Cairo bids farewell to pharaoh statue

A MASSIVE statue of one of Egypt’s greatest pharaohs, Ramses II, rolled through the streets of Cairo to a new home near the Pyramids yesterday to escape the corrosive pollution of its former spot in a crowded transit hub.

Tens of thousands of people lined the streets to bid farewell to the 3,200-year-old red granite statue, which weighs 83 tons and was wrapped in plastic and thick padding for the painstakingly slow 21-mile journey, which took 10 hours.

“We are going to miss you. Cairo will never be the same again,” shouted 23-year-old Ahmed Sami as the statue started moving.