
Police forces removing windows from all the apartments of the building (Photo: Townhouse Gallery Facebook page)
District authorities will proceed with the demolition of the building housing Cairo's popular Townhouse Gallery, which partially collapsed on 6 April, after the decision to demolish was suspended on Sunday.
The collapse did not cause any casualties, although a mountain of rubble completely enveloped a car mechanic's shop housed in the building and the entrance to a primary school in the vicinity.
For the past 17 years, the four-floor downtown Cairo edifice housed the Townhouse Gallery, a highly respected Cairo art space and a frontrunner in Egypt’s independent cultural movement.
“We were informed by our lawyer [representing the building’s residents] that the police have an official written order for the demolition of the building,” Yasser Gerab, outreach director of Townhouse, told Ahram Online.
He added that authorities have not yet revealed the exact date of the scheduled demolition, though he says police personnel have already started removing the building's windows.
Townhouse Gallery evacuated its offices and moved its equipment to its Rawabet Theatre space located in the vicinity on Sunday.
Police asked all residents on Monday to evacuate the building amid uncertainty over its fate.
The decision to demolish was put on hold following a visit by an official from the National Organisation for Urban Harmony (NOUH) on Sunday.
According to Gerab, the official from NOUH “informed residents and shop owners that the demolition would not take place,” and announced the addition of a “wood structure to support to the rest of the building until a new report is drafted by engineering experts examining the possibility of restoration.”
However, Gerab said this morning that “from what we’ve been told, they already formed a committee and it decided on the demolition.”
When asked if force was used in the process of evacuation, Gerab said, “of course there was some heat and friction because of the hot nature of Middle Eastern people, but nothing major occurred that led to any issues or arrests.”
Two of the four apartments that housed the Townhouse Gallery, including administrative offices and the library, were in the wing that collapsed. The other, still standing apartments served as the exhibition spaces.
“For the time being we will be moving our activities to our other spaces. This will take time, and events for the next few days will probably be cancelled as the area will be difficult to access because of the demolition process.”
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