Cairo's Tahrir Square (Photo: Reuters)
Egypt's Tourism Support Coalition is calling for a sit-in on Cairo's Tahrir Square starting 24 August to mourn the Egyptian border guards killed in Sinai and demand rapid improvements in security, Ahram's Arabic-language news-site reported on Saturday.
The head of the coalition, Ehab Moussa, was quoted as saying that Egyptian tourism faces grave challenges due to a general lack of security and recent repeated power cuts.
A Sunday attack by militants on Egyptian guards near the Rafah crossing with Gaza left 16 dead and seven injured. The Egyptian military subsequently declared a military operation in North Sinai to quash "terrorists".
The coalition is demanding that the Egypt-Gaza border be sealed completely to combat "looting and thugs". Participants in the Friday demonstration will wear black mourning clothes, Moussa said.
Former liberal MP Mohamed Abu-Hamed and media figure Tawfiq Okasha are among those also calling for a million-man march against President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood on the same day.
On Tuesday, Egypt's newly-appointed Minister of Tourism Hisham Zazou denied that there has been any negative effects on tourism following the attack on the Egyptian-Gaza border.
Zazou told Ahram Online that tourism agencies had received no calls for cancellations, saying that he had personally called them to make sure.
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