Cairo - Bedouins in the Sinai desert blocked major trade routes Friday, alleging Egyptian police killed a man and injured others in the early morning, witnesses said. The protesters were blocking a major highway, attacking passing cars and setting tires on fire, the witnesses said.
The cause of the original violence was unclear but police had entered the Bedouin village of Balouza earlier in the day to make arrests of people suspected of being on the run from the authorities.
Bedouins and police also clashed last week, after security forces tried to shut down smuggling routes to the Gaza Strip. Under a tight blockade, many basic goods, including food and cement, are illegally brought into the Palestinian enclave via underground tunnels.
Tensions have been running high in the Sinai between the Bedouins and the Egyptian authorities over smuggling and claims by the local population that the central government discriminates against them.
