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By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab.
Tripoli, 29 March 2013:
Egyptian customs officials on the Libyan-Egyptian border went on strike yesterday and closed the border to . . .[restrict]all traffic except Egyptians returning from Libya. According to Egyptian newspaper Al-Wafd, the officials were demanding that they be given housing in the border town of Sollum, to be near their work rather than having to travel from further afield.
They were supported by other border officials.
Meanwhile four busloads of some 200 Egyptians, who were taken to the border and deported from Libya for being in the country illegally, went on the rampage and started throwing stones at Libyans and Libyan vehicles. It is reported that they then clashed with locals from Sollum, who moved in to try to stop the attacks.
Last week some 600 Egyptians illegal entrants who had been likewise deported from Libya were reported to have also attacked Libyan vehicles and temporarily blocked the border.
The border was closed for most of February, first by Libya because of security concerns in the run-up to the second anniversary of the revolution on 17 February and then by local Egyptians protesting at new rules that they had to have visas to enter Libya. The border finally reopened on 4 March. [/restrict]
