A LIMERICK born actress, who is among a group of demonstrators attempting to travel across Egypt this Friday afternoon (June 13) to reach the Rafah crossing on the Gaza border as part of a planned peaceful march, has had her passport confiscated by authorities and is currently unclear on her next destination.
This comes following earlier reports by this newspaper that another Limerick woman has already been arrested and deported as she was landing in Cairo for the march.
Bairbre Ní Chaoimh, who played Mrs Connell in the 1999 film Angela’s Ashes, is taking part in March to Gaza, a peaceful demonstration calling for immediate humanitarian access to the besieged region and an end to the 19-month conflict in Gaza.
Speaking to the Limerick Post, Bairbre says her group was stopped by armed police in the north-eastern Egyptian city of Ismailia, on their way to Al Arish, where they were due to meet with other international groups.
The group was told to hand over their passports, which Bairbre says all went into a “plastic bag”, before being offered bottles of water.
“It seems they went to put us on a bus to the airport, but it’s not a very big bus and nobody wants to comply. It’s roasting hot,” Bairbre told this newspaper.
“We have warned the rest of our group not to come here.”
The actress said that the group has been told that “if we go on the bus, they will give us our passports and take us back to Cairo but won’t deport us. If we stay here, no passports back and we will be deported.”
Bairbre said that “it’s clear they are determined not to let us through. We are hoping to stay here, but they may move us by force”.
“There’s a group of several hundred stuck at the next checkpoint and other Irish people were made to turn around in their taxis.”
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, who is among the group Bairbre is travelling with, has posted on social media platform X that he and others are being detained.
“It seems Egyptian authorities have decided to crack down on the #GreatMarchToGaza. We are refusing to board the deportation bus,” he posted.
Earlier this morning, this newspaper reported that Nora Casey, from Foynes in County Limerick, was detained, questioned, and deported – along with 200 others in a separate group from Ms Ní Chaoimh – yesterday (Thursday) after arriving at Cairo International Airport for the March to Gaza.
Ms Casey said her group was met with “hostility” by the Egyptian authorities upon landing, who she claims detained the would-be marchers without access to food, water, access to a bathroom, or any means of communication to the outside world.
When they asked why they were being detained, Nora said the group was told it was for “national security” reasons.
Videos shared with this paper showed the group in high spirits during their detention, waving the Palestinian flag and chanting “Free Palestine”.
It has been confirmed that Ms Casey arrived safety back to Ireland this morning.
