Egypt’s parliament burns
The century-old building housing Egypt’s upper house of parliament, just a few blocks from my old apartment in Cairo, has gone up in flames: KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images The BBC has the story: At least 13 people have been hurt in a fire at the upper house of the Egyptian parliament in Cairo, officials say. The ...
The century-old building housing Egypt's upper house of parliament, just a few blocks from my old apartment in Cairo, has gone up in flames:
The century-old building housing Egypt’s upper house of parliament, just a few blocks from my old apartment in Cairo, has gone up in flames:
The BBC has the story:
At least 13 people have been hurt in a fire at the upper house of the Egyptian parliament in Cairo, officials say.
The cause of the blaze is unclear, but officials say it could have been caused by an electrical short-circuit.
Elijah Zarwan relays word that newspaper Al-Badil was banned for its coverage of the blaze. You can download a compressed PDF of the paper here.
Here is a video of the fire:
The Arabist comments:
Several times last night as I went out to see the blaze I heard people make jokes about how they hoped the senators where still in there (especially Safwat al-Sherif, the head of the Council) or how this was revenge for the highly unpopular new traffic law.
Blake Hounshell is a former managing editor of Foreign Policy.
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