Dozens of residents from the Duweiqa neighborhood assembled on Monday at the Suzanne Mubarak Housing Office to protest the delay in offering alternative housing arrangements after demolition orders were issued on their homes. The gathering lasted more than half and hour and the protesters forced Mostafa Ebada, head of the Manshiyet Nasr District Council, to remain in his office. Office workers called security forces who successfully secured Ebada's exit from his office. Police allegedly used violence to disperse the crowds and detained five women in a police car. The women were then taken to the police station. Another pregnant woman fainted and was taken to hospital one hour later. Hamza Mohamed Mohamed, a Duweiqa resident, said, "When the head of the district entered his office, we thought he had come to give us the housing letters he had promised earlier, during the last meeting in mid-January. We asked to see him, but he refused." "He didn't seem to care about the conditions in which we live, in such cold weather," Mohamed said. Nabil Ourabi, another resident, said, "There are more than 28 families who have been sleeping on the street, for more than 35 days." According to Ourabi, one child from the group of displaced families died of severe pneumonia. "Although the residents have been appealing for help, nobody has done anything until now." Translated from the Arabic Edition.
