Security services, investigative police units, and river rescue forces demolished a fixed boat yesterday in the al-Qased Canal in Damietta. Witnesses said police used butane and heavy cylinders to destroy the boat, which is owned by three physically challenged people. One of the owners was arrested.
Mohamed Emara, head of the city and province of Tanta, said the boat is not licensed, and the owners relied upon the preliminary approval of the sanitation department to establish the boat and connect utilities.
The boat's owners said they had submitted a request to the Social Fund for Development for the establishment of the boat as a restaurant and coffee shop. On 15 April, the fund inspected the boat and submitted a report to the director of the sanitation department to connect utilities. The owners received loans worth about LE1 million from the Ministry of Social Solidarity to furnish the boat.
Despite the owners being licensed on 20 March, Abdel Hamid al-Shennawi, the governor of Gharbeya, ordered the boat to be immediately demolished. The owners claim that the governor refused to review the boat's documents.
According to Emara, the boat is situated in a 20-meter wide navigational channel. He also said that a local drinking water company requested the demolition take place 30 meters away from the drinking water station.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
