Hundreds of residents of Bergaya village blocked train traffic for two hours in Minya as they lay down on the rails during a protest over a butane gas shortage.
Ezzat Hamza, the governorate's deputy minister of social solidarity, sent 300 butane gas cylinders to the area in an effort to resolve the situation.
Aswan Governor Major General Mostafa al-Sayyed held an urgent meeting with officials from the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Social Solidarity over the protest. Sayyed assigned an official from the Ministry of Social Solidarity to set a timetable for daily gas cylinder distribution so that the police and military could secure the shipments from the butane factory in Komombo to distribution outlets, where the cylinders are sold for LE6 each.
Sayyed said any distribution outlet that violates regulations would be closed.
Meanwhile, members of the popular committees in Aswan vowed to protect the gas cylinder shipments, saying they would accompany vehicles transporting the gas from the factories to distribution outlets.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
