ISLANDS GIVEAWAY STIRS PROTEST.

CAIRO • Egyptian security forces fired tear gas Friday at demonstrators protesting President Abdel-Fattah elSissi’s decision to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. Chants of “leave, leave!” directed at el-Sissi marked the first significant wave of street protests since the former army chief became president in 2014.

Riot police cracked down on protesters in Cairo’s twin city of Giza, where demonstrators had gathered at two mosques after Friday prayers and marched toward Tahrir Square. Many carried signs reading “Land is Honour” and denounced the surrender of the islands. Others chanted, “The people want the fall of the regime” and “Down with military rule!”

The protesters ran away after police fired tear gas. Several photojournalists covering the protests were briefly detained near al-Istiqama mosque in Giza.

All unauthorized demonstrations in Egypt are illegal and security forces have, in the past, used lethal force.

The protesters were members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group and they chanted “anti-regime slogans,” an Egyptian official said. The official said police responded with tear gas after protesters threw rocks.

Nearly 2,000 protesters gathered downtown, a few metres from a collection of armoured vehicles and hundreds of police in full riot gear who sealed off the surrounding streets. Except for a handful of bearded men and female protesters wearing full-face veils, there was little sign of an organized Islamist presence.

“If we give up the lands now, there will be more future concessions for him to stay in power,” said Alaa Morsi, one of the protesters, echoing a notion that el-Sissi essentially sold Egyptian territory in exchange for Saudi financial support, to shore up his rule.

What infuriated many was the secretive nature of the deal. It was announced at the same time the Saudis were pledging billions of dollars in loans, causing critics to accuse the president of a desperate and humiliating territorial sell-off.

“He should have told us before the deal,” said 28-year-old lawyer and protester Rania Rafaat.

The government maintains that the islands of Tiran and Sanafir at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba belong to Saudi Arabia, which asked Egypt in 1950 to protect them from Israel. Israel captured the islands in the 1967 Middle East war, but handed them back to Egypt under a 1979 peace treaty.

In response, Egyptians have taken to social networking sites, posting old maps to prove Egypt’s ownership of the islands.