Egypt has on Tuesday, clamped down on the sale of yellow vests to avoid mimicking of French protesters, as Egypt does not want to copycat French protest movement. Tunisian activists launched a “red vest” campaign.
Egypt protest comes ahead of next month’s anniversary of 2011 uprising that has toppled Hosni Mubarak. Retailers and security officials has instructed industrial safety equipment dealers not to sell the yellow vest to the buyers and also restricted business to the wholesales to verified companies. The officials, with elaborating, said that the offenders would get punished.
In a Cairo downtown area, six retailers has said that they are no longer selling any yellow vest to the buyers. One of the retailers said, “They seem not to want anyone to do what they are doing in France.”
Another retailer said, “The police came here a few days back and told us to stop selling them. When we asked why, they said they were acting on instructions.”
The security officials has ensured that the restrictions would remain in the country till the end of January. Officials further said the product importers and wholesale merchants had been notified to present in a meeting in Cairo with the senior police officers in this week and also informed the rules.
The move showcased the depth of the Egyptian government’s concerns with the security. Since the past two years, the government has clamped down heavily with deploying numbers of police and soldiers around the country in order to prevent marches over to commemorate the anniversary on January 25, of the 2011 uprising. It has been noticed many people were killed and harmed during the clashes during previous of these anniversaries.