MP George Galloway in Egyptian Police Riot

9:14am UK, Wednesday January 06, 2010
Graham Fitzgerald, Sky News Online

MP George Galloway has been involved in scuffles with Egyptian police as he led a relief convoy trying to take aid to Palestinians in Gaza.


British members of the convoy were among dozens of people injured during the clashes, one of the activists said.

Around 520 people were travelling with 150 trucks full of supplies when clashes broke out at the port city of El Arish, near Gaza.

One of the members, Alexandra Lort-Phillips, 37, who works for Enfield Youth Offending Service in north London, said: "I have 42 people in my team.
"Out of those three Britons have been injured. There are head injuries, cuts.
"We started getting pelted with stones by people in plain clothes, then the police started moving in, using tear gas and batons. People were quite severely beaten."

Ms Lort-Phillips said seven or eight of the convoy members had to be treated in hospital. She blamed "heavy-handed" policing for their injuries.

Mr Galloway during anti-war protest
Protests reportedly began when Egyptian authorities at El Arish ordered some lorries to use an Israeli-controlled checkpoint.
The activists would prefer the goods to be transported via Egypt's Rafah crossing.
Mr Galloway, the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, said Israel was likely to prevent convoy lorries entering Gaza.

He told Sky News: "It is completely unconscionable that 25% of our convoy should go to Israel and never arrive in Gaza."

Earlier this week convoy members staged noisy protests after Egyptian officialstook away their passports and delayed handing them back.