Police at Cairo airport demanding $2,000 bribes from stranded tourists to board flights

Cairo ramps up evacuations, 18,000 still stuck

By TAREK EL-TABLAWY, AP Business Writer Tarek El-tablawy, Ap Business Writer – 2 hrs 3 mins ago
CAIRO – Airport staff were scarce, food supplies were dwindling, flight information was non-existent — and some policemen even demanded substantial bribes before allowing foreigners to board their planes.

Cairo Airport was in complete disarray, overwhelmed with over 18,000 stranded passengers, tourists said Tuesday as they detailed a litany of woes. As they spoke, dozens of evacuation planes arrived from all over the world to handle the surging exodus of foreigners and Egyptians amid growing anti-goverment protests in Cairo.

The United States ordered non-essential U.S. government personnel and their families to leave Egypt and Germany expanded its travel warning to the entire country, including the Red Sea resort towns.
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..."The terminals are full of panicking people. The ground staff is disappearing, and at the gate, just before entering, we all together had to collect $2,000 for a policeman at the door... He would not let us pass without paying," added the 44-year-old...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110201/ap_on_re_eu/egypt_evacuations