Tens of owners and residents of Dar el-Salaam towers staged a protest before the headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) last Wednesday at 11 pm. They protested against Cairo Governor Abdel Azim Wazir's decision to demolish 28 towers in Dar el-Salaam, behind the Supreme Constitutional Court, because they are unlicensed. The protesters called on Wazir to backtrack on his decision and accept reconciliation like what happened in Helwan governorate. They stressed that they are ready to reconcile and pay fines in accordance with Act 106. They called for a technical engineering committee to inspect the towers' structure, as they put it. They wondered how the law is enforced in Helwan and is not enforced in Cairo, threatening to escalate their protest during the coming period.
The demonstrators chanted slogans such as, "Sufficient unto us is God" and "God is great". They carried banners reading "Appeal to Mr. President…Dar el-Salaam residents call on you to save them from government's oppression", "Oh, Governor, it is injustice…this is enough… Mercy over Justice "," Oh, tyrants; you destroyed our homes…save Dar el-Salaam residents", and "No for demolishing 28 buildings".
Abdel Basset Mohamed, a building owner, said he defies any government official that all buildings in Misr al-Qadema, Athar al-Nabi and Faida Kamel districts are unlicensed. If the governor wanted to enforce the law, he would have to demolish buildings of the entire district and not only 28 buildings out of more than 600 buildings in the region where over 21,600 people live.
The governorate's security forces expel people of their homes and prevented general secondary students from going to their exams for security reasons, Abdel Basset said. He wondered why the governorate suddenly discovered that these buildings are unlicensed even though they were built tens of years ago! Mohamed Mursi Sayed, a resident in one of the buildings, said he is still paying premiums of the apartment he bought for LE140,000. He asked where his family would live after the governor's decision, adding that he has nothing to do with the crisis between the buildings' owners and the governorate. Mursi, an employee in the Egyptian Tax Authority, said the residents want to get their money or stay in their apartments. This could not be achieved in light of the governor's decision, as the buildings' owners said they would not give them their money. Ahmed Mohamed, a resident, has recently returned from an Arab country after four years to find that the apartment he has been paying its premiums for four years to marry in, would be demolished. If the governor wanted to enforce the law, he should remove 6000 buildings in the entire region, as well as the Supreme Constitutional Court and other government institutions that were built on arable land. We want nothing but justice.
