CAIRO: Egypt s morality police have cancelled midnight screenings in Cairo cinemas to prevent women being harassed, a police source and a cinema official told AFP on Saturday.
The morality police have advised cinema proprietors in Cairo of its decision to cancel the midnight screening… following reports of several cases of sexual harassment outside the capital s cinemas during the Eid al-Fitr festival at the end of October last year, the police source said.
An Internet blog had claimed that dozens of young girls and women, some accompanied by their husbands, had been harassed outside cinemas.
The authorities denied this had taken place, but the public believed such harassment had happened and Muslim Brotherhood MPs raised the issue in parliament.
The closure decision was given to proprietors verbally, and it must be implemented within a month, said the police source, adding that exemptions may be possible, if authorised by the security services.
Midnight screenings in Cairo cinemas actually start at around 1 am, and end about two hours later.
Sales of tickets for midnight screenings generate between 30 percent and 40 percent of revenue for Egyptian cinemas, said Munib Shafey, chairman of the country s cinema proprietors trade body.
He said the police decision would result in catastrophic losses for the Egyptian cinema industry, which is already experiencing great difficulties.
