CAIRO: A planned eviction campaign of some 28 buildings in Izbet El-Haggana in Nasr City turned violent Tuesday morning as residents resisted the eviction attempts of central security forces. The eviction notices have since been cancelled in the wake of the violence, in which 11 civilians and 15 central security soldiers were injured, as well as two police officers. Angry residents hailed on the Zahraa Hay Asher police station in Eastern Cairo, pelting it with stones. At the houses, central security forces retreated from a hailstorm of stones thrown by the protesting residents. Additionally, it was claimed that Hussein Ismail Abdel-Meguid, 60, had died in the clashes, though doctors who received him stated he died from a diabetes coma. However, neighboring residents said he was killed when central security forces stormed his house. Others said he choked because of tear gas bombs that central security forces threw in the buildings to be evicted. Thirty-four buildings were due for eviction in that area, with eight already emptied two days prior to the clashes. On Tuesday morning residents were out waiting for the security forces coming to evict them. Officials insisted that the buildings were empty and that these residents did not have ownership documents for the property. Residents disagreed, insisting that they lived there and had the requisite ownership documents. Authorities insist that the buildings needed to be torn down because they were too high for the length of the street. The houses are all red brick and are obviously unfinished. Mokhtar El-Hamalawy, Deputy Governor of Eastern Cairo, told Mehwar television, "We are removing empty buildings that are not inhabited, those civilians are not owners. "These buildings are still under construction, and no citizen was in these buildings, no citizen was removed from these buildings, he added. -Daily News Egypt
