CAIRO: Hundreds of Egyptians demonstrated in Alexandria on Monday after a motor rickshaw driver doused himself in fuel and set himself on fire to protest a traffic fine, a police official said.
Police fired tear gas at the around 600 demonstrators, many of them rickshaw owners, and arrested 20 in the Mediterranean port city, the official said.
A police officer had stopped the rickshaw driver, Islam Ali Ismail, when he saw him on a main street. Ismail threatened to kill himself if he received a fine, the official said.
The 25-year-old tried to carry out his threat on the spot, using a spare fuel tank, and was taken to hospital in a critical condition, the official said.
Rickshaws, which can be unstable at high speeds, are not permitted to travel on main streets in Egypt.-AFP
