"I managed to hear from him a little while ago: the consul arrived and they released him. Now he is waiting for the release of his colleague from the Holden school."
The good news comes from Antioco Usala, a former trade unionist for the Sardinian CGIL and father of Andrea, a 25-year-old from Cagliari, one of the two Italian Pro Pal activists blocked at the airport in Cairo by the Egyptian authorities and who left yesterday from Turin, where he studies, with the intention of participating in the international march for Gaza.
Antioco Usala does not believe that his son will now return to Italy, where he left last night: "I believe that their intention is to remain there until the start of the march", he adds, explaining that, as far as he has been able to understand, his son would not be the recipient of any expulsion order. "He was simply stopped, now the consul has arrived and he has been released". he concludes.
Andrea Usala, 25, was stopped in Cairo with his colleague Vittoria Antonioli Arduini, 21. Since May 19, they were part of the group of university students who occupied Piazza Castello with tents, in a sign of solidarity and to ask for justice for Gaza. "They don't let us go to the bathroom and they don't let us get food," was the message spread by Andrea, when he was already at the Cairo airport.
The Farnesina
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had confirmed the detention of some Italian Pro-Pal activists in Cairo by the Egyptian authorities. "There is an official from the Embassy, a team from the Consulate to assist all the Italians who are there and to communicate with the local authorities: so we are following the situation minute by minute with our Embassy and our Consulate," the minister said on the sidelines of a FI event.
The press release
"We are the boys and girls of Piazza Palestina, the permanent garrison that has peacefully occupied the squares of Turin - Piazza Castello and Piazza San Carlo - for a month to denounce the genocide underway in Gaza and support the right to international solidarity", reads a note from the companions of the two activists, "two of our companions, Vittoria Antonioli Arduini and Andrea Usala, have left to participate in the Global March For Gaza. Their departure was constructed in a transparent, legitimate, and fully compliant manner. Since yesterday, however, Vittoria and Andrea have been detained without reason at Cairo airport. Their documents have been seized, they have been separated, guarded by armed soldiers, deprived of access to food, water and toilets, without any formal charge. Their detention is arbitrary and contrary to every principle of international law".
Hence the appeal: "We now ask for immediate intervention. We ask the press, social networks, associations, movements, political representatives, municipalities and regions of Italy to speak out publicly. We ask Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and the Farnesina to act without delay to obtain the release of Vittoria and Andrea. We ask Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Policy, and the European Commission to intervene to ensure respect for the rights of European citizens detained in Egypt".
An appeal that did not go unheard.