Egyptian police arrested at least 237 people during mass protests on April 25 against the government’s recent handover of two strategic islands to Saudi Arabia, says an Egyptian rights group.

The Front of Defense for Egyptian Protesters (FDEP) released the figure on Tuesday, saying foreign nationals, activists and journalists were among those detained the previous day in the capital, Cairo, and the city of Giza.

Lawyers Gamal Eid and Mohammed Abdel-Aziz, both FDEP members, said that all the arrested were in custody by midnight Monday.

The two, however, said the number of those held could have decreased as police have been intermittently releasing the detainees.

The April 25 protests were called over two weeks after President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi announced that the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir fall within the territorial waters of Saudi Arabia based on a maritime border agreement signed with Riyadh.

The rallies coincide with the Sinai Liberation Day, a national holiday marking the completion of Israel's withdrawal from the peninsula in 1982.

Monday’s demonstrations turned violent after police used tear gas and birdshot against demonstrators.



The arrest of the 237 people followed the detention of almost 100 others in pre-dawn house raids and roundups at cafes in downtown Cairo.

In a statement published on Tuesday, Amnesty International condemned the mass arrests and the use of violence against protesters in Egypt.

"The Egyptian authorities appear to have orchestrated a heavy-handed and ruthlessly efficient campaign to squash this protest before it even began," said Magdalena Mughrabi, the interim deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty.

"Mass arrests, road blocks and huge deployments of security forces made it impossible for peaceful demonstrations to take place,” Mughrabi said.

The ownership of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir was handed to Egyptian control in 1982, when Tel Aviv and Cairo signed the so-called Camp David peace accords.