to disperse the protestors. A Voice of America reporter on the scene said police beat refugees, including women and children, with sticks and batons.
The Interior Ministry says the deaths were caused by a stampede, but the VOA reporter on the scene saw no stampede occur.
As many as two thousand refugees had been camped out in an upscale part of Cairo to demand the United Nations refugee agency, which has an office nearby, resettle them in a third country.
The UN agency said the refugees do not have the right to be resettled in another country. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said he was shocked and saddened at today's events.
Information for this report is provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
