Owners of coffee shops in Egypt, the target of a tough police crackdown, have decried what they called “arbitrary measures” by the state authorities against their businesses.

The ongoing raids started early this month after a young client was stabbed to death allegedly by attendants in a brawl at a Cairo cafe. The incident in the upmarket area of Heliopolis has triggered a nationwide campaign.

Egyptian media has since shown images of bulldozers pulling down unlicensed coffee shops and confiscating their equipment in different parts of the country.

“We are dismayed at the arbitrary measures taken by chiefs of districts against coffee shops,” an association of cafe owners in Cairo said.

“It does not make sense that the criminal incident [the client’s killing] happened in Cairo, and the legal measures are generalised against cafes in other governorates.”

The owners said they regularly pay taxes as well as power and water bills. “Therefore, how can our cafes be unlawful? In addition, our coffee shops provide jobs to university graduates form whom the state has failed to do any thing.”

The owners called for President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi’s interference in the matter to end this crisis. There has been yet no comment from the presidential palace.

Local authorities, meanwhile, defended their actions.

“We deal with illegal cafes according to the law,” said Ebrahim Saber, the head of the Heliopolis local council. “All the illegal cafes in the district were built inside residential units, becoming a continuous problem for inhabitants,” he added in media remarks.

The official estimated there are 42 unlicensed coffee shops in Heliopolis where the presidential place is located.

Over recent years, thousands of sidewalks cafes have proliferated across Egypt allegedly due to irregularities covered up by the local officials.

Residents and media have repeatedly accused cafes of causing noise by keeping open for long hours and employing outlaws.

Egypt is in grip of an acute economic crisis mainly due to the unrest that followed the 2011 revolt. Woes have deepened since November last year when the government floated the local pound and cut fuel subsidy as part of harsh economic reforms.

Inflation surged to 30.8 per cent in January, the country’s highest in more than a decade, according to official figures

source : gulfnews