CAIRO, EGYPT
BP is currently the largest foreign investor in Egypt, extracting oil and gas from beneath the Red Sea, Mediterranean and Nile Delta. Each time the regime has changed in Egypt, BP has swiftly renewed its contract with those in power, turning a blind eye to human rights abuses and repression of the people.
Under the current president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, thousands have been disappeared, often taken to secret detention where they are tortured.
This tear gas cartridge was retrieved when police fired it at protests in Cairo in 2011, as the people demanded greater rights and freedoms. Tear gas was one of many weapons used to control, contain and repress the protesters, causing severe eye and respiratory injuries. Over 40 Egyptians were killed due to tear gas inhalation during the uprisings.
Similar cartridges found on the streets bore the words “Made in the UK”
Further Reading
- BP support for Mubarak dictatorship revealed
- BP using crackdown to steamroller unpopular project in Egypt
- Omar Robbie on BP, Egypt and revolution in ‘Culture Beyond Oil’ (p. 51 – 53)
- Egyptian communities protest BP expansion plans
- Winning against the odds – How an Egyptian community stopped BP in its tracks