Millions of Egyptians live in cemeteries

Millions of Egyptians living in abject poverty are the inhabitants of a macabre quarter not far from the capital's Liberation Square which has become the symbol of Egypt's popular revolution.

The poor in the Egyptian capital's urban slums live in almost the same manner as they did under the pharaohs, a Press TV correspondent reported Sunday.

There are over 50 cemeteries in Cairo, Muslim and Christian, and all of them are inhabited by several million people who constitute the absolute bottom of Egypt's social structure, the report added.

The five major cemeteries in the capital include the Northern Cemetery, Bab el Nasr Cemetery, the Southern Cemetery, the Cemetery of the Great, and Bab el Wazir Cemetery. They are known as the “City of the Dead.”

According to the correspondent, they live mostly on the charity of those visiting departed relatives.

They give the poor what little money they can spare, and food like fruit, rice and flour bread known as “mercy cakes.”

Egypt's poverty rate reportedly stands at around 30%, with another 10% ready to be added if the government were to end a subsidy program which dwindled under the previous regime of Hosni Mubarak.

It is noteworthy that Mubarak reportedly used the 18 days of pro-democracy protests in Egypt to move his family's assets from European banks to Persian Gulf countries.

Mubarak has been accused of amassing huge sums of money -- between 40 to 70 billion dollars -- during his three-decade rule.

Mubarak's sons Gamal and Alaa are said to be billionaires as well, with posh homes in London. Experts also say Mubarak's wife's fortune could be as much as five billion dollars.