By Mohammad Baali
Albawaba.com – Cairo
Cairo shop owners who have shut their doors to protest a new tax have found a new ally: their colleagues in Alexandria, who have also closed down.
Meanwhile, a number of Central Security Department vehicles have taken up positions around Al Ataba Square (the biggest commercial center in Cairo) as a precautionary measure against any escalation of the conflict.
Most shops on Moski and Abdel Aziz streets have closed their doors, while other have posted “For Sale” signs in what appears to be a challenge to the Egyptian government’s insistence on implementing the second and third stages of a new sales tax.
For its part, the government has launched a campaign in the state-owned newspapers blasting the merchants and describing them as dealers in smuggled goods.
Al Ahram reported on Friday that the Cairo chamber of commerce has called on its memebers to stop the protest, warning that it wa “a wrong approach.”
Moreover, the sales tax department itself has also launched a campaign, in this case urging the merchants to register with the department to prepare for the tax.
Most of the opposition newspapers have spotlighted the tax for harsh criticism, repeating the merchants’ claims that it will aggravate Egypt’s recession.
