On 4. April I (foreigner) and my Egyptian friends (around 6 girls Christian and Muslim wearing headscarfs and around 7 guys) went to Wadi El-Hitan, Fayoum. At 12:30pm many people came up from the water to pray and our group left the hut to go down to the lake for swimming. We did not go straight down but tried to avoid the groups at the beach. Me and the Christian Egyptians were wearing T-shirts. When we approached the lake men started running towards us. We had to turn around because more and more young guys started to move towards us. My friend said we have to go back slowly and stay close. When we walked back I heard one of the Egyptians saying "we are occupying the place" while he threw himself on the ground behind us. Some kind of joke but the situation was clearly tense, at least for us. We told the guards and people in the huts that we want to take a boat since there is no possibility to swim. They were helpful but some girls and I were against it fearing that the Egyptian youth would swim behind us.I kept telling my friends about the dangers (touching, gang raps) but the guys were of the opinion that they could protect us. They kept saying that the quality of the people in the place is bad and it must be locals.
Shortly after 3pm, the place had emptied out somehow, we went to the river that flows into the lake. Again youth stopped and followed us, some came running from further up the river (the waterfalls), a motorcycle stopped and people were throwing themselves on the sand watching us. We felt trapped, the water on one side and people coming from all other sides. Two couples in our group had already crossed the river and went upstream to the waterfalls, guys were running after them falling over each other to climb the stones. I could not see what happened next because we regrouped and went back quickly to the hut. Two friends stayed with us, the others ran to help the couples. I don't know if anything happened.
Around 4:30pm most of my friends took a boat. Me and another Christian girl stayed behind in the hut because we knew that our male friends couldn't protect us and though the place seemed empty there were still enough youth to make us feel uncomfortable.
P.S.: Please translate the rest of the side for non-Arabic speakers.

ادعم/ي الشخص اللي بلغ

أضف/ي تعليق شاهد/ي المزيد من البلاغات