Scores of taxi drivers on Thursday demonstrated in front of the Egyptian Museum at Abdel Moneim al-Riyad square, downtown Cairo, against poor security in the streets, thuggery and car hijacking. They demanded that the Interior Ministry provide them protection.
A taxi driver, Gamal Ahmed Fathy, said his car was hijacked by thugs. When he tried to report the theft to the police, an officer told him he would have to negotiate with the thieves who stole it. He then reached a deal to pay LE30000 to the thugs. However, they took the money without giving him the car, he said.
Mahmoud Hussein said that the Interior Ministry bears responsibility for taxi drivers’ safety on the road, particularly during the night, and recalled that authorities released prisoners during the revolution. “All we demand is that the police assume their role in protecting us as citizens or give us guns to protect ourselves,” he said.
The areas where cars get hijacked and thugs live are known to the police, claims Mohammed Reda Saad, another taxi driver. He says that police refuse to interfere because the thugs are armed.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
