CAIRO: The re-opening of Sadat metro station in Tahrir Square awaits security authorities’ approval, a source at the Metro Company told Youm7 Thursday.
The company was informed with the closure decision from security officials Monday, the source said, adding that “the company cannot re-open it again without authorities’ decision.”
A security official who spoke to Youm7 on condition of anonymity said the station was closed Tuesday due to “security reasons,” coinciding with the second anniversary of the June 30 anti-Muslim Brotherhood protests; the decision came following the assassination of the Attorney-General Hisham Barakat Monday.
In a phone call to ON TV channel Tuesday, Minister of Transport Hany Dahy denied links between the closure of the metro station and the assassination, saying that the closure was for “maintenance.”
The Sadat station, located under the iconic Tahrir Square, was re-opened for the past two weeks by the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan after it has been entirely closed for almost two years.
Over “security reasons,” the central metro stop was closed in August 2013, after the dispersal of the pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo that left hundreds killed and injured. Since then, the re-opening of the station was a mass demand especially after complaints of extreme overcrowding at alternative stations.
Officials announced that the station was equipped with electronic gates, surveillance cameras and police dogs before it was re-operated for the past two weeks.
The metro is deemed a cheap, reliable and fast public transportation for daily-basis use by approximately 3.5 million Cairenes, according to the State Information Service (SIS.)
Additional reporting by Reda Hebeishy