Friday, May 03, 2013
Cairo: For three months, the life of Mohi Marwan, the owner of a central Cairo store, has been turned upside down. On the second anniversary of Egypt’s January 2011 revolt, the army set up a concrete wall next to Marwan’s shop on Qasr Al Eini Street after anti-government protesters vowed to march to the nearby cabinet headquarters.
Much to Marwan’s chagrin, the wall, the latest in the centre of the Egyptian capital, has bisected his two-door store. One door is now located on one side of the wall, the second opens on the other. The shop has since functioned as a passageway to hundreds of employees and pedestrians in the area, a seat of key state institutions.
“No one has forced me to turn my shop into a passage to get round the division caused by the wall,” Marwan said. “I feel sympathy with the people who suffer daily because of these barriers in the centre of Cairo,” he told Gulf News.
Authorities have erected at least six such barriers in recent months in the vicinity of Tahrir Square to protect ministries of the interior, the parliament and the cabinet offices from anti-government protesters. The area, the focal point for the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down more than two years ago, has since seen deadly clashes between security forces and angry demonstrators.
“My sales have dropped due to this trouble as customers are afraid of showing up,” said Marwan, who inherited the shop from his father. “Owners of neighbouring stores had to close down because they could not cope with the losses resulting from insecurity and the dividing wall.”
Happy
Marwan added that goods have been stolen from his store as large numbers of people use it daily to bypass the barrier. So, he pasted notices on the windows of the store asking the passers-by not to carry bags or boxes with them.
“I can no longer manage the store well because of the many pedestrians who move through it. I cannot display all my goods inside the shop so as not to block the people’s way.”
Marwan sells snacks and other groceries. Soldiers securing nearby state institutions and foreign embassies also use Marwan’s shop as a passageway. The US, British and Canadian embassies are just metres away.
“Without this passage, the people coming to or living in this area would have to walk a long distance to reach their destinations,” he said.
Marwan closes the shop on Friday for his weekend.
“Despite everything, I feel happy when some pedestrians say some words of thanks or invoke God’s blessings for me,” he added with a beaming face. “But the taxation people have not shown any understanding of our bad circumstances. They continue to tax me as before.”
Egypt’s democratic transition has been turbulent, with the secular-minded opposition accusing the ruling Muslim Brotherhood of having “hijacked” the revolt that toppled Mubarak.
“I support the revolution, but this situation should not be allowed to continue any longer. We are unable to earn our living,” he protested. “They should show mercy to us. It is high time the army removed this wall.”
Authorities have said the walls in central Cairo are necessary for security and they will be pulled down in “proper time”.
By Ramadan Al Sherbini Correspondent
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
