A video circulating online shows two brothers who were protesting the war in Gaza being forcibly pulled inside the Permanent Mission of Egypt to the U.N. in New York City before being led away in handcuffs by police earlier this week.
The siblings were identified by their parents as Yasin ElSammak, 22, and Ali Elsamak, 15, who they said are both U.S. citizens
Protester Husam Khaled, who recorded the incident Wednesday, said he ran from the area after attempting to chain lock the doors to the Egyptian Mission, but returned when he noticed the brothers did not. Khaled said that he had asked Yasin, who brought his brother along, to film the protest in case he was arrested and lost his phone.
Video clips Khaled shared with NBC News show the brothers being grabbed outside the building and tackled to the ground. An onlooker is heard calling for help and shouting, “They’re bringing the kids inside the building.”
Khaled said that Yasin was struck in the neck with a chain and that Ali was pinned against a wall.
“I was telling them, ‘It was me, let them go, they didn’t do anything,’” Khaled said.
In another video, Khaled, speaking in Arabic, asks one of the men who emerges from the building if he is following the instructions of Badr Abdelatty, Egypt’s minister of foreign affairs and immigration. The man answers yes.
Tensions have flared between protesters and Egyptian embassy officials after several Arabic-speaking news outlets published a video that they said showed a leaked phone call between Abdelatty and Emad Hanna, the Egyptian ambassador to the Hague. The video, which has not been verified independently by NBC News, appears to show Abdelatty instructing diplomatic staff to “grab” and “drag” protesters inside their buildings and call the police.
The Egyptian Mission to the U.N., Egyptian Foreign Ministry, and Egyptian embassies in Paris, Rome and the Hague did not immediately respond to NBC News’ requests for comment.
In the videos from Wednesday shared by Khaled, New York Police Department officers are seen going into the building and later coming out with the two brothers in handcuffs.
Police said Yasin was charged with assault, and a 15-year-old was charged with assault and strangulation in connection with injuries to two Egyptian Mission staff members. Two Egyptian mission staff members refused medical attention at the scene, the department said. Police did not name the minor, however, Ali’s father has identified him as the teenager charged.
Yasin had no prior criminal history, police said. Authorities are not allowed to disclose the records of minors.
Authorities can enter foreign embassies and consulates with the permission from the ambassador of that building’s country. They can also respond in exigent circumstances, such as a fight in progress, the NYPD spokesperson said.
The brothers’ parents, who were not at the protest, said Yasin’s charges were reduced to a misdemeanor, and Ali’s were dropped in family court. They said Yasin’s throat was swollen and he had difficulty breathing after the incident.
“Our sons were kidnapped and beaten on American soil, and then the officers of the United States of America came to arrest my sons,” their father, Akram ElSammak, said.
ElSammak and his wife, Olga, U.S. citizens who immigrated decades ago from Egypt and Russia, respectively, and raised their children in New York City, said their sons joined the protest to call for aid to reach children in Gaza.
“That’s the crime of my kids,” Akram ElSammak said. “They say, ‘Let the children eat and have some medicine and have some water.’”
Within Our Lifetime, which describes itself as a Palestinian-led community organization in New York City, said in a statement on social media Wednesday that the incident marks “the extension of Egypt’s campaign of repression beyond its own borders and onto U.S. soil.”
Egypt, along with Qatar and the U.S., has coordinated ceasefire talks among Israel and Hamas throughout the war. Some have called out Egypt and blamed the country for deepening the humanitarian crisis by allowing Israel to block travel on the Egypt-Gaza border. Egypt has rejected that criticism, saying any blame lies solely with Israel, which has stopped 5,000 aid trucks from crossing into Rafah from the Sinai, according to Abdellaty.
