Protests over bread distribution | Al-Suwaydaa governor and bakeries’ manager respond to protesters demands

Al-Suwaydaa province: SOHR activists have reported that several al-Suwaydaa villages witnessed public protests for three consecutive days, rejecting the mechanism of bread distribution via the Smart Card which determines specific amount of bread for families according to their members.

Dozens of protestors gathered in al-Suwaydaa province and ancient villages such as al-Mazara’a and al-Qariya, and confiscated several Smart Card machines owned by bakeries in al-Suwaydaa, and forced the bakeries’ owners to sell bread according to each person’s needs without the Smart Card.

The protestors gave concerned authorities a period of two days of selling bread via Smart Card, to reconsider their decisions regarding distribution of bread and to increase the amounts determined for each family in al-Suwaydaa province.

While al-Suwaydaa province and bakeries’ owner issued instructions for workers in bakeries to stop selling bread to civilians, until the stolen Smart Card machines are retrieved, however, the civilians ignored the instructions and forced the bakeries to sell bread according to families’ needs.

On the other hand, the bakeries’ owner and al-Suwaydaa governor were forced to respond to the public demands and sell bread without using the Smart Card for a limited time until they study the mechanism of distribution and the determination of amounts needed for each family.

Protestors threatened to continue protesting until a decision that meets the requirements of decent lives is taken, far from standing in lines, waiting for long hours to get a bundle of bread and to cancel selling via Smart Card.

Similarly, al-Suwaydaa province witnessed protests and closure of primary roads in the city in front of “Bimo” bank by car drivers under slogans of “Enough Humiliation”, due to delay in shipments of Benzene and low determined quantities for taxi cars.

In light of the closure of roads, al-Suwaydaa governor asked the drivers to reopen the roads, and promised to increase their shares of Benzene by 10 percent within four days in return of stopping the protests and open the roads.

While the minister of Oil and Mineral Resources explained that the delay in the delivery of Benzene shipments to drivers was due to the delay in the arrival of supplies of oil derivatives contracted with Iran.