A group of young Bedouins from the Tarabin tribe blocked the international Sharm el-Sheikh road at the village of Abu Sawyer about three kilometres away from Ras Sedr on the western coast of the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday night, according to state run news agency MENA. Ahram Gate, also state owned, reported that the men were protesting because a young relative of theirs had been arrested and kept in custody on the charge of possessing hashish.
The men used burning tyres and their vehicles to block the road in order to secure the release of their young relative who is being held for four days pending an investigation, according to Ahram Gate. The men managed to close the road for six hours causing a backlog of hundreds of cars and some tourist buses, Ahram Gate reported.
Ahram Gate claimed the security services worked with local Bedouin leaders in order to negotiate with the men and convince them to end their protest, which they did.
The boy in custody reportedly was caught with large quantities of hashish in the North Sinai governorate, according to Ahram Gate. There have not been further reports on the status of the boy.
Last week another protest which blocked a road with burning tyres occurred in the city of Al-Arish in northern Sinai. They were protesting over the lack of action taken by security forces in searching for a seventeen year-old girl who had been kidnapped.
