CAIRO - In a very hot spot located amid the clashes and fires that have been taking place around Tahrir Square since the Revolution on Al Qasr el-Aini Street is a supermarket called Marawan. Al Qasr el-Aini is a vital district that embraces important governmental institutions such as the Egyptian Cabinet and the Parliament and some ministries. After the revolution many clashes between protesters and security forces took place in Tahrir Square and the areas close to it, which led the armed forces, since it was ruling the country before the presidential elections, built concrete walls to keep the protesters away from the governmental buildings located in this area. Since it has two entrances, the Marawan supermarket has become like a passage for pedestrians in this street, especially the numerous employees working in the vicinity who had no other way to reach their places of work because of the anti-riot, concrete walls erected to control riot-related violence. "What shall I do if the supermarket is closed; I'll be in trouble especially because I'm an old man and can't walk long distances. I'm not against the security forces, but at least they can leave a space for people to move," said Aboul Nour, a 66-year-old worker. The first entrance for the supermarket is located in El Qasr al-Aini Street near Tahrir Square; the second is located inside the isolated area that was divided by the wall near the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade. Pedestrians found in this market the resolution to their problem without any objection from the market's owner. Mohie Marawan, the market's owner believes that this way, he is serving pedestrians twice, firstly, by providing products for them to purchase. Secondly, he provides them convenient passage where they would otherwise be forced to walk long distances to reach their destination. "Many people asked me to let them pass through the market, and this has cause me a lot of problems such as theft and a dirtier workplace – the floor of the market became horrible," Marawan, the market's owner, said. Few months ago, there were two sit-ins in front of the Scientific Research Academy, where about 850 soldiers passed through the super market. "I'm suffering the same way people do, in order to open the two entrances I have to open them from outside which means that I walk long streets to open them" Marawan added in an interview with the Egyptian Mail. Barricades were also placed on Mohamed Mahmoud and Sheikh Rihan Streets, which lead to the Interior Ministry. Because of the barricades, most of the shops in the vicinity of the Interior Ministry were forced to close as customers were no longer able to access them. In addition, traffic was disrupted, forcing vehicles to drive in the wrong direction in violation of the law and to use side streets that are not fit to hold such a large number of vehicles, which has caused chronic traffic jams in the centre of the city that inevitably waste time and effort and slow down production. "People are suffering a lot because of these walls, the children can't reach their schools and the patients can't go easily to hospitals. We need to feel safe and these walls can't make us feel safe," said Amany Abdel Hameed, an employee in a governmental organisation.
