CAIRO — Egyptian authorities began a steady advance on the streets of downtown Cairo last August, evacuating unauthorized street vendors and retaking main arteries and squares. The move is part of a project spearheaded by the Cairo governorate to clear the city from street vendors by enforcing the rule of law and displacing thousands.
“There are 5 [million] or 6 million street vendors in Egypt, around 3 million are in Cairo,” Mohamed Abdallah, the head of the independent national syndicate for street vendors of west Cairo, told Al-Monitor.