Tens of lawyers gathered Wednesday in front of the headquarters of the General Tax Authority in the city of Beni Mazar in the Minya Governorate to protest the beating of a lawyer by tax collectors, who were attempting to collect money from his client. Security forces intervened to disperse the gathering. Attorney Mahmoud Helmi said that while he was finishing his client's tax procedures, the four tax collectors hit him. In the Gharbiya Governorate, nearly 400 residents from the town of Azba Nazif, in the district of Tanta are demonstrating against heavy trucks that pass through the town and damage roads and bridges. The protesters blocked the main road in Tanta for more than a half hour and refused to let trucks pass. Security forces then intervened to disperse the demonstrators and open the road, promising to resolve their problems. In the Governorate of 6th of October, residents of Hassanyn threatened a sit-in protest in front of the governorate's offices to protest the appropriation of their land and houses for the Riyah Naseri project. They claim to have documents proving their ownership of the land since 1968, when the Ministry of Irrigation granted them the land in exchange for the houses. The contract was signed on 9 July 1968, during which time the residents were under the jurisdiction of the Giza Governorate. In 2006, the residents presented their requests to the 6th of October Governorate for help in legally recognizing their claims to the land, according to Statute 148, issued the same year. However, the governorate considers the land and the houses to be the property of the state, and demanded that the residents sell the land at a price ranging between LE800 and 1,000 per square meter. In Ismailia, farmers of the Sahal el-Tina project south of Qantara threatened to protest what they claim to be Bedouin encroachments on their land. The farmers assembled on Wednesday in front of the branch headquarters of the General Authority for Reconstruction and Agricultural Development in the governorate. They demanded the director of the branch and security officials immediately implement previously agreed upon decisions to provide them with land. They also urged the Ministers of Interior and Agriculture to intervene and protect them from encroachments. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
