CAIRO (Reuters) -Organisers of a march to the Egyptian border with Gaza said on Tuesday that three participants were abducted by plainclothes officers in Cairo amid a wave of arbitrary detentions, deportations and abuse by security forces.

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, who was detained on two occasions in Egypt while participating in the Global March to Gaza, has said he has no regrets about what occurred as he believes elected representatives have a “much higher responsibility” to highlight the humanitarian crisis in the region.

The Global March to Gaza is a civilian-led initiative to march from Arish, Egypt, to the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip beginning on Sunday. Once in Rafah, the goal was to set up a camp and work to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, provide humanitarian aid to the strip and protest against Israel's actions in the territory.