Popular committees have started to carry piles of garbage from different neighborhoods in Giza in front of the governorate headquarters to pressure the government to deal with its trash problem. A few months ago, the committees had announced they were organizing the campaign to address the problem of garbage accumulating in Egypt's streets. Tahany Lashin, coordinator of the campaign, refused to negotiate with Giza Governor Ali Abdel Rahman after he accused the campaign participants of being affiliated to street cleaning companies and acting out of their own interest. The governor admitted that he is unable to solve the problem. He blamed the problem on people who throw their trash outside trashcans, Tahany told Al-Masry Al-Youm, noting that there aren't enough trashcans. Ehab Ali, coordinator of the Imbaba neighborhood campaign, said the governor contacted the campaign two days ago to convince them not to carry it out. Ali said they told the governor that their basic demand is that the governor set a specific timeline to clean Giza and appoint an official for the mission, who they can later hold accountable in case their demands are not met. Another demand is that the government recycle the waste, Ali added. An Environment Ministry source said Egyptian law holds the government responsible for collecting trash from the streets. The source stressed that trash collection isn't the ministry's responsibility, though it funds many cleaning projects. Translated from the Arabic Edition
