Daqahlia, Port Said order road maintenance after security clash with residents protesting neglect of accident-ridden road

The governors of Daqahlia and Port Said announced on Saturday new upgrades to a neglected and dangerous road that connects the two governorates.

The decisions came following a deadly car collision that killed 13 people on the road last week, after which residents of Matareya gathered on Saturday to block the route in a display of anger. Police attending the scene later clashed with the protesters.

The Matareya-Port Said road is used daily by many workers from the town in Daqahalia who work in factories in the Port Said Investment Zone.

On Wednesday night, the road witnessed a major accident in which a bus carrying late-shift workers back from a readymade garment factory in Port Said collided with a truck and a taxi. Thirteen people were killed and 22 more were injured.

Residents of Mataryia gathered on Saturday in the middle of the road that has been a site of regular accidents, blocking it in protest. They raised demands for better facilities and maintenance of the road, which lacks street lamps, speed bumps, signage, or barriers to block heavy transport vehicles from using it amid the lack of safety infrastructure.

Hours into the protest, residents were confronted by security forces who used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse the gathering, injuring and arresting several people, the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services said on Saturday, citing eyewitnesses.

Media reports said the head of the Daqahlia Police Directorate went to meet the protesters to “absorb their anger and listen to their demands.”

Hours later, both the governors of Daqahlia and Port Said issued orders in response to the demands raised by the protesting residents.

Daqahlia Governor Major General Tarek Marzouk ordered the mayor of Matareya to take immediate steps to increase the number of lampposts, install reflective signs on both sides of the road, place concrete barriers along the road to prevent heavy transport vehicles from passing, create speed bumps near residential blocks and schools, and close illegal entrances to the road.

For his part, the Port Said governor, Major General Staff Moheb Habashi, ordered executive bodies to begin installing concrete barriers to prevent the passage of heavy transport vehicles.