Duweiqa residents gathered as the Cairo Governor visited the neighborhood yesterday’s evening, and clashed with the police when some youth raised a banner that read: “An unjust ruler, and an oppressed people.” Three shabab were taken to the Manshiyet Nasser Police Station: Muhammad Fathi, Ibrahim Ali and Muhammad Ragab.
Tag: housing & services
Duweiqa rockslide death toll climbs
From AFP…
A total of 38 people were killed in a massive weekend rockslide in Egypt which flattened homes in a north Cairo shantytown, according to the latest toll given by the health ministry on Monday.
“The number of victims has risen to 38 dead and 57 wounded,” the ministry said in a statement carried by the official MENA news agency.
A report by the BBC however says those who died are “at least 51 people”.
Below is a report by Al-Jazeera International…
The Doweiqa disaster
I received news about the Doweiqa disaster, via SMS, when I was in Tanta. I haven’t gone there yet, but the pictures we are seeing are horrific, with 31 up till now confirmed dead, and hundreds still trapped.
Yet the pictures are also familiar. Corruption, corruption, corruption, corruption. We cannot blame mother nature or luck in these situations, and neither the families of the victims are. The residents slammed the authorities and Mubarak himself in interviews to the press, blaming the government and its local representatives: the Cairo Governor, and the local council officials. The latter were chased away from the neighborhood, by angry residents, when they dared to visit the scene.
Police was also stoned amid accusations of incompetency. The army had to be called in with its equipment to help with the rescue efforts, while police troops have put the area under siege, banning journalists from entering.
I received unconfirmed news, also via SMS, around 20 mins ago about another collapse in Doweiqa. I hope it’s wrong.
The Egyptian Center for Housing Rights has called for a candlelight vigil, in solidarity with the victims and to protest the state’s housing policy, tomorrow Monday 9pm in Talaat Harb Square.