Nineteen Egyptians were detained after allegedly attacking police and damaging 18 buses in a Cairo riot triggered by a traffic dispute, police said Monday.
Traffic was at a standstill for six hours Saturday night as 3,000 people gathered in the square where the dispute occurred, and angry drivers and ordinary passers-by hurled stones.
The unrest started with a fight between a traffic policeman and a public minibus driver who refused to drive on when the lights turned green because passengers were boarding at Sayeda Aysha Square in south Cairo's Khalifa district, police said.
According to the government newspaper Al-Ahram, the driver said he had called fellow bus drivers to support him after the policeman attacked him and threatened to kill him.
The minibus driver was among the 19 detained Saturday night, all of whom were still in custody Monday, police said, adding that more than a dozen others suspected of rioting managed to escape - CAIRO (AFP)
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
