Pottery shops in Tunis Village, Fayoum were closed for the first time in 30 years to protest the arbitrary demolishment of shops and disputes over land claims, after security forces decided to build a police station in the small village, artist Mohamed Abla, owner of the Middle East’s only caricature museum in Tunis Village, said on Facebook. The small village, located southwest of Cairo, is the birthplace of many of Egypt’s handmade ceramic, pottery and home accessories. The government started looking for land that is owned by the villagers in order to build the police station, under the claim that it is state property. All Tunis Village’s workshops, exhibitions and museums put up their “closed” signs as an act of solidarity in the village’s refusal of the construction of the police unit. The pottery village hosts an annual festival that promotes handicrafts and tourism across the whole of Fayoum.

Source: Egypt Independent May 21, 2017 13:52 UTC