(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - “What is this? How many more people must America kill before they stop this?” yelled one man, throwing his arms up in the air. Frustrations were high, and have been in Egypt for months now, since US-made tear gas made headlines after its indiscriminate use in November, when security forces battled protesters in central Cairo.
During that incident, the symptoms of tear gas was made public and the over-abundance of canisters fired by security left most of Egypt angry. Their anger was directed toward Washington, for allowing the shipments to enter the country in the first place.
Now, months on from the Mohamed Mahmoud clashes in November, and two subsequent violent outbursts by security forces against protesters, the United States is continuing what human rights organizations are calling “ships of shame” carrying more weapons, including tear gas, to the country.
“This ship of shame should not be allowed to unload its dangerous cargo in Egypt, and there is a substantial risk that this is what it plans to do,” said Brian Wood Amnesty International’s head of arms control. “There is a clear pattern that weapons from previous ships have recently been used to commit serious human rights violations by the Egyptian security forces, and yet the US is recklessly sending a constant flow of arms to Egypt.”
He was referring to a ship carrying a cargo of weapons with explosives en route from the US to Egypt, which Amnesty reported this week.
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