Protesters block off Cairo's Ring Road - the city's most vital freeway, Sunday, March 10. Photo (Ahram Arabic news website)
Striking microbus drivers have caused traffic chaos in Cairo after blocking a major thoroughfare in protest at diesel shortages.
Picketers on Sunday morning blocked Giza's Al-Bahr Al-Aazam Street, which leads to Cairo's major ring road, causing serious traffic congestion in the area.
Scuffles have broken out and passing private cars have reportedly been attacked on the ring road.
Drivers at Mounib-10th of Ramadan, Maadi-Helwan, Qanatir, and Nasr City microbus stations are protesting the ongoing lack of fuel, said Colonel Ayman El-Dabae of the General Traffic Authority.
Egypt's General Traffic Authority has begun efforts to reopen Al-Bahr Al-Azam Street. Traffic has been diverted to avoid the ring road in the direction of Mounib. Directives have been issued to oil companies to urgently provide additional fuel in areas witnessing strikes in an attempt to contain the crisis, Dabae added.
Last week saw similar strikes by microbus drivers in Mahalla and Alexandria due to fuel shortages.
Several million riders rely on the mini-van system to travel around the greater metropolitan Cairo area on a daily basis.
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