CAIRO: The homeless families of Kafr El-Elew staged an all-day sit-in on Monday outside the Cabinet building to pressure the Cairo governorate to grant them housing.
The 24 families, who are now living in tents in the streets, had their homes torn down last September to make way for a water plant. Monday’s sit-in was the most recent in a series of demonstrations highlighting their case. They were joined by lawyers from El-Nadim Center and The Egyptian Center for Housing Rights.
Families were intending to spend the night outside the Ministers’ Council, despite, as they claim, unmasked threats from security to remove them by force after nightfall.
Mostafa Bakry, MP for the Helwan district, arrived at 7 am, bringing food for the families. He then held discussions with plain clothes police security, who informed him that the families would not be permitted to sleep outside the Cabinet office.
Bakry informed the families that they would have to leave that evening, but promised that he would stand by his promise to deliver the families’ documents to the local governorate council which prove they legally bought land in Kafr El-Elew and own houses built on that land.
However, when members of the families showed reluctance to move, Bakry became visibly angry, telling the families that he was “annoyed with their behavior and that he was optimistic, referring to his previous “success in solving the bread crisis in Helwan. He also reminded the families that he had provided housing for the 20 other families whose land was taken for government use.
However, many view this as another example of state injustice.
“Those families that were given substitute housing were using the land for agricultural purposes, Tawfiq Girguis Tawfiq told Daily News Egypt. “They have flats elsewhere. They were given substitute housing because they were the original recipients of Abdel Nasser’s land reform initiative. However, they sold us land legally and we have built on it. It is us who should be receiving replacement housing.
Bakry finally announced an 11-day time limit to solve the housing crisis of Kafr El-Elew in a final attempt to persuade the families to leave.
“If it is not solved by April 11, I will be sitting here with you.
However both families and lawyers doubted Bakry’s dedication to his constituents. “He had these papers three months before our houses were destroyed, Tawfiq told Daily News Egypt. “Why didn’t he do anything then? Every time it’s the same story; he’s all talk and no action.
“Bakry has these documents and has had them for months, Haitham Mohamadein of El-Nadim Center told Daily News Egypt. “The public prosecutor has them. The governorate council has them. It is unlikely that in the next 11 days anything will be done.
