Trains heading to Upper Egypt returned to schedule on Saturday after demonstrators blocked trains traffic in protest against their village lacking clean water. Residents from Abu Regwan village in Giza, south of Cairo, staged the protest on railway tracks. Hany Hegab, head of the National Railways Authority, on Friday said negotiations between the military police, the company supplying water and Giza governorate officials have succeeded and officials have promised to restore water supplies to the village. Residents of the village blocked trains between the Mazghouna and Mazareeq stations from 5:30 pm on Friday to 1 am on Saturday. The trains were bound for Upper Egypt. Railway tracks have become common sites for staging protests following the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak. Most of the time, such protests have led to a favorable response from Egyptian authorities. Approximately 2000 people staged a protest on the railway tracks in Ayyat, Giza in June to demand that a cell phone tower in their village be dismantled. The protesters believed that the tower damages children's health. Again, the protesters managed to get their demands satisfied. Residents in Qena staged a similar protest to demand removal of a Coptic governor, forcing the government to appoint a replacement.
