Benghazi, April 13:
Residents in Benghazi’s Al-Fuwaihat district protested yesterday against the indiscriminate seizing of public places and gardens by private individuals to erect private cafés, stalls and small businesses.
Protestors stated that there are many of these buildings which the owners had built by way of taking advantage of their relationships with members of the former regime. They called on the authorities to prevent the spread of this phenomenon in order to preserve the city’s open spaces and to clamp down on any such illegal development.
The problem has, if anything, worsened in the 14 months since the outbreak of last year’s revolution. A number of individuals have managed, in the absence of any effective local government in the city, to effectively take over small sites and set up business on them, in some case putting up permanent structures.