Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb said President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered the development of downtown Cairo as an area of heritage, adding that all the vendors that had occupied the streets have now been removed.
Mehleb announced an international conference will be held for the purpose of development and thanked the Interior and Local Development Ministers and the Governor of Cairo for removing the street vendors in a decent and civilized way.
Meanwhile, the street vendors that were temporarily moved from downtown to the Cairo Gateway Plaza area and given shops for free are complaining that the new place is not commercial enough and that they have no space to stock their merchandise.
They also said that shops were given to some vendors who are not entitled to them.
Ahmed Abbas, member of the Street Vendors Syndicate, said the prime minister promised to move them to the Wabour al-Thalg area in three to six months. “This is too long,” he said. “Some of us don’t want to come to Gateway Plaza in the first place.”
Abbas told Al-Masry Al-Youm that Prime Minister stressed that support for the street vendors would be in a civilized and decent manner, and the street vendors are expected to accept the decision to relocate to the Gateway Plaza area.
For his part, Deputy Cairo Governor Mohamed Ayman Abdel Tawab said the authorities will not allow the vendors to disrupt the interests of the country. “We will confiscate their merchandise if they occupy the streets again,” he said.
The vendors engaged in verbal altercations with the police because the process was not going efficiently and some were not given shops although they were listed.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
