Five protesters were arrested in Assiut on Thursday on charges of blocking the Cairo-Assiut highway as they demonstrated against the ongoing fuel shortage.
Dozens of residents in the village of Blao in Deirut blocked the highway with barricades and burning tires and palm tree trunks as they protested both the shortage and the high cost of gasoline on the black market, where gas costs LE5 per liter.
The protesters also demanded that a speed bump be placed on the highway in front of their village, as a speeding car recently struck and killed a child before driving away.
Fights broke out between the protesters and drivers who wanted to pass through their blockade.
Security forces then arrived on the scene, arresting five of the demonstrators.
"The police arrested a number of protesters after they broke lamp posts on the two sides of the road and put them in the middle of the road to prevent the passage of cars," said Gamal Zaky, the chief of the Dairout village council.
Zaky claimed that gasoline was in fact available at gas stations and that there was already a speed bump on the road near the village.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
