A shortage of butane gas cylinders continued to cause more clashes on Monday, leaving at least six people injured in fights over limited supply in several governorates.
In Alexandria, cylinder distributors threatened to close down in protest at the government reducing their quotas. They asked the security services to protect them against people storming their outlets in search of cylinders.
“My quota was reduced from 1700 to 200 cylinders a day,” said Awad Bekheit, a distributor in the city of Abu Kir near Alexandria.
The price of a cylinder increased to between LE20 and LE25 in some areas. The official retail price of cylinders is LE3.
In Beni Suef, an ex-convict named Mohamed Mostafa allegedly tried to steal available cylinders by firing a gun at people gathering at an outlet, but he was caught and beaten.
Also, six people were wounded when 15 thugs attacked a store in the city, stole the cylinders and locked the staff inside so that they could not call the police.
Additional clashes were reported in the governorates of Sharqiya, Minya and Qena.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
