Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Egyptian Police Fire Tear Gas at Protesters Demanding Rail Safety

Egyptian police fire tear gas at protesters demanding rail safety

Tue Jan 15, 2013 7:16PM GMT
presstv.ir

Egyptian police have attacked the protesters gathering in the main railway station in the city of Alexandria, demanding rail safety.

The protest came on Tuesday, hours after 19 people lost their lives when a train which was carrying Egyptian military recruits to an army camp in Cairo derailed in the Giza neighborhood of Badrasheen.

Police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters who had clashed with passengers and attempted to prevent the trains from leaving the station.

Egypt's roads and railways have a poor safety record, with a string of deadly crashes.

In November 2012, nearly 50 school children were killed after a train collided with their bus in central Egypt.

Meanwhile, the opposition National Salvation Front issued a statement, saying that the Tuesday deadly incident along with the one that occurred last November “affirmed the urgent need for President [Mohamed] Morsi and his government to reorder their priorities."

More than 100 people were also injured in the recent train incident.

According to Egyptian state media, Morsi paid a visit to the injured who had been transferred to military hospital in the capital for treatment.

In Egypt's deadliest railway tragedy, more than 360 passengers were killed in a train incident in 2002.

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