The spokesperson for Egypt’s Foreign Ministry, Amr Roshdy, said Wednesday that contacts made by Egyptian Ambassador Hesham Abdel Wahab with Libyan authorities had managed to halt the deportation of a number of Egyptians who had been involved in a fight on Abu Salim, Tripoli, on Monday.
Roshdy said the Egyptian nationals fought among themselves before they turned the fight against revolutionary militants who tried to disperse the mobs.
Roshdy said that the majority of Egyptians in that area had not entered the country legally, which, he said, caused much embarrassment to the embassy when it intervened for their release. He added that the embassy, however, exerted all efforts possible to provide those citizens with support regardless of the legality of their residency.
Abdel Wahab had told state-run news agency MENA that a brawl had broken out among some Egyptian workers at their residence, and Libyan citizens affected by the fight complained to some revolutionary militants.
Abdel Wahab revealed that 11 Egyptian workers were injured in the incident, and added that Libyan militants detained 200 workers who belong to the Egyptian province of Fayoum. He said the workers were later released after intervention by the Egyptian embassy.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
