Police successfully reopened the Ismailia-Zagazig highway after residents of Abu Sweir blocked it for hours on Saturday after they were denied permission to bury a man, Khalaf Ramadan, who was shot dead in a fight.
Scores of residents blocked the road, burning tires and preventing vehicles from crossing.
A security source told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the residents were protesting the forensic authority’s refusal to issue Ramadan a burial certificate. The source added that the forensic authority said it would decide on the dead body after the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
On Thursday, railway and agricultural routes between Cairo and Alexandria were closed for hours by hundreds of citizens protesting the death of a detainee at a police station.
The routes opened up after police forces convinced protesters to leave.
Newly appointed Interior Minster Major General Ahmed Gamal Eddin said that the police will take harsh measures against protestors blocking roads.
On Wednesday, army and police dispersed at least six protests across the country that blocked roads by force, arresting 19 for instigating highway and railroad blockages.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
