Egyptians Celebrate Eid al-Adha Amid Tight Restrictions

About 90 percent of Egyptians are Muslim, and this week they celebrate Eid al-Adha, a holiday in which livestock are slaughtered and some of the meat is distributed to the poor, Cairo, July 20, 2021.

Khaled Abdel Aal (2nd from right), the governor of Cairo, visits one of the government slaughterhouses, which are now the only legal places to slaughter animals in Cairo, on July 17, 2021.

The Egyptian government imported more than 160,000 animals, mainly from Sudan, in an attempt to stabilize meat prices, which normally soar during the holidays, in Cairo on July 17, 2021.

Workers carry meat marked "approved for human consumption" by government inspectors, in Cairo, July 17, 2021.

New regulations do not include additional rules ensuring the humane treatment of animals, in Cairo, July 17, 2021.

New government regulations are intended to improve sanitation in the streets and prevent illnesses, in Cairo, July 17, 2021.

Customers line up at a butcher's shop to buy meat for the holiday, July 19, 2021.

More than 32 percent of Egyptians live below the poverty line and many cannot afford to purchase animals for the holiday, July 19, 2021.

Eslam Sherbiny is among those ignoring the rules, saying he or his butcher will be more humane than official slaughterhouses. "An act of cruelty to an animal is just as horrible as an act of cruelty to a human being," he says in Cairo, July 20, 2021.