CAIRO — Egyptian police arrested 21 people for taking part in rare protests against the government’s surprise decision to hike fares on Cairo’s subway as part of austerity measures meant to overhaul the economy, officials said on Saturday. Videos circulating online show dozens of outraged commuters yelling and chanting anti-government slogans at Cairo metro stations, with some jumping over electronic ticket gates to avoid paying fares. Nearly 5 million people a day in the city of some 20 million use the Cairo metro. Some newspapers published the much higher metro fares in foreign countries to show that fares on the Cairo metro remained among the world’s cheapest. Regular metro users told The Associated Press outside a busy Cairo metro station near the iconic Tahrir Square that the new fares were beyond the reach of many households.

Source: Washington Post May 12, 2018 17:03 UTC