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Subscribe to RSSViolent demonstrations in Egypt have entered a fourth day with protesters calling for an end to military rule and a "million-man march" on Cairo's Tahrir Square. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
By NBC News
Three American students were arrested Monday evening during protests in Tahrir Square, a spokeswoman for The American University in Cairo told NBC News.
Luke Gates, a student at Indiana University from Bloomington, Ind., Gregory Porter, a student at Drexel University from Glenside, Pa., and Derrik Sweeney, a student at Georgetown University from Jefferson City, Mo., are being held at the Abdeen police station in Cairo, reported NBC.
The three are currently studying abroad at The American University in Cairo. University spokeswoman Morgan Roth said the university is in "fact-finding mode" about the detentions at the moment.
Read more about the events in Egypt
"I don't have specifics on the charges they are facing or if they have been formally charged. I just know that they are being detained," Roth told NBC. The American University is working with the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to monitor the students' well-being, she said.
NBC's Richard Engel said Egyptian television was reporting three American citizens were arrested after being seen throwing fire bombs from the roof of a building belonging to the American University near Tahrir Square, and that the U.S. Embassy was investigating.
The State Department has not yet been able to gain consular access to the students.
The students' parents were notified Tuesday morning of the arrests. Drexel University, Gregory Porter's school, released a statement saying "administrators are in contact with Porter's parents and are working with authorities at the American University in Cairo and the U.S. Embassy to have Porter released and returned home safely."
The two other students' universities have been notified of the arrests as well.
Meanwhile, Egyptians converged on Tahrir Square on Tuesday in response to a call for a so-called "million-man march" as protests against the country's military rulers entered a fourth day. Read full coverage here.
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Pack them up and send them home. Idiots.
Forget bring them home. We have enough morons here already. Let them be tried and punished in Egypt.
Personal Responsibility.
The get out of jail free card only works in Monopoly.
Hey John and Scubastev!!!!!Wow...you both are making assumptions about someones life without knowing all the facts....talk about 'idiot' and 'personal responsibility' maybe you should get ALL the facts first.
they were just out for a hike and made a wrong turn, did not know they crossed over the boarder, that all this is....lol
I am with Scubasteve....they got themselves in trouble there, they should have stayed clear of it, their fault........they should be tired and taken care of by Egypt courts where they broke the law.
And we got more than enother morons right here already
What in the world are 3 Americans doing in the middle of NUT country? Are you NUTS? Isnt that the equivalent of 3 gay guys with their pants down mooning the locals in the middle of NUT square Kabul? There are things you just dont do unless you are Beavis and Butthead...plus folks, those Sneakers we wear to places outside the US is a dead give away, try something else like Alibaba tire shoes; you might be able to get away...they might think you are just an odd looking albino terorrist
Sounds just like OWS protesters, college kids can throw stuff in America free of punishment. It may not be so easy when caught throwing fire bombs off buildings in Egypt. If they are that dumb, they couldn't graduate anyway.
Assuming that's what in fact they were doing. I wouldn't place too much credibility on anything coming out of the Egyptians at this point.
madone, here is hoping they weren't that dumb. The jury is still out, amid the chaos in Egypt.
american asses at work
Whta's the penalty in the US for throwing firebombs - 5, 10, 15 years? If that's what they did, that's the sentence these knuckleheads should receive.
More American students abroad....LOL. Dumb asses
How would we react if we saw some mid-eastern looking college kids throwing molotov cocktails off of a roof?
I pray for the best for these guys, but DAMN was that a boneheaded move!
How would we react? We'd call them terrorists and demand the maximum sentence, call for a ban on immigration from their country of origin, blame Obama and call him a Muslim.
Did I leave anything out?
@screminmimi
I'm sure Bush would get mentioned as well but other than that you nailed it.
Why would Obama be blamed? Instead of moderate Muslims taking control of the new Egypt, looks like the Muslim Brotherhood is moving in and everything will be just fine. Another successful Obama policy decision, huh?
Scubasteve,
I hate to say it, but we all have to live in the foreign-policy bed the Bush Administration made...I just calls 'em as I see 'em.
Keep in mind that Bush is the only President in 45 years to invade a sovereign country, without adequate cause.
It would probably be safe to say that, if these guys DIDN'T do it, they were targetted because they are US citizens. It will be interesting to see if they were involved, and it would be a good bet that someone with a beaf with the US turned them in too.
No screminmimi, I think that about sums it up. Except we might recommend they try wearing underwear. I mean up on a roof, in a robe? Gnarly!
If they are guilty of throwing firebombs, then I have no sympathy for them. They are not over there to join any revolution. The US already has been duped once with that idiot "journalist" from Maryland who went over there, not for a story, but to join his "friends to fight for Lybian independance" and his family got the State Department and politicians involved. If they want to join the revolution, then let them not call themselves students and call themselves what they are - revolutionaries.
What goes through a student's mind that makes them think its a good idea to even be in the middle of a country wide protest after the previous government just collapsed? Wait, to make it even better the military is cracking down violently on everyone opposing it. And to top it all off, they don't like Americans... o.O !
What part of this seemed like a good time to go "study abroad?" I hear Afghanistan and Iraq would love to have students "study" over there too.
Students and tourists should realize that the rules of law that apply in the US end at the 3 mile limit. I met an American lady once that was screaming at a police officer at the Tower of London that she "new her constitutional rights" and her bag "could not be searched without a search warrant". Signs were every where stating all bags must be searched before entry. Various groups had been leaving bombs in the UK. The officer calmly informed her that her rights ended at the three mile limit. She was shocked. Some countries aren't as nice. I have seen people hit with clubs just because they tapped the side of their head and then pointed his finger at a police (not in the UK).
Phanta, young people here in the US are not acquainted with the word no, since they haven't heard it very often in their lives. Having no responsibilities while growing up in the US, sure can cause a personal disaster in explosive foreign countries.
When I studied abroad in college, our teachers gave us a list of rules we were to follow while GUESTS in other countries. Rule number 1? Stay out of their political business. That is not our government, that is not our fight. Stay away from riots, stay away from marches, stay away from protests. Not only is it ignorant to assume we should be involved in any capacity on an individual level with the goings-on in a foreign nation, it makes us look like total and utter morons.
list of rules morons its EGYPT why are students there riots death the school should take them out a long time ago we have to be there for the riot and freedom asssssssssssssss
I guess the 12 mile limit would be the one he would be referring to. Since world policy established a maritime border of three miles, but Reagan extended the US to 12 miles...
Why did these "ADULTS" find it NECESSARY to attend a college in a FOREIGN COUNTRY???? Do they consider themselves "TOO GOOD" to STAY IN THE USA, for college, or is USA colleges "Not good enough" for them????
Plain and simple. Cause trouble in a FOREIGN COUNTRY, SUFFER the consequences!!!!
SIGNED: DANIEL L. BUSHEY
That's a valid question. My son attended university in a foreign country for one year because it was required of him for his major. It was an excellent opportunity for him to see a part of the world, meet and live with young people from the host country and from other countries as well. He learned a foreign language that is useful in his everyday life now.
But you're right. They would be wise to avoid involvement in that country's politics.
professional students,
afraid to join the real world, stay in school and do not have a pay back governments loans, what a great way of life........travel the world on others money
not more hikers on vacation!
Nauseating to hear that these people are referred to as "students?"
What "students" are THAT IGNORANT that would go "study in the Middle East?"
Whatever fate befalls them... I can only hope they are 100% ignored by all 310 million Americans.
I can only hope this is the LAST ARTICLE of any kind that ever dirties a news site in the USA.
Oh, good. Now they'll be held for two years, their anguished parents will visit them, one of them will be released for humane, medical reasons, a book will be in the works...
Maybe they were hiking and just crossed the border into Egypt by mistake.
The enthusiasm of youth is wasted on the young... and clueless...
Fact-Finding-Mode, really? Well, here's your first lesson, you're not in America anymore. I'm astonished to read they weren't from Bezerkeley.
I am sure they aint from Texas....we got Oklahoman's to worry about, a revolution in Norman, and we are there...
We got all kinds of rent-a-cops who will fly over there and pepper spray or even shoot people if needed.
But they were simply expressing their 1st Ammendment rights - just like the University of CA college students that were recently pepper sprayed. See, we as petulant, spoiled Americans can protest and complain when times are tough (i.e., this Occupy movement), but we want someone else to solve the problem. There is no solution being proposed by this movement, no candidates with a clear plan for solving the issue, and to protest for the sake of protesting when real revolution is taking place in the Middle East.... Well, when these folks have suffered like the folks in Syria and Libya, then maybe you might have my sympathy. Pepper spray is much better than a bullet. Until then, fix the problem, don't become a problem.
Maybe we should send the hikers that were in Iran to keep the three fire bomb throwers company in prison.
lmao students out of control typical ignorance of our education system
Egypt is burning to the ground from the chaos created by Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood all throughout the country. These extremists, who were previously imprisoned and are now at large, continue to abduct, rape and murder innocent muslim and christian civilians. Daily, bodies of innocent victims are being un-covered throughout egypt, including that of priests, coptic and now muslim girls. Very sadly, criminals are abducting innocent egyptians for large amounts of ransom. Muslim and Christian Egyptians are currently campaigning for democracy, freedom and equality in Tahrir - Cairo. We do not support this oppressive military regime nor the plight of the Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood for Egypt to be a Religious State with Sharia Law forced upon the will of the Egyptian People. The military recently massacred over 26 coptic christians. Innocent civilians were murdered by live fire and mowed them down by army tanks in Maspero - Cairo.