On 3 March, members of the US peace group Code Pink landed in Egypt en route to an International Women’s Day conference in Gaza. At Cairo airport, conference co-organiser Medea Benjamin was detained overnight by the police, without explanation. Officials then violently handcuffed her, dislocating her shoulder and breaking her arm, and put her on a plane to Turkey. The US embassy refused assistance throughout.
Nobel peace laureate Mairead Maguire and Ann Patterson of the Northern Ireland Peace People, were detained at Cairo airport on 4 March on their way to the Gaza conference, and deported back to London.