Houseboats on the Nile in Cairo face demolition - in pictures
A view from the Cairo side of the Nile shows houseboats moored along the Giza bank, days before their expected removal as part of a wider decree to clear all of the river's banks in the area. All photos: AFP
One of the houseboats usually moored between the Zamalek district of Egypt's capital Cairo and the Agouza district of its twin city of Giza is towed away by authorities.
Fishermen sit in a boat as one of the houseboats is towed away. About 30 houseboats, known as 'awamat' (floating), are slated for demolition in Cairo, with residents claiming the state is sacrificing heritage for profit.
One of the houseboats moored along the Giza bank, days before its expected removal.
Egyptian-British citizen Omar Robert Hamilton, 37, uses a laptop as he sits on the balcony of his houseboat before its expected removal.
A campaign to save the houseboats has been launched online, with a petition garnering more than 4,000 signatures.
The houseboats hold cultural weight beyond the Nile, cemented in Arab cinema as the site where Abdel Halim Hafez crooned in 1955's 'Ayam w Layali' (Days and Nights) and in 1971's 'Tharthara fawq al-Neel' (Chitchat on the Nile).
One of the houseboats usually moored between the Zamalek district Cairo and the Agouza district Giza in the foreground.
A view from the Giza side of the Nile of houseboats moored by the Umm Kulthum Hotel on Cairo's island of Zamalek days before their expected removal.
