Protesters with special needs who have been staging demonstrations in front of the parliament building are not entitled to reparations as they do not live in Cairo, said Cairo Governor Abdel Azim Wazir. The protesters are demanding jobs, permits for kiosks and housing. "We did not ignore them, however, when we looked into their applications we found out that they were not Cairo residents," he said. "The rules say applicants must be over 21 years of age and must not own a house in Cairo or anywhere else," he added. "So we had to discard 1000 applications out of the 3000 we received because they did not meet the conditions." "We are studying the rest of the applications, and we have already granted housing units to 54 of them," the governor explained. Wazir also said that he referred 82 job-seeking applicants to the manpower directorate so they can be given a job in accordance with their qualifications. "As for kiosks, we stopped issuing licenses five years ago in order to keep the city sidewalks free for pedestrians use," he said. The new bill on the rights of people with special needs exempts them from paying taxes and duties, allocates five percent of public and private sector job vacancies and provides them with specialized education, health services and other social and economic facilities, said Khalil Mostafa, adviser to the Ministry for Family and Population. "They are aware of this, which makes me believe they have ulterior motives behind their protests," Mostafa said without any further explanation. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
