Around 2000 demonstrators blocked a highway in Upper Egypt on Sunday to protest shortages of butane gas cylinders. Officials called for rapid intervention to resolve the crisis.
Eyewitnesses said residents of the village of Dashlout in Assiut and several neighboring villages blocked the Western Desert's Assiut-Cairo road at the Dashlout exit. They said citizens used tree trunks, setting them on fire.
Villagers called on Assiut Governor Ibrahim Hammad as well as the Ministry of Solidarity and Social Justice to increase the village’s share of butane gas cylinders given its large population.
Deputy Minister Magdy Selim said, “The gas cylinder problem lies not in distribution but rather in the amount received from petroleum companies.”
Selim said gas-related crises, which erupt daily and lead to disputes among the villagers, must be resolved.
Meanwhile, clashes between citizens and distributors broke out in Kafr al-Sheikh in front of the town's gas cylinder store. The price of a butane gas cylinder there has exceeded LE30.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
