Students and activists protested outside the Cabinet building Sunday to denounce the government’s handling of the train and bus collision in Assiut that claimed the lives of 52 people, 50 of whom were children.
Protesters demanded the dismissal of Prime Minister Hesham Qandil, who they blamed for the disaster that took place in the Mandara village in the city of Manfalut.
They chanted: “Down with the state of negligence” and “A child is killed because officials are always neglectful.”
Egyptians have long complained of the poor safety of their roads and railways. Successive governments have failed to enforce even basic safeguards, so deadly crashes are common.
Egypt’s worst train disaster took place in 2002, when a fire ripped through seven carriages of an overcrowded passenger train and killed almost 360 people.
