Hundreds of farmers on Sunday blocked an important coastal highway in the north of Egypt, protesting a water shortage they said is negatively affecting their farmlands.
Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that farmers from three villages in the Nile Delta governorate of Kafr al-Sheikh blocked the International Coastal Road, which connects North African Arab countries with their Middle Eastern neighbors via the Sinai peninsula.
The farmers said that they have faced a two-month irrigation water shortage, which has dried their lands and killed their livestock. They vowed not to end their protest until water flows back into the canal on which they depend.
Demonstrators had not normally protested on the highway until recent months, when the lack of fuel and water for irrigation have brought them out on several occasions.
The 1,040 km-long road opened a decade ago as the first coastal road to link the two Arab regions.
