A picture taken on January 18, 2018, shows a billboard in a street in central Cairo鈥檚 Ramses district, bearing the image of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. AFP
CAIRO, Egypt 鈥� Egypt鈥檚 president has laughingly berated Egyptians participating in an online dance challenge in response to the so-called 鈥淜iki challenge鈥� to a song by Canadian singer Drake.
Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi鈥檚 light-hearted mention Sunday of the dance challenge contrasts with a report last week by Egypt鈥檚 official news agency warning that penalties awaited participants in the challenge for endangering lives and violating public decency and traffic laws.
鈥淵ou keep riding cars and doing Kiki,鈥� el-Sissi said as he uncontrollably laughed. Turning to the oil minister, he jokingly said: 鈥淩aise the price of petrol without a worry.鈥� El-Sissi鈥檚 government has hiked fuel prices three times since 2016.
The challenge unleashed a social media buzz, with video postings of film stars and sports celebrities dancing alongside slow moving cars going viral. /cbb